LEADERSHIP CHRONICLES - WHAT IS LEADERSHIP?

Recently I had the opportunity to facilitate a leadership workshop for the Specialized High Skills Major students at Oakwood Collegiate Institute in Toronto.  Oakwood is an excellent public school for those interested in strong academics and arts, Oakwood has also boasted one of the best boys basketball programs in Toronto for a long time.

I love facilitating these kinds of workshops.  Each group presents their own unique challenges as I try to facilitate the learning of certain outcomes and at the same time make the session engaging and interactive for the participants.  I find that by the end of a session I've learned as much or more than the participants.

The learning outcomes for the leadership workshops were: 1. develop a clear understanding of what is leadership; 2. connect students with the behaviours of Exemplary Leaders; and 3. do some skill building around the Kouzes and Posner's second law of leadership "Leadership is a Relationship".  The session was fun and interactive and many students commented on how much they learned.  A few students in particular told me that they didn't know what to expect or really understand what leadership was when they signed up for the session.  The session provided them with enough information to drive their curiosity to further develop their understanding of leadership.

I've learned over time that if I ask 100 people "What is leadership?", I will get 100 different answers.  Thus the first and most important learning outcome goal for the Oakwood session.  How can these intelligent, vibrant, creative, inquisitive students become better leaders if they have no clear or accurate understanding of what leadership is?  How many times have you or those you know used the word leader or leadership in a sentence when speaking about someone abilities or lack thereof?  Was everyone in the conversation talking about the same thing?  I hear a lot of educators, coaches, parents and critics speak of an apparent lack of leadership with todays youth and young adults.  If this assertion is true I would point to the fact that there is little understanding of what leadership really is.  We spend a lot of time helping people try to achieve something of which they have little understanding.  Perhaps this is the disconnect that is leading to the perceived lack of leadership in todays youth and young adults.

Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group/individual to achieve a common goal.  The points of emphasis in this statement are the words process, influence and common goal.

Leadership is a process.  Therefor it is what you do, not who you are or merely what you say.  It's behaviours that contribute to and facilitate influencing constituents (friends, staff, team, teammates, family, etc) to achieve a common goal.  The Oakwood students identified a myriad of behaviours that contributed to the above mentioned influence.  They spoke of friends they have who motivate them by helping bright side of situations (Encourage the Heart). The students gave examples of how leaders walk the talk and "Model the Way" by setting the example and leading by example.

Leadership is about influence.  If someone influences you, they facilitate a shift or a change from a previous way of being, behaving or thinking.  For transformational leaders, this influence is in a positive growth direction and focused on the betterment of the constituent.  There are also Pseudo-Transformational leaders who carry out a process and influence their followers, but the purpose is not focussed on the betterment of the follower, but rather on the creating an improved situation for the leader at the expense of everyone else.  Trust is at the root of influence.  Constituents allow the leader to influence them.  Power is the ability of one to influence another.  Power and subsequently influence is given and allowed by the influencee to the influencer.  Thus the need for a level of trust to drive influence.

Leadership is concerned with achieving common goals.  Trust is best developed through relationships.  When leaders share their values and beliefs, constituents have an opportunity to decide "Is this someone I want to trust and have influence over me or not?" This means leaders must have clarity on their values and beliefs before they can share them with anyone.  Leaders must also understand the values and beliefs of constituents so that shared values can be developed which lead to common goals.  Constituents have more reason to buy in and trust when their personal values and goals are represented in the shared values and common goals of the organization, team, family, etc (Inspire a Shared Vision; Leadership is a Relationship).  Effective leaders find common ground where everyone in the organization can share ownership and move forward to achieve a common goal.  It's not the leaders goal, or the goal of the followers, but rather an integration of both if the leader truly wants buy in.

There were many more awesome nuggets of learning for me and the Oakwood students.  I thought I would start at the root of understanding the meaning of leadership so that people can effectively practice leadership, develop their own leadership and influence the leadership development of others.