Week 4 – Leadership models > Introduction to week 4 > Welcome to week 4
- Welcome to week 4 of the MOOC Leadership for Engineers! In the first two weeks of this MOOC we looked at leadership in a complex, networked, and interdependent world with unstructured and wicked problems.
- At the end of week 3, you started looking at yourselves.
- In this week we will present a number of leadership models.
- We’ll offer you concrete suggestions on how to develop this leadership style.
- My colleague Dena and I very much look forward to working with your this week and see you on Facebook!
Week 4 – Leadership models > Overview leadership models > The hero leader
- During our explanation and examples of each model, I want you to consider the following questions : In this model, what different types of behaviour have you observed in the leader? Imagine that you are part of this leader’s team.
- As a ‘follower’, which behaviours worked for you? Which behaviours did not work well? Does this leadership style fit you as a leader? Please write a few sentences about what fits and what does not fit, given who you are.
- How effective is this style is in a context of a networked and highly dynamic world with unstructured problems? The first model is trait-based leadership – a theory that relates to the Hero leader.
- The core belief of trait-based leadership is that one can become a great leader by emulating the personal characteristics and behaviors of great leaders.
- One can think of big heroic leaders such as Winston Churchill, the former British prime minister during WWII, or you can think of Nelson Mandela, the first president of South Africa after the abolition of apartheid.
- A more recent example is Steve Jobs, the former CEO of Apple.
- In the following clip we will illustrate the Hero leader using Steve Jobs.
- We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees.
- How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well.
- The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit.
- In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance.
- Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.
- Steve Jobs is clearly a very impressive leader who had a significant impact on this world.
- The trait-based leadership theory says that we can become a great leader by acting like Steve Jobs.
- Being Steve Jobs probably worked for Jobs, but will it work for us? And can we do it without losing ourselves? Will our people trust us if we as leaders display behaviors that are not ours?
Week 4 – Leadership models > Overview leadership models > The chameleon leader
- The Chameleon leader adapts his or her style based on the situation.
- In the following clip, we will illustrate the Chameleon leader.
- Yes, there are situations in which I will have to stand firm.
- There are situations in which back paddling and compromising are not an option.
- Yes, there are situations when dialogue with people is key.
- I will listen, I will learn and then I will lead. Let’s briefly reflect on situational leadership.
- Jack is clearly adapting his style as soon as the situation and the people around him are changing.
- He is making a real effort to read the situation and to do what he feels is right.
- It is not clear if he is reading the situation well and if he is effective in his leadership.
Week 4 – Leadership models > Overview leadership models > The visionary leader
- The role of the transformational leader is to be a role model, to create a shared vision, and to build a team’s trust and capacity to work together.
- Transformational leaders create an environment in which individuals transcend their individual goals to achieve the higher mission of the organization.
- Transformational leaders have to be able to transform the context with their vision, rather than simply react to it.
- In the following clip, you see a speech of Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, a great example of a transformational leader.
- Let us briefly reflect on transformational leadership.
- What’s the main difference between Steve Jobs as a Hero leader and Elon Musk as a Transformational leader? Obviously, there are important parallels between both leaders.
- Transformational leadership is clearly appealing, so what are the issues with this style that we need to be aware of when developing our own leadership style? First of all, not all leaders have visionary personalities, and these may be hard to develop.
- Secondly, all attention goes to the visionary leader instead of the issues that s/he is trying to address.
- Thirdly, the reputation of the organization is largely determined by the visionary leader.
- Fourthly, there is an organizational dependence on a visionary leader, there is the potential for a lack of empowerment for leaders at lower levels of the organization.
Week 4 – Leadership models > Overview leadership models > The servant leader
Let’s have a look at the fourth model: servant leadership.
Ask yourself the question: does this style work in a world of political game playing? The following clip is an example of servant leadership.
Leadership is a gift and is given by those who “Follow”.
Your talents and interest should be your guiding principles of where your heading.
Servant leadership is about serving the needs of your people.
One issue these leaders face is that their people might not know what they want and, if they do, they might want different things.
Week 4 – Leadership models > Sustainable leadership > Leadership in a complex, multi-stakeholder world: sustainable leadership
- Organizations are in desperate need of leaders who can carry this responsibility for people, planet, and profit and can foster long-term relationships with multiple stakeholders.
- Leaders who make long-term sustainability of our world a top priority and who are able to address all challenges.
- Stated differently, organizations need sustainable leaders.
- Modern world knows many leaders who are not solely inspired by a constant push for the creation of shareholder value.
- Who are very capable of balancing short-term and long-term priorities and have the competencies to be – or become – sustainable leaders of the future.
- Sustainable leadership can be described by three groups of competencies.
- We will now take a deep dive into the three competencies of sustainable leadership: These are: Relationship-building, Systems thinking, Sustainability mindset.
Week 4 – Leadership models > Sustainable leadership > Relationship building
- The leader has a hierarchical relationship with her/his followers.
- The leader leads from the top and the follower looks up to the leader from the bottom and follows.
- Leaders need to rely on their people and the broader stakeholders around their business and engage with them at an equal footing.
- Sustainable leaders need to adopt a more horizontal approach.
Week 4 – Leadership models > Sustainable leadership > Systems thinking
- They have the intellectual flexibility to see the big picture, as well as analyzing the details of a strategy, and to shift perspectives quickly and frequently where necessary.
- They can formulate a vision that inspires all stakeholders and decide between competing interests.
Week 4 – Leadership models > Sustainable leadership > Sustainability mindset
- Sustainable leaders have a strong interior sense of purpose that grows into a sense of purpose and mission for their organization.
- Sustainable leaders are oriented towards the long term.
- They feel an inherent motivation to meet the ‘triple bottom line’ of financial, social and environmental performance or ‘people, planet and profit’.
- We summarize all these aspects under the header of ‘sustainability mindset’.
