This is a fundamental question that has preoccupied many of us for decades and one which thousands of authorities on leadership have sought to answer.
“Decades of academic analysis have given us more than 350 definitions of leadership… but no clear and unequivocal understanding exists as to what distinguishes leaders from non-leaders and what distinguishes effective leaders from ineffective leaders.”
In Search of a Superhero
In Leadership Transformed: How Ordinary Managers Become Extraordinary Leaders Dr Peter Fuda, researcher, consultant, speaker on leadership and business transformation and adjunct professor at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management says “I struggled with the long list of qualities and attributes that defined “effective” leadership and with the heroic persona that was often attributed to the person sitting atop the organisational hierarchy.”
“It wasn’t a problem with the content of these works – they espoused largely noble attributes like vision, courage and integrity. The problem was that I have never met the superhero leader described in much of what I read.”
A formula for transforming leadership?
Fuda describes his commitment to finding an answer to the question – how does a good manager become a great leader? – as a need to make sense of his work “and eventually allow me to establish and refine processes that would improve our practice.” But after speaking to Manfred Kets de Vries about the models he used in his leadership transformation initiatives, de Vries admitted that “he acted as a bricoleur.”
“Until this point I had assumed that the goal of my research was to come up with some type of formula for leadership transformation, even though finding such a formula was at odds with my beliefs and actual practice. I realised that leadership transformation was something that could only be understood holistically – through subtleties, nuances and idiosyncrasies of the protagonists involved.”
In developing his work Fuda therefore chose to “go down a very different path from the formula-driven texts that we all found so frustrating.”
Transformational metaphors
Having decided that the formulaic approach to leadership is neither useful nor realistic, Fuda embarked on developing “a rich and contextual understanding of leadership transformation” through the stories and experiences – “warts and all” – of leaders who have successfully transformed themselves.
These stories were condensed into seven distinct, yet interconnected metaphors through which these highly effective leaders framed their success:
FIRE (ambition for self and the organisation) – the motivational forces that initiate and sustain transformation efforts, including a personal and organisational reasons for change
SNOWBALL (the virtuous circle) – a virtuous cycle of accountability that propels the change effort forward, starting with the leader and building momentum as others are swept up in the journey
MASTER CHEF (using expert tools and strategies) – artfully applying leadership ‘science’ – frameworks, tools, and strategies for change – to help make transformation happen
COACH (allowing yourself to be coached by others) – how staff can collectively help leaders achieve their aspirations. It is not about leaders becoming coaches; it’s about leaders letting themselves be coached by others
MASK (authenticity) -Fuda invites leaders to drop the mask and get comfortable in your own skin, in an authentic way
MOVIE (self reflection) -processes for increasing self-awareness and reflection that allow leaders to first ‘edit’ their performance, and then direct a ‘movie’ that exemplifies their leadership vision
RUSSIAN DOLLS (connecting all the different levels of the transformational journey) – a complementary set of journeys that interact with a leader’s personal journey
“I firmly believe that these seven metaphors represent a unique method of addressing the fairly common challenge of leadership transformation in a fresh and unconventional way. I have not laid out a neat and multistep model for change, nor am I prescribing a magic pill that will turn the ordinary leader into a superhero, and I’m unapologetic about that. Instead, I have offered seven metaphors that can be used creatively and fluidly by leaders in ways that make sense in their particular context. In essence, I am proposing a new type of change methodology where the leadership art is as important, or perhaps even more important, than the leadership science.”
5 Strategies for Empowering Leadership
To embark on the transformation journey, Fuda identifies five strategies he’s found fundamental to a leader’s ability to move away from control and toward a more empowering approach to leadership:
- From content to context – leaders shift their focus from the day-to-day operational and technical detail of their world to creating a context for the success of others
- From talking to walking – leaders shift from telling others what is required to showing them
- From competing to collaborating – this shift involves moving from isolation, politics, and interpersonal conflict toward genuine relationships built on trust and a desire for mutual success
- From guru to guide – leaders shift from providing answers to coaching others to find answers for themselves
- From critic to cheerleader – this final strategy involves moving from a focus on what is going wrong to what is going right.
Conclusion
Fuda has eloquently described a belief and approach that we have taken for many years and his use of metaphors articulates the transformational journey in a way that resonates with the experiences of those that we work with.
The leadership journey is a very special one. On this journey of transformation there are many traps and pitfalls along the way where. But, if we respond to the challenges in effective ways, we can transform our leadership capabilities and rise to new levels.