CENTER POINT THE CENTER FOR SELF-CHANGE NEWSLETTER
Vol. 3, No. 2- February, 2009
Something to Think About Make up your mind the way you make up your bed. Straighten the edges and smooth the surface. Square the corners and tighten the ends. Leave room in the middle for dreams. J. Kingston Cowart
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP AT WORK AND AT HOME
J. Kingston Cowart "The Change Maker"
This issue of Center Point focuses on leadership and has two parts.
The first is an announcement of an outstanding upcoming program on "Survival and Leadership in Troubled Times."
The second is a brief analysis of two important styles of leadership itself.
Success and Leadership in Troubled Times
As vice president for professional development of the San Diego State University Business Alumni Network, I am very pleased to announce the following seminar and networking event:
How do you survive and even rise to leadership in the most challenging economy in decades? Three prominent San Diegans share their insights and their own pathways to leadership during troubled times—which can also be the best times to get ahead if you know how.
CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS
What Kind of Leader Are You?
Two Basic Leadership Styles
Virtually every human group operates most effectively when it has two kinds of leaders, each with a different role. One is the instrumental leader. The other is the affective leader.
The instrumental leader is the operational head of the group.
The affective leader is its heart.
The instrumental leader sees to it that the group's agenda is carried out. There are different ways in which that agenda may be set. It might be determined by the instrumental leader. It might also be set by others within the organization, such as a board of directors, community council, or by a consensus of family members. In any case, the instrumental leader devises a plan of action and makes sure that it is carried out.
Instrumental leaders do that through:
• clarifying goals • devising means of accomplishing them • communicating that information by - defining a clear rationale (reasons for action) - presenting a persuasive rhetoric (ideas intended to influence action) • creating measurable performance standards • enforcing those standards with positive and negative sanctions.
They spend most of their time thinking and speaking.
In a corporation, that might mean the CEO would devise a mission statement, identify steps to success, formalize measures of performance and evaluation, create a time table for completion, and offer meaningful rewards and reprimands.
For families it might simply be a matter of parents letting their children know that their going to college is a family goal, why a college education is so important, what the family will do as a group and as individuals to fulfill that goal—and then keeping the kids on track along the way.
These can all be recognized as the essentially logical, intellectual tasks of the instrumental leader.
Because human beings are at least as emotional as they are logical, however, something more than instrumental leadership is needed for a group to function well.
Many people don't like change and they often dislike being told what to do. They might be enthusiastic about an idea if they come up with it themselves, yet not want anything to do with it if it is someone else's. Additionally, in a group situation people need to feel listened to, understood, and cared about—and that their own ideas and feelings count.
That's where the affective leader comes in. Affect means emotion and the role of the affective leader is to provide emotional support for group members so that they are willing to cooperate in achieving the group's goals.
Therefore the affective leaders work to:
• allay fears • soothe hurt feelings • overcome reluctance • mediate specific arguments • resolve general conflicts • provide individual recognition and praise.
They are therefore most often engaged in empathizing and listening.
This division of leadership between instrumental and affective roles is vital to a group's balance and is essential to its success.
That is equally true whether the group is a family or the crew of a ship at sea. In families, either parent may fulfill either role but both roles must be active. So too, if a ship's captain takes the role of instrumental leader, the executive officer must become the affective leader. He is the one to whom the crew will come with complaints, behavior problems, and the need for personal recognition. The captain will set the agenda and handle discipline problems. If the captain is the affective leader, then the executive officer must be the instrumental leader.
In the same way, if the mother is the instrumental leader of a family, then the father must take the role of affective leader. She will handle the discipline and demand conformance to standards and he will be the more "understanding one."
If both the father and mother, the captain and the executive officer, or the manager and the supervisor assume the same leadership style, however, the group will tend to fail.
With instrumental leadership alone, things become too structured. People feel dismissed and valued only for their adherence to performance objectives. They feel they have no stake in the group's agenda—and will have no desire to contribute to it. When only affective leadership is in play, permissiveness will prevail, accountability will degrade, and an atmosphere of emotional self-indulgence will encourage group members to do whatever they want instead of what needs to be done.
Match Your Style to the Needs of Your Group
We are all aware of family and workplace environments where such problems predominate.
If we want to avoid them in our own groups, then we have to think carefully about how to match our leadership roles to the group's needs—bearing in mind that our style may need to vary from one environment to another, and even one person to another.
A mother, for instance, who is a decisive instrumental leader at work may find that she needs to be a supportive affective leader at home.
One way to be sure that your leadership role is the right one for your group is to look at what other leaders around you are doing.
If you are a manager and one of your subordinate supervisors is a strict rule enforcer, then you will want to be an affective leader with those who work for her. If another supervisor is naturally supportive of employees, your role with his team will need to be more on the instrumental side.
If you are the supervisor, then try to balance your manager's style by emphasizing the other one.
In families, parents may actually have to switch roles in relation to different children, with the father being primarily affective with one child and more instrumental with another—and the mother taking the complementary role in each case.
Being competent at both of these styles of leadership requires flexibility. That's no surprise, though, because successful leadership in any situation always requires a certain degree of flexibility.
If you are sincere about making the best leadership contribution you can wherever you are, then you will want to develop your ability to play either the instrumental or affective role.
Write down the characteristics of each leadership style as presented above. Review them frequently. Practice them little by little in the various groups to which you belong.
Keep that up, paying attention and learning as you go, and you will get very good very quickly at both styles of leadership
That way, when someone asks what kind of leader you are, you will be able to answer: "Whichever kind is called for."
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J. Kingston Cowart
JOIN THE CENTER CIRCLE
It's easy. Every Wednesday for a few minutes between 10:00 and Noon sit down and turn inward - through prayer, meditation, self-hypnosis or any modality you choose - and send out good thoughts to everyone else in the circle.
I'll be there. How about you?
J. Kingston Cowart 619.561.9012 Post Office Box 19005 San Diego CA 92159 jkcowart@self-change.com
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