Level Three Leadership3rd Edition

PowerPoint Lecture NotesJames G. Clawson

Chapter 3

Introduction

– Leadership studies in the past century have yielded numerous models for leadership.

– Today’s environment has made leaders more crucial than ever, but has also rendered existing leadership models obsolete.

– This chapter presents a new model for leadership.

Leading Strategic Change

• Leadership is meaningless without direction and a means of achieving that direction. In this sense leadership is really about “leading strategic change.” A leader must answer two questions:– “Leadership for what?” In what direction

should the organization go?– “How can we get there?” How can change be

effected?

Clawson’s Diamond Model of Leadership

Leader

Others Task

Organization

Organizational Design (North-South line)

(Shared Vision East-West line)

Influence Strategic Thinking

Managing ChangeEmployee Bonding

Key Elements of Leadership

• In the Diamond General Model of Leadership, four interconnected elements constitute leadership:

– Leader. Each leader has unique skills and attributes.– Task. The set of tasks facing the organization, as perceived by

Leader and Others. Strategic Thinking.– Others. The followers, with skills and attributes of their own.– Organization. – Organizational structure and systems and culture, etc., which

can help or hinder the accomplishment of tasks.

A Diamond In The Rough

• Two larger concerns can be added to the Diamond model:

– Environment: The Context. Market realities, political forces, and so on have their effect on leadership.

– Results: Outcomes of Leadership. These include effectiveness, efficiency, growth, learning, and morale.

Relationships Are The Key

• Relationships between the four elements of the Diamond model are the key to successful leadership.– Leader and Task: determines, describes or

represents the leader’s vision.– Leader and Others: determines degree of influence

leader has over followers.– Others and Organization: determines depth of

employees’ attachment and commitment to the organization.

– Organization and Task: determines whether organization is well-suited to meet its challenges.

– Others and Task: determines followers’ view of what must be done.

– Leader and Organization: determines whether the leader’s style and skills make a good match with the organization.

How The Diamond Model Relates To Other Models Of Leadership

• The Diamond model is flexible enough to incorporate many features of popular leadership models, but in a way which is straightforward and practical for practicing managers.

Leadership Potentialities (Wheatley)

– Each leadership situation encompasses numerous “potentialities,” or possible analytical perspectives.

– The leader’s vision, and skill in communicating it to followers, will determine which potentiality members of the organization see.

– This, in turn, will determine organizational action and outcome.

Leading Ethically

• The relationship between leader and followers raises significant ethical questions:– Is it one person’s right to influence others?– Who decides what kinds of influence are acceptable?– How do followers view the leader’s efforts to influence

them?– Do we have the right measures for assessing

leadership outcomes?– Who decides what those measures are?– To what extent should we attempt to influence our

environment, or let our environment influence us?

The Diamond Model and What CEOs Do

• One study of 160 CEOs arrived at five basic leadership foci which equate strongly with the relationships in the diamond model.– Strategy (emphasis on setting strategic direction): analogous to

Leader and Task.– Box (emphasis on organizational control systems): analogous to

Others and Organization.– Human resources (emphasis on human relationships throughout

the organization): analogous to Leader and Others.– Change (emphasis on managing change): analogous to

Organization and Task.– Expertise (emphasis on creating a competitive advantage

through particular expertise): analogous to Leader and Organization.

Basic Definitions

• Some working definitions of leadership and related concepts:

– “Power” is the ability to get others to do what you want them to do.

– “Leadership,” as distinct from power, consists of three components:

• The ability to influence others• The willingness to do so• The ability to influence in such a way that others

respond willingly.

Target Levels of Leadership

• Leading strategic change can occur at three levels:

• Organizational• Work group• Individual.

Chapter 4 Introduction

– Human activity can be thought of as occurring at three levels:

• Level One activity: observable behavior• Level Two activity: conscious thoughts, not

outwardly observable• Level Three activity: Values, assumptions, beliefs

and expectations (VABEs), not outwardly observable and only partly conscious to the subject

– Conclusions based on another person’s Level Two or Three behavior can never be precise, because the activity is not directly observable.

– But effective leadership must take into account Levels Two and Three.

Body, Head and Heart

• Level One activity, directly observable, can be likened to the body.– Most managerial systems since the beginning

of the Industrial Revolution have focused on Level One: on influencing observable behavior alone

– In the Information Age this approach has become obsolete

• Level Two activity, one’s conscious thoughts, can be likened to the mind.

• Level Three activity, VABEs, can be likened to the heart.– Highly culture- and family-specific– An effort required to become fully aware of

one’s own VABEs• All three levels of activity influence one

another.

Connecting Level Three Approach to Scholarly Views

– The three-level view of human activity corresponds to Schein’s three levels of cultural manifestations: artifacts, espoused values and underlying assumptions.

Learning Level Three Leadership

– Many people in leadership positions employ Level One leadership: the “carrot-and-stick” approach

– But different people value different rewards, a fact that undermines this approach and calls for an inquiry into unobservable, internal processes

– Also, the constant threat of punishment for noncompliance does not inspire quality performance.

– Moreover, our definition of leadership holds that the willingness of followers to follow is essential. Level One leadership leaves willingness questionable.

The Strong History of Level One Leadership

– Level One leadership was very effective for many years: economies were expanding, labor was plentiful, and stable markets made it possible to view labor as a commodity.

– But today rapid change and fierce competition have made Level One leadership insufficient

– New management principles (TQM, etc.) will fail if other aspects of the organization-reward systems, training, operating cultures-are not targeted at Levels Two and Three.

The Focus of Level Three Leadership

– Whereas Level One leadership aims for movement, Level Three leadership seeks engagement.

– Level Three leadership proposes that offering workers rewards beyond a monthly paycheck-rewards which tap into their VABEs-will inspire greater performance and lead to enhanced customer satisfaction

– Level Three leadership, especially at the outset, calls for greater effort on the leader’s part than Level One

– But Level One will not keep an organization competitive in today’s environment

The Dark Side Potential of Level Three Leadership and Engagement

• The commitment and enthusiasm which Level Three leadership inspires can lead to an undesired outcome at the individual level: overwork and burnout.

Organizational Implications

• Level One, Two and Three leadership can also be examined from an organizational perspective.– Level One: the application of the latest managerial fad

or technique with the straightforward goal of influencing behavior

– Level Two: Intentional organizational design (structure and systems), the result of conscious thought

– Level Three: Organizational culture and operating values, subtly understood and not easy for all employees to articulate

Applying Level Three Leadership at Both The Individual And Organizational Levels

– Level Three leadership depends on the alignment of the central features of all three leadership levels

– When there are variations across levels-between what people or organizations do, think, and feel-leadership becomes ineffective