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We the Leaders: In Order to Form a Leadership Organization

January 31, 2006 

"In the 21^st Century, it is argued that all members of the community need to contribute to the growth of that community, both independently and interdependently with others.  Readers might question how such a concept of leadership can possibly work.  Would there not be chaos if we let everyone in a community go off on their own tangents leading in any way they wish?  Further, people are needed who are committed to action to accomplish the goals of the community, not just their personal goals.  Fortunately, leaderful leaders are not interested in going off on tangents.  Their leadership is not a guise for abdicating responsibility for action.  They develop sufficient trust in others to make leadership a shared yet powerful tool for action and responsibility.

The first critical process in the leadership model defines the outcome to which the community becomes dedicated.  A mission becomes the stabilizing force in the face of pressure from forces both inside and outside the system to change it.  The second critical process, actualizing goals, is concerned with how a community organizes itself to extend social and political energy and shape its economic performance.  The third critical process, sustaining commitment and cohesiveness, addresses the need of work units and constituents to come together in a mutual adjustment process to support the community as a whole.  The fourth process, responding to changes is a boundary function that links a community with its environment. 

When it comes to the concept and practice of leadership, there is a cultural presumption, or an implicit model, that suggests that its meaning is so widely accepted that there is no apparent need to question its prevailing connotation.  In other words, its qualities have become commensurate with leadership itself (Meindl, 1990).  Although disputable, proposed here are four tenets that describe the Western historical tradition in leadership (Raelin, 2003):  a.  Leadership is serial.  b. Leadership is individual.  c. Leadership is controlling.  d. Leadership is dispassionate. 

Leaderful practice offers an alternative approach to traditional leadership.  It is proposed here than as an integrative model that has been in the making for some time (though, until recently, not in a coherent form), it can accomplish the four processes of leadership in more settings and with more pervasive effectiveness than the traditional approach.  The first tenet of leaderful practice, that leadership is concurrent, is perhaps the most revolutionary.  Leaderful leadership is not only concurrent, but is also collective.  Leaderful leadership is also collaborative.  Finally leaderful managers are compassionate.

There are a number of institutional forces that are requiring a change in the nature of leadership.  Organizational boundaries are becoming more fluid and permeable.  Managers, meanwhile, are finding themselves increasingly without authority to direct the tasks of others; rather, they can do no more than guide cooperation toward task accomplishment.  Each worker is also likely to possess knowledge that may exceed that of his or her superiors.  Leadership, then, becomes operative as a collective property, not the sole sanctuary of any one (most important) member.

Leaderful practice may not always be specified as the first leadership behavior to be exhibited within any community.  Preparing an organization to embrace leaderful practice requires efforts at the organizational or institutional level.  In a leaderful culture, there needs to be an openness to dialogue about such 'undiscussables' as unpopular views, defensive routines, conflicts of interest, or intellectual property rights (Pedler, 2002). 

Leaderful practice can affect the bottom-line of our organizations either indirectly through a number of intervening processes or directly on its own.  Bottom-line results notwithstanding, leaderful practice can have its own redeeming effects an inherently virtuous process.  Leadership can become collective and concurrent when people decide to proactively enlist their teammates to forge a leaderful identity (Raelin, 2005, p. 18-30)."

Reference:   Raelin, J.A. (2005). We the leaders: in order to form a leaderful organization. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, Vol. 12, No. 2. 

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Created: 2007-08-28, Updated: 2009-02-17