POSTHEROIC LEADER: A NEW DEFINITION OF

LEADERSHIP

HDCS 4393/4394 Internship

Dr. Shirley Ezell

Introduction

• Leadership watchers have observed a fundamental reorientation away from the heroic model and an alteration in leadership focus.

• Shared responsibility and control have taken the place of the “ individual hero carrying the burden alone”.

Introduction (Cont.)

This leadership style has some critical components:(1) Leader must believe in the concept.(2) Leader must create a team of key subordinates

jointly responsible for department success.(3) Manager must work to develop management

responsibility in subordinates.(4) Leader must develop subordinates’ abilities to

share management of units performance.

I. Model is Manager as Developer

• Model is based on premise that skills have to be learned.

• Common goals must be accepted.• When expectations change, the norms must

be modified.• Over time a team can be built.• The image of the leader is like a coach,

working hard to bring the team along.

A. How Does it Work?

• Leader drops mindset of total personal responsibility.

• Leader thinks how can a problem be solved in a way that further develops my subordinates’ commitment and capabilities.

• Leader throws some problems back to subordinates. Example: “ I think you have a good handle on the difficulty, so why don’t you take a first cut and come back in 2 days?”

B. Benefits of the Manager as Developer

• Chance is increased that tasks will be accomplished at a high level of quality.

• Task Excellence is generally a result because members are more likely to seize new opportunities as they develop. They uncover problems and difficulties early, and share expertise and feel committed to make it happen.

• Organizations have a high rate of change and this provides increased opportunities for innovation.

• Responses to new conditions are quicker.• Members operating with this model are often

aware of problems before the leader.• Members are often interface with clients,

suppliers, and other units and get ideas.• Developer leadership approach causes

increased feelings of responsibility.• Overall results show increased subordinate

motivation.

B. Benefits of the Manager as Developer

C. Model in Action

• This model can fail when members do not have managerial skill and technical knowledge.

• It can help members anticipate problems of coordination and over time responsiveness increases as members strive for excellence.

• Results often show that responsibility develops best when people can exert influence.

• There must be continuous development of individual skills. Examples are using university executive programs to train individuals, use of taskforces and permanent lateral moves of employees to different geographical locations.

• And it must balance organizational and individual needs.

• Must determine and build a common department vision.

C. Model in Action (Cont.)

Need interactions among all 3 componentsA. Leader must help group function better.B. Group develops trust and maturity.C. Members pulling together strengthen vision.

Key Concept: The unusual thing about manager as developer is the model is both the description of the state and the description of how to achieve the state.

C. Model in Action (Cont.)