Choose Your Role Models Carefully
If I have learned one thing over my more than 30 years as a supervisor, manager and consultant, it is that an organization functions most effectively and efficiently when its personnel perform their jobs competently, willingly and collaboratively, with little need for direct supervision. To do so requires that the organization's personnel evolve from a state of dependence to independence, with the ultimate goal of functioning interdependently. Helping people and organizations get to this point is leadership. Leadership enables a group of people to operate on its own, with a clear direction, without depending on any one individual for success. When this happens, people and organizations have performed the leadership function adequately.
The very best leaders I know understand that knowing who they are matters more than what they say, or even do. This is true whether people manage, supervise or simply serve as a team member. My leadership role models also know that supervisory or leadership techniques, styles or practices are secondary to character. Employing techniques or embracing a style without an appropriate character foundation can represent the dividing point between influence and manipulation, or leadership and coercion.
Unfortunately, many would-be leaders lack understanding of these fundamental principles, though rarely because they are the much-stereotyped evil supervisor. Contrary to popular belief, I find that most supervisors, managers and other potential leaders are trying hard, wanting to do a good job and are doing the best they can. More often than not, when a person engages in ineffective leadership behaviors, I find them simply emulating the behaviors and habits of the people who influenced them. We all tend to believe we have developed some unique leadership style, all our own. However, the evidence suggests that our character as a leader, as well as our leadership style, is much more like an accumulation of our influences. Many fire people can readily identify their leadership role models. Overall, this represents a positive and very cool thing about the fire community.
However, when I find a promising person struggling with “the leadership thing,” I often also find their role models coming up short, even though they are usually quite admirable people. Again, not because the role models were not excellent folk, but more likely because the role model came from an earlier point in the would-be leader's career. What worked well for that person, at that time, in that place, won't address the contemporary leader's challenges. While you may revere your hotshot superintendent as a fire deity, what worked for your hotshot superintendent, or worked for you when you were a hotshot superintendent, may not serve you well as an interdisciplinary team leader. How your line officer ran the show 20 years ago may no longer have any contemporary or cultural relevance.
The same holds true for historic figures as role models. We can learn great leadership lessons by studying great leaders. However, Lincoln did not have social media, Colin Powell could enforce the Uniform Code of Military Justice and you are not Ernest Shackleton with your ship stuck in the ice. We can learn from the experience of great leaders only to the extent that we can draw contemporary lessons from historic experience. For these reasons, I caution anyone who hopes to lead to choose leadership role models carefully, because context is so important in the leadership environment.
We must remember that research shows that Americans spend perhaps 85% of their career becoming “technically good” in their field and 15% learning to deal with people. In my work, I find quite a few struggling leaders emulating role models who were good technicians and, often, excellent supervisors, but who either operated in an earlier time, in a less complex role and/or in a less complex environment than the contemporary leader. Unfortunately, when people emulate less-than-relevant role models, this proves quite frustrating and stressful for both the would-be leader and those they attempt to lead. It also proves unhealthy for the organization.
Often, I find budding leaders trying to be like role models who simply did not require the skill set necessary in the potential leader's position or operating environment. The leader's skill set falls into three broad areas: technical skill, human skill and conceptual skill. As an individual's role moves toward leadership in an organization, the need for technical skill decreases while human and conceptual skill requirements increase. That is not to say that leaders at “the pointy end” do not still need considerable technical skill.
Because leaders bring about change with and through other people, being individually productive and having great technical skills are not enough, which brings me back to my point about role models. If one's intent is to lead, the would-be leader should not emulate role models who were great individual producers, even if they successfully led by example. Early in my career, the ultimate compliment was for someone to call you a “good fireman” (apologies to all those good firewomen who have come along since). We still want to continue to admire and respect the “good firemen” in our lives; they served us well early in our careers. However, we do not want to emulate them as leaders, unless they were good leadership role models, as well.
I advise up-and-coming leaders to pick their leadership role models carefully. My advice is to make sure that these role models, at very least:
brought about needed change that reflected people's mutual interests;
communicated about issues that connected them to their followers;
went beyond the typical boss-subordinate relationship to develop relationships;
inspired accomplishment and commitment;
modeled leadership behavior;
grew leaders in their organization;
focused on important issues;
connected their group to the outside world.
Mike DeGrosky is chief executive officer of the Guidance Group, a consulting organization specializing in the human and organizational aspects of the fire service, and an adjunct instructor in leadership studies for Fort Hays State University. Follow him on Twitter @guidegroup or via LinkedIn.
Acceptable Use Policy blog comments powered by Disqus
