Stefan Söderfjäll
A little book on leadership
Umeå, 2019
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A little book on leadership
ISBN: 978-91-7683-840-2
© 2019 Stefan Söderfjäll
Translated by Darren Packman.
Graphic Design: Daniel Åberg/Åbergs stilus et forma
Cover: Daniel Åberg//Åbergs stilus et forma
Coverpicture: Galaira/ShutterStock
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5 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 7 WHAT IS LEADERSHIP AND WHAT FUNCTION DOES IT FULFIL? ............................................. 11 Who is responsible for leadership? ...................................... 13 Leadership and Followership ................................................... 15 Further reading ................................................................................. 18 LEADERSHIP AND MOTIVATION .................................. 21 Different types of motivation ................................................. 23 Basic psychological needs .......................................................... 25 Needs-supportive leadership ................................................... 29 Further reading ................................................................................. 31 BAD LEADERSHIP ..................................................................... 33 False leaders ........................................................................................ 35 Despotism/dictatorship .............................................................. 36 Exploiting ............................................................................................ 36 Micromanaging ................................................................................ 37 Waste of resources .......................................................................... 38 Incompetent (and unaware of it) ........................................ 39
6 Ambiguity ............................................................................................ 40 Laissez-faire ....................................................................................... 40 Behaviour or pattern? .................................................................. 42 What to do if you’ve got ‘a bad apple’? .......................... 43 Further reading ................................................................................ 46 MANAGING EXCEPTIONs ............................................... 49 Management by exception ...................................................... 50 Further reading ................................................................................ 61 CONTINGENT REWARD LEADERSHIP ................ 63 Further reading ................................................................................ 75 TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP ..................... 79 Be a role model ................................................................................. 81 Be a visionary ..................................................................................... 84 Challenge convention ................................................................... 88 Empower ............................................................................................... 94 Encourage others ............................................................................ 98 Further reading ............................................................................. 102 AND FINALLY ............................................................................ 105 ABOUT THE AUTHOR .......................................................... 109
INTRODUCTION
My goal with this little book is to share with you many of the ideas I’ve devoted hundreds of pages to in my earlier (and considerably more lengthy) works about leadership. This time however my intention is to try and say as much as possible in as few words as possible. Which is going to be something of a challenge, given that I have a hardwired habit of using entirely too many words.
This book can therefore be considered an updated pocket version of my first two books; ‘The 5 Challenges of Leadership’ and ‘Needs Supportive Leadership’ (translated from the Swedish titles). I do not, of course, want to discourage you from reading either of these two fine books but I also recognise the limited amount of time many leaders and managers have to delve more deeply into literature about leadership.
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So my hope with this book is that it will be more easy to digest and give you all the information you really need. And nothing more.
This book is primarily based on the Full Range Leadership Model (FRLM), which is one of the most researched and respected leadership models around. It also incorporates some work and organisational psychology research centred around motivation and goals, as both of these phenomena are central to leadership. The book’s main target group is managers and leaders and it has been presented (I hope) in a concise and easy-to-use format. All because I want it to be a handy reference guide for those of you who already have work calendars overflowing with other things to do. However, for those of you that want a more complete overview I recommend further reading on leadership at the end of each chapter.
Leadership is a complex and complicated phenomenon. Not least when it comes to any practical application that at best should be built on a sound foundation of knowledge. Any attempt to try and concentrate all the knowledge of leadership found in work and organisational psychology into some sort of concise formula, to-do list or users manual is only destined to fail. Especially in a book as small as the
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one you’re holding in your hands right now. My idea, therefore, is not to present a ‘step by step’ guide. The interpersonal interactions that define leadership are probably better served by a basic understanding of the psychological mechanisms that cause and promote motivation and well-being rather than by simplified cause and effect analyses. This book, in its own small way, is therefore all about the former.
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WHAT IS LEADERSHIP AND WHAT FUNCTION DOES IT FULFIL?
At its core leadership is about social impact. It is the influence that occurs between people, where one or more individuals affect one or more other individuals to think, feel and act in different ways. This definition of leadership, however, is not totally sufficient. We can’t, after all, claim it was leadership that made us feel irritated at the arrogant receptionist we met at the gym or what made us decide which car we allowed to pull out into our lane of traffic – even though both of these are great examples of social impact.
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In order for social impact to qualify as leadership it needs to be goal-oriented and take place within the framework of a defined social system, such as an organisation, a school class or a football team. By goal-oriented I mean that it aims to influence individuals to think, feel and act in a way that contributes to the defined social system fulfilling and achieving its main purpose and goals. So, for example, it may be that the organisation makes a big profit, that the classroom students pass with good grades or that the football team wins more matches than it loses.
Intended goals can vary between different social systems as well as over time in a single social system. A single social system can also have several goals that need to be achieved concurrently and sometimes these goals may not be completely compatible with one another. In fact many times they can even be counterproductive. Because of this an important basic function of leadership is to ensure that the purpose and objectives of, for example, a work group, department or company are clearly defined for the individuals who are expected to realise and achieve them. This particular leadership function is about clarifying what is expected and the preferred behaviour required, in addition to the kind of performances and results
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expected within a certain timeframe. In short leadership should help us answer the question: “What am I/we expected to do and achieve”?
A second basic function of leadership is to get individuals and groups to do what they are actually expected to do – or even enable them to do it more often and better! Leadership is therefore about making or influencing people to act and perform in a way that corresponds to or exceeds defined expectations. To what extent people do this as a result of leadership will determine how effective the leadership really is. In cases where people don’t do what they are supposed to do, do it to a lesser extent than expected or perform below the standards required leadership could be considered less effective. At the very least leadership should be considered one of the factors that influences what people do and how well they do it.
Who is responsible for leadership?
Leadership can be exercised by the people who are primarily expected to perform it – such as formally appointed managers or supervisors. This does not mean to say that leadership is something only reserved for or guaranteed by such positions. An individual can demonstrate leadership without having any formal
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