Why

Leadership
Matters
Why Should Anyone Be Led By You?

Professor Gareth Jones

#HRCONGRESS17

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Why Should Anyone Be Led By You?

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Leading v Managing

Leadership is a non – hierarchical concept

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Effective leadership
excites people to
exceptional performance

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Behaviour in organisations

• Individual
• Team

• Organisation

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 The Search for Authentic
Leadership
• Loss of reality 

 47 x 47 x 47
 60 x 50 x 17
• Loss of meaning   60 x 50 x 17 = 50k

 25 x 25 x 50 = 30k

 Gig economy

 Zero hours contracts

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 The Search for Authentic
Leadership

 Loss of community 

 Opportunity or threat?

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Loss of Trust

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Generational Change
Gen X on steroids…

High expectations of self and others

Creative challenges and responsibility

Fast recognition

Question traditional authority

High mobility

Work-life balance

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Rise of Clevers
Cleverness is central to their identity
Their skills are not easily replicated
They know their worth
They ask difficult questions
They are organisationally savvy
They are not impressed by hierarchy
They expect instant access
They are well connected
They have a low boredom threshold
They won’t thank you

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Leadership is in short supply

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Structures and cultures kill
leadership

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17
 The Leadership Deficit

• We want it – but we kill it

• We research it – but we don’t understand it

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Asking the wrong questions….
Who Makes It To The Top?
• First child or first son
• High achiever
• High energy levels
• Longer time span
• Goal directed
• Politically active
• Loners
• Field independent

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Asking the wrong questions…
What do those at the top think?
• Capacity to develop strategy
• Able to work with a variety of people
• Early responsibility for important tasks
• Strong achievement goals
• Early leadership experience
• Experience of several business functions
• Integrity, trust, concern for people

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 A better question might be……

What do followers want?

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 • Followers want community

• Followers want significance

• Followers want excitement

• Followers want authenticity

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Ask yourself

• Are you exciting?

• Are you authentic?

• Who decides?

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Classic leadership research

• Trait

• Style

• Contingency

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Emphasis on leaders not
leadership

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 How we understand leadership

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Leadership is contextual

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Leadership is relational

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Leadership is non-hierarchical

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 What authentic leaders do

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Sense situations….
and take symbolic action to
change the situation

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Read – and rewrite – the
context

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Identify with your followers

Get close but keep your distance

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17
 Show your difference

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Show your difference

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Show your difference

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Display significant, real and
perceived differences…

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 …related to context

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Know and show
yourself…enough

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17
 Reveal weakness –
focus dissatisfaction

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Take personal risks because
you care
• When you really care you reveal your
weaknesses.

• Your weaknesses should be real, humanising,

and may show followers how they can help.

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Effective leaders use their
emotions to liberate the
energy of others

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Descartes was wrong – the fully
rational human being is emotional

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Communicate…..

• Differences
• Weaknesses
• Vision
• Values

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Tell a story

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Choose your channel

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Conform enough
Connect – gain traction – change

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Become an authentic
chameleon

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Retain your authenticity by…

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Consistency between words
and deeds

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 A common thread in your role
performance

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17
Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17
Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17
 Comfort with origins

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 BE YOURSELF
MORE
WITH SKILL

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Inspirational Tensions

• Show strength but reveal weakness

• Be yourself but conform enough
• Get close but keep your distance
• Be authentic but be prepared to be a role
player

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 What authentic leaders do

• Sense situations
• Read - and rewrite – the context
• Identify – get close but keep your distance
• Reveal difference - know and show yourself enough
• Reveal weakness
• Communicate with care
• Conform enough
• Practice what you preach
• Keep a common thread
• Be comfortable with origins

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 What you can do now

• Crucibles of experience
• Sources of replenishment
• Gain perspective
• Get feedback
• Don’t try to be perfect
• Being good v being great
• Customize your development
• Are you in the right place to express your authentic self?

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 Balancing authenticity and skill

High
Maverick Effective
Leader
Authenticity
Unaware
and Phoney
Low
clumsy

Skill

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 SOME NEW LEADERSHIP RULES
Do’s Don’ts

Explain and persuade Tell people what to do

Use expertise Use hierarchy
Give people space & resources Allow them to burnout
Tell them what Tell them how
Give people time Interfere
Provide boundaries Create bureaucracy
(agree simple rules)
Give recognition Give frequent feedback
(amplify their achievements)

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

 SOME NEW LEADERSHIP RULES

Do’s Don’ts
“Train”
Encourage failure & maximise learning
Expose them to politics
Protect them from the rain
Use bullshit or deceive
Talk straight
Build an ivory tower
Give real world challenges
with constraints
Recruit a star
Create a galaxy
Don’t take all the credit
Conduct and connect
as their leader

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17
 www.creativemanagementassociates.com

Designing and Building People-centric Organizations #HRCONGRESS17