I am indebted to a conversation with a colleague for the inspiration for my theme this week. We are all brought up with a fixed hierarchical view of workers and bosses. Law firms usually have quite a rigid structure with trainees, assistants, associates and partners. This approach is mirrored in many large consultancies. Businesses generally have the C-Suite of executives supported by subsidiary layers of management generally in a pyramid structure with 8 or 9 “employees” reporting to a “manager”.
Of course, there needs to be a management structure in any business, and somebody must be responsible for making the hire and fire and reward decisions at different levels. However, especially in a professional practice, our day to day working roles are in reality much more subtle and interchangeable. In any given situation we may find ourselves taking a leadership role or being led by others. Or we may be jointly driving an initiative forward with a co-worker.
John C. Maxwell in his book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (which is neatly summarised here) suggests that the true measure of leadership is influence. Accordingly “Everyone is a leader because everyone influences someone”. “Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.” The book is subtitled “Follow Them and People will Follow You”. This article in Psychology Today supports this broader approach to the art of leadership If we define leadership as using my influence for a worthwhile cause, then it helps us see that we are all leading and we are all following.
See this excellent podcast titled “IdeaCast” from the Harvard Business Review which consists of an interview with Sue Ashford, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. She proposes that leadership is dynamic and that there can be multiple leaders in a team in a “shared structure”. There is in effect a “claiming and granting” of leadership depending on the circumstances whether, this is in a formal supervisory role or not. She explains that the world isn’t divided into leaders and followers. Instead, it’s a state that everyone can reach, whether they’re officially in charge or not. She also explains why shared leadership benefits a team and organization. It is rather she suggests important to have a “learning mindset”. In our more complex world work is more interdependent and we need leadership to be shared at all levels. It ultimately makes us all more proactive in our work and indeed personal lives.
This approach is very well reflected in a McKinsey and Wharton article and podcast Why Everyone in an Enterprise Can — and Should — Be a Leader which comments that:
management experts at Wharton and McKinsey say that leadership can be found and must be practiced by employees at all levels of an organization. That is the only way in which an enterprise can get the most from managers and employees alike, achieve its strategic goals, fulfill the personal career aspirations of its people, and lay the groundwork for identifying and developing future leaders, including those who may eventually serve at the highest levels. A payroll clerk who recommends a way to streamline the process of cutting a check is demonstrating leadership — given the parameters of his or her place in an organization — in the same way as a CEO who is launching an initiative to transform a corporation.
I also like this article which cites the example from the natural world of geese flying south for winter.
Just consider the annual scene of geese flying south for the winter. It’s then, when the geese are in search of a warmer climate, that we see the flying-V formation overhead. What’s particularly interesting about this is the goose at the apex of the V might be considered the leader. They set the course, lead the way and deal with the most wind in their face.
But that’s only for a time. When the lead goose tires, he or she makes its way back to the end of the line and a new goose becomes the leader—setting the course, leading the way, and dealing with the most wind in the face.
In business today, organizations need a similar formation, with everyone leading regardless of whether they manage people or not. And that means everyone needs to be ready to lead when it’s their turn.
One thing I truly value as an in-house lawyer is the day to day opportunity to work on a project with, and indeed to be led by and learn from experts in other fields. If I think about a team in an IT company working on a bid for a major service contract there may be an overall “leader” but at any given time, and with reference to specific subject matters, there will be different leaders or “influencers”. The technical team will lead on the service description, the finance experts and modellers on the finance schedule and an implementation lead on the delivery tasks and schedule. This can be even more powerful working with the potential customer using Agile project management processes.
As the writer and leadership consultant Chris Lowney says Everyone is a leader, and everyone is leading all the time-sometimes in immediate, dramatic, and obvious ways, more often in subtle, hard-to-measure ways, but leading nonetheless.
Or put more succinctly by the US broadcasting industry executive Donald McGannon “Leadership is an action, not a position.”
Of course, there needs to be a management structure in any business, and somebody must be responsible for making the hire and fire and reward decisions at different levels. However, especially in a professional practice, our day to day working roles are in reality much more subtle and interchangeable. In any given situation we may find ourselves taking a leadership role or being led by others. Or we may be jointly driving an initiative forward with a co-worker.
John C. Maxwell in his book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (which is neatly summarised here) suggests that the true measure of leadership is influence. Accordingly “Everyone is a leader because everyone influences someone”. “Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.” The book is subtitled “Follow Them and People will Follow You”. This article in Psychology Today supports this broader approach to the art of leadership If we define leadership as using my influence for a worthwhile cause, then it helps us see that we are all leading and we are all following.
See this excellent podcast titled “IdeaCast” from the Harvard Business Review which consists of an interview with Sue Ashford, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. She proposes that leadership is dynamic and that there can be multiple leaders in a team in a “shared structure”. There is in effect a “claiming and granting” of leadership depending on the circumstances whether, this is in a formal supervisory role or not. She explains that the world isn’t divided into leaders and followers. Instead, it’s a state that everyone can reach, whether they’re officially in charge or not. She also explains why shared leadership benefits a team and organization. It is rather she suggests important to have a “learning mindset”. In our more complex world work is more interdependent and we need leadership to be shared at all levels. It ultimately makes us all more proactive in our work and indeed personal lives.
This approach is very well reflected in a McKinsey and Wharton article and podcast Why Everyone in an Enterprise Can — and Should — Be a Leader which comments that:
management experts at Wharton and McKinsey say that leadership can be found and must be practiced by employees at all levels of an organization. That is the only way in which an enterprise can get the most from managers and employees alike, achieve its strategic goals, fulfill the personal career aspirations of its people, and lay the groundwork for identifying and developing future leaders, including those who may eventually serve at the highest levels. A payroll clerk who recommends a way to streamline the process of cutting a check is demonstrating leadership — given the parameters of his or her place in an organization — in the same way as a CEO who is launching an initiative to transform a corporation.
I also like this article which cites the example from the natural world of geese flying south for winter.
Just consider the annual scene of geese flying south for the winter. It’s then, when the geese are in search of a warmer climate, that we see the flying-V formation overhead. What’s particularly interesting about this is the goose at the apex of the V might be considered the leader. They set the course, lead the way and deal with the most wind in their face.
But that’s only for a time. When the lead goose tires, he or she makes its way back to the end of the line and a new goose becomes the leader—setting the course, leading the way, and dealing with the most wind in the face.
In business today, organizations need a similar formation, with everyone leading regardless of whether they manage people or not. And that means everyone needs to be ready to lead when it’s their turn.
One thing I truly value as an in-house lawyer is the day to day opportunity to work on a project with, and indeed to be led by and learn from experts in other fields. If I think about a team in an IT company working on a bid for a major service contract there may be an overall “leader” but at any given time, and with reference to specific subject matters, there will be different leaders or “influencers”. The technical team will lead on the service description, the finance experts and modellers on the finance schedule and an implementation lead on the delivery tasks and schedule. This can be even more powerful working with the potential customer using Agile project management processes.
As the writer and leadership consultant Chris Lowney says Everyone is a leader, and everyone is leading all the time-sometimes in immediate, dramatic, and obvious ways, more often in subtle, hard-to-measure ways, but leading nonetheless.
Or put more succinctly by the US broadcasting industry executive Donald McGannon “Leadership is an action, not a position.”
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