“In the past, a leader was a boss. Today’s leaders must be partners with their people… they can no longer lead based solely on positional power.”
ken blanchard
Effective leaders must model appropriate value behavior. Conflicts arise when individuals have different values in organizations. In my organization, I have seen the devastation of top managers fighting for organizational power at all costs. Clearly, the victims are the employees and the damage is to the organizational culture.
While employees are encouraged to have the highest moral character, some senior managers do not. Some leaders argue that success should be the litmus test, not values. Hill, a renowned author, explains that values count for success. However, the following human weaknesses prevent success: (a) intolerance, (b) greed, (c) greed, (d) jealousy, (e) suspicion, (f) revenge, (g) selfishness, (h) presumption , (i) the tendency to reap where they have not shown it, and (j) the habit of spending more than they earn.
In today’s contemporary organizations, leaders are in danger of losing credibility with followers. Kouzes and Posner, leadership gurus, advocate that leaders “walk what they preach.” Followers expect leaders to show up, pay attention, and be directly involved in the process of doing extraordinary things. This lack of path modeling by leaders may be the root cause of their personal immaturity.
Therefore, progressive leaders understand the concept of modeling the way.
References:
Hill, N. (1969). Laws of success. Chicago, IL: Success Unlimited Edition.
Kouzes, J. and Posner, B. (1995). The leadership challenge. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
© 2006 by Daryl D. Green
