Topic 5.1: Five practices of exemplary leadership

Jack Kouzes and Barry Posner are two internationally acclaimed leadership authorities who have a very particular ‘slant’ to their work. In guiding people to build leadership capability, Kouzes and Posner assert that leaders don’t just ‘say’ stuff, they act! As such, their book and framework ‘The Leadership Challenge’^[1], highlights five practices of Exemplary Leadership to guide individuals. We have provided an overview of them below:

1. Model the way

Being a strong role model means being prepared to ‘go first’ and show what is important to you, living the behaviours you want others to adopt not just telling people that is what they should do.  People have increasingly become suspicious of the disconnect between espoused and lived organisational values and will believe not what they hear leaders say, but what they see their leaders consistently do.

Great leaders and managers serve as an example to others and should:

• Set an example for others by behaving in ways that are consistent with espoused values
• Maintain personal responsibility for their actions, including acknowledging when a decision or an action may have appeared at odds with the aspired view.

2. Inspire a shared vision

Kouzes and Posner’s studies and further work highlighted that people are not motivated by fear or reward, but by ideas and future visions that capture their imagination. This is not so much about having a perfectly polished vision, but communicating it effectively so that others take it on board. Great leaders create hope for a positive future and want to bring people with them to achieve success and a sense of shared purpose.

Good leaders and managers therefore will:

• Envision an inspiring and hope-filled future for those they are leading
• Engage others in sharing that vision by appealing to their personal values, interests, hopes and dreams.

3. Challenge the process

The research found that leaders thrive on and learn from adversity and difficult situations. True leaders are risk takers who regard failure – where not caused by repeated poor performance – as a mechanism for learning and innovation. Leaders are also early adopters of innovation. They seek out things that appear to work and then insist that they are improved. They challenge constantly and look for opportunities to rethink how we do things.

So, as a leader or manager applying this practice you need to:

• Seek challenging opportunities to change, grow, innovate, and improve
• Experiment, take risks, and learn from mistakes and challenges within the work environment.

4. Enable others to act

True leaders know that they don’t have all the answers and that to try and do everything themselves is not only foolish but also not sustainable – they achieve results through others. So people must truly feel able to act with authority and autonomy to achieve their best and then must be supported to turn their ideas into action. Understanding your people and building excellent relationships with them is key here. For a whole range of reasons, we can sometimes foster dependence rather than independence within our teams.

So as a leader and manager it is critical to:

• Foster an environment of collaboration and teamwork by promoting co-operative goals and building trust within the team.
• Stretch people by sharing knowledge and authority and enabling them to participate in meaningful work.

5. Encourage the heart

The fifth practice described by Kouzes and Posner highlights that all people with be at their best when they feel a sense of personal passion and commitment to their work.  Hence, leaders can best tap into the enthusiasm and passion of their team members when they share their own stories of passion and commitment. Strong leaders enjoy celebrating successes – not just reflecting on failures – and will tend to seamlessly highlight the work of others in a respectful but authentic way.

These leaders:

• Acknowledge individual contributions to the achievement of goals
• Celebrate team accomplishments regularly and encourage teams to do so internally as well; acknowledging the importance of teams spending time together.

While each of the five practices “makes sense” and none sound too difficult, the reality is that these are the practices of “exemplary” leaders – not automatic behaviours of those appointed to formal leadership. They take conscious effort and attention. And, as we know, positive behaviours are often difficult in stressful or unfamiliar contexts.

No doubt, you can see the direct influence of some of the earlier concepts we’ve looked at – self-awareness and EQ, communication skills, ethics and values – on how effectively we influence others by applying these five principles.

The second reading we would like you to explore is from Adam Grant, a Wharton Business School Professor, who has written about the importance and high value of having a “give” versus “take” orientation in our work with other people. In the reading below, the focus is on the importance and proven results that come from recognising and working with people’s potential.  It reminds us how powerful our mindset towards other is in their development and success.