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Recent research at the Monash University in Melbourne confirms that our brains function differently when we are relating to the leadership efforts of someone whose purpose we align with, who regard as making sacrifices for us and who uses inclusive language. (http://theconversation.com/leaders-only-inspire-when-we-feel-part-of-their-group-44188)

In a recent post I highlighted the four activities that seem to be happening in the moment when leaders actually lead:
They bring all their worldly context, learning, experience, models and the like to bear and they use the appropriate elements as they draw in their breath to speak or tense their muscles to move
They call up their knowledge in intense mental work
They bring forth an intention to move others, change a situation or call for action
They elicit care.

These four activities are being tested in our experience in The Leadership Foundation (http://www.theleadershipfoundation.com.au) as we seek to identify and work with leaders who really want to lead better in their organisations and communities.

Leaders who speak and act with the ability to describe a compelling purpose in ways that followers can identify with, create a shared identity for the leader and the followers. They become aligned.
Leaders who demonstrate to followers that the followers efforts are being matched or even exceeded by the leaders will take the sense of identity and alignment to a whole new level. Of course, this sense of sacrifice needs to be conveyed with care, else it be seen as en ego trip.
Leaders who speak in “We” and “Us”, rather than “I” and “Me” terms take the sense of identity as part of a close knit group to an even stronger place.

In the moments when leaders are creating productive brain activity in their followers through these three actions they are sharing their understanding of the world, their knowledge, their intention to create “leaderful” action and their care.

The Leadership Foundation’s events are designed to allow members to play with these ideas in a safe and friendly environment so that they can practice them in their workplaces and community organisations. The next TLF event will be held on Tuesday 22nd July in Brisbane. Contact Ben on 0400743170.

The other night a senior government minister was being interviewed on TV. The early part of the interview was full of the usual rhetoric, avoidance and repetition of the party hacks’ scripts.
The interviewer seemed frustrated, the minister seemed tense and bored, the viewers (my wife and I may have been the only two watching at this stage!) were disappointed and angry.
And then it happened: the interviewer asked a question that touched the Minister’s deep values. He paused. You could see him go into himself. He took hold of something deep within himself. As he brought it up and out his complexion changed, his eyes became enlivened. Then he spoke.
He gave a 30 second response that showed what his values were, how he was acting true to his values in supporting controversial legislation and what he would do to argue his position until the legislation was passed. My bride of 40 years and I didn’t agree with his conclusion but we both looked at one another and agreed that the guy had demonstrated real leadership in action.

In the gazillions of interactions that occur every day, a few get recognised as real leadership acts. What makes them so?

The Leadership Foundation is working to build leaders’ understanding and awareness of how leadership actually occurs. There are host of materials that describe the characteristics of leaders and leadership but The Leadership Foundation has discovered there is little evidential research about the actual workings of leadership during an interaction between leaders and followers. In fact we have gone so far as to propose that leadership might actually be able to occur with followers if leaders know how to lead themselves. Followership might actually be a measure of the effectiveness of the leadership, not just of its presence.

The Leadership Foundation is proposing that at least four things are occurring in the moment when leaders draw in their breath ready to speak, or tense their muscles ready to move.

Firstly, they bring an awareness of their context. It might be as big a context as having a sense of their place in history down to a thorough appreciation of the business and economic drivers at the present time, right down to acknowledging for themselves that the person opposite them seems on edge.
Effective leaders seem to be able to operate in the moment from a context that is useful and appropriate for the situation.

Secondly, they bring all their knowledge and experience of leadership to this situation. The Seven Secrets, the Six Laws, the Five Pitfalls, the Four Principles, the Three Steps, the Two Turtledoves and the Partridge in a Pear Tree unite with the experience of when they stood in the gap, rallied the employees, saved the day or completed the deal that caused action to occur.
In the moment, the leader triggers something from their learning and experience that enables them to lead. It is unique for them. It doesn’t always work. Sometimes it does and in that moment the miracle called “Leadership” occurs.

Thirdly, they bring an intention. Most often it is an intention to move a situation forward. It might be an intention to ease suffering, raise the funds for the project, get the legislation passed, score the goal.
Where there is intention there can be a result. In the moment, when leaders intend, action occurs.

Fourthly, and perhaps most contentiously, they bring care. This is contentious because it seems that leaders must always care about a situation for leadership to occur. It seems more problematic about whether they must also care for the people involved. The Leadership Foundation proposes that the best leadership occurs when both kinds of care are present.
In the moment, elemental emotions of regard, respect, care, affiliation, affection, love, etc in some measure help to trigger what is going to happen next.
The Leadership Foundation is a new organisation whose aim is to promote leadership in organisations and communities. TLF doesn’t train or teach; it seeks to encourage members to reflect for themselves and learn from others in a leadership community as they craft their leadership identity and build their leadership practice.
The next TLF event will be held on 21st July in Brisbane from 5.30-9.00pm
If you would like to attend please send me an email at ianrs@iansampson.com.au

Edwina is a successful manager working in Asia. In the last three years she has built an innovative strategy for her business. The strategy was endorsed by the business as being totally aligned with the overall strategy and Edwina is successfully completing it with active support from her widely distributed team. She has worked hard on developing her leadership skills and manages her professional discipline with recognition from her team, colleagues and those higher in the hierarchy.

Yet she is thinking of resigning. The problem is a new boss who she sees is acting against the interests of the company. None of his actions are illegal or immoral, although Edwina thinks some of his actions are unethical and violate the company’s stated values.
Two of her team and a colleague senior manager have told her they are thinking of resigning.

The situation came to a head for Edwina when the manager, Roger, spoke extremely rudely to her. When she asserted that his statements were inappropriate, Roger was even more rude and started making accusations about Edwina.

Her functional boss is aware of Roger’s poor management style and told Edwina that his performance was being assessed. Despite all the rhetoric, no action was likely to be taken if he produced the desired business results. Edwina could see that if any corporate action was to be taken it would be months away.

In the meantime she had to have a plan. She got her thoughts straight and called her coach.
In a mentoring and coaching conversation Edwina reviewed many ways of dealing with the situation and developed a multi-faceted plan with her mentor’s guidance.

First, she resolved not to resign immediately. She resolved to keep her colleagues steady by encouraging them to keep up their productivity and to manage their personal resilience, using some skills she shared with them.
Secondly, Edwina decided to keep a personal diary, recording her interactions with her boss and the logic she used in deciding how to respond when he acted badly towards her.
Thirdly, she decided to continue keeping good records of his instructions and demands.
Fourthly Edwina decided to take a short break and ensure she was approaching this situation properly. For her, this involved charting how she thought Roger’s actions were inconsistent with the company’s values. Then she charted how she saw her actions as being consistent with the company’s values. And finally, she charted what her deep personal values were and how she saw Roger’s actions being inconsistent with her values. She used this thinking to steady her emotions and to guide her actions in future interactions with Roger over the next few months.

During this time, with her mentor’s support, she stayed resilient, did not resign, pulled her work and non-work life into better balance and she used this situation to learn how to handle similar situations in future. Unfortunately the organisation’s leaders weren’t willing to lead the organisation out of the morass, so the productivity, morale and performance destroying behaviours continue.

One thing is sure: Edwina and organisational leaders across the world will deal with situations like this time and time again. The situations won’t go away. Good managers learn how to build their repertoire of skills for managing the unmanageable.