Leadership has many definitions by many over time. Depending on where you look, there are approximately 4000 scholarly definitions and thousands of others elsewhere. Having been involved with leadership development for the last 40 years in a variety of industries, starting in the Air Force, I decided to create my own, based on those years of experience and research. I define leadership in the following manner:
Leadership
“Leadership is the capacity of an individual in a managerial position to positively influence, engage, and motivate their workforce. One where they demonstrate empathy, compassion, listen to understand, rather than respond, is trustworthy, authentic, and creates a psychologically safe environment. One where they create clarity and minimize uncertainty as much as possible during organizational change. In summary, a leader is one who creates an environment where the workforce feels engaged.”
As you read the above, the question to ask yourself is: if you’re a leader, would your staff believe this describes you? If you’re an HR professional, would the workforce agree that this describes their leaders? If not, why not? What is taking place that the workforce does or does not believe it describes their leadership? Also, are different levels of leaders from senior executives through middle management and front-line supervisors seen similarly or differently? How people feel about their leaders starts to get at the organizational culture.
You will notice that some of the words in the definition are bolded and underlined. This is purposely done, since these terms have extensive research and writings on them. They can be found in numerous college textbooks in management, leadership, organizational behavior, and other related classes. And intuitively, would you not want to work for a leader that this definition describes? Or be a leader that people think of when they read this definition?
I have mentioned to my students that there are many managers, but few leaders, and we need both. As Peter Drucker has been credited with saying, managers do things right, while leaders do the right things. Managers are usually associated with the management cycle that includes planning, leading, controlling, and organizing. When managers focus on the human aspect of their organization and the role and goals of their respective department, it has been shown in numerous studies and writings on the impact on the bottom line.
There are extensive writings highlighting the changing expectations of today’s workforce. They are looking for purpose, happiness, autonomy, and to work for leaders who listen, are empathetic, and to treat them with dignity and respect.
In addition, there is a lot of change taking place in organizations, including the increase of Artificial Intelligence (AI). All of this change leads to uncertainty, which is not something that we are neurologically wired for. This, in turn, has led to the need for leaders who can minimize this uncertainty and effectively lead their teams through change. I also believe that, in the growing age of AI and uncertainty, organizations and their leaders to create human intelligent (HI) workplaces. I define HI in the following manner.
As you read the above, the question to ask yourself is: if you’re a leader, would your staff believe this describes you? If you’re an HR professional, would the workforce agree that this describes their leaders? If not, why not? What is taking place that the workforce does or does not believe it describes their leadership? Also, are different levels of leaders from senior executives through middle management and front-line supervisors seen similarly or differently? How people feel about their leaders starts to get at the organizational culture.
You will notice that some of the words in the definition are bolded and underlined. This is purposely done, since these terms have extensive research and writings on them. They can be found in numerous college textbooks in management, leadership, organizational behavior, and other related classes. And intuitively, would you not want to work for a leader that this definition describes? Or be a leader that people think of when they read this definition?
I have mentioned to my students that there are many managers, but few leaders, and we need both. As Peter Drucker has been credited with saying, managers do things right, while leaders do the right things. Managers are usually associated with the management cycle that includes planning, leading, controlling, and organizing. When managers focus on the human aspect of their organization and the role and goals of their respective department, it has been shown in numerous studies and writings on the impact on the bottom line.
There are extensive writings highlighting the changing expectations of today’s workforce. They are looking for purpose, happiness, autonomy, and to work for leaders who listen, are empathetic, and to treat them with dignity and respect.
In addition, there is a lot of change taking place in organizations, including the increase of Artificial Intelligence (AI). All of this change leads to uncertainty, which is not something that we are neurologically wired for. This, in turn, has led to the need for leaders who can minimize this uncertainty and effectively lead their teams through change. I also believe that, in the growing age of AI and uncertainty, organizations and their leaders to create human intelligent (HI) workplaces. I define HI in the following manner.
HUMAN INTELLIGENT (HI) WORKPLACE
A Human Intelligent (HI) Workplace is defined as one where leaders model effective leadership behaviors by creating an organizational culture where the workers’ experience is one of being engaged while collaborating with their diverse team members.
It is a workplace where the workforce feels psychologically safe when raising different perspectives, taking risks, being innovative, and/or being creative. It is a workplace where the workforce feels listened to and understood by their leaders. Itis a workplace where the workforce finds fulfillment in the work they do and, in the organization, they work in.
Again, you see words underlined and bolded because these terms also have extensive writing and research behind them. And even if they did not, intuitively, would you not want to work in a place like the one described above? Especially since it is anticipated that you will spend over 90,000 of your waking adult life at work.
So what is leadership? The definition of leadership above describes someone who is in a better position to help create a human intelligent workplace. If you read or happen to work in an organization recognized as a Great Place to Work, you might tend to find leaders like the one described above and workplaces that are human intelligent workplaces.
Where are you in this area? How would your team describe you, and do they consider you an effective leader? What do you need to work on? Take time to reflect and find out if you have not. Remember, leadership is a journey, not a destination. I wish you the best in this space.
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