Cynthia Schoeman
Are leaders born or made? What made Mahatma Ghandi a person of adulation to millions, able to lead thousands in protest actions?
The debate still rages. But whether leadership is inborn or developed, certainly there are too few natural leaders to meet the demands of companies in today’s fast changing world. Therefore, organisations must look at creating leaders.
Past approaches to training leaders have not been very successful. The primary reason is that most leadership training programmes focus on developing individuals’ skills and knowledge. They fail to acknowledge leadership is about the relationship between leader and followers.
True leadership has three facets – you, me and us. Most leaders spend a lot of time focusing outward on the “you” in organisations, whether in productivity gains, motivation or unleashing potential.
Various factors, including legislation in South Africa, have created a focus on “us” – on the participative element of this relationship. However, the focus on “me”, the leader, is often absent. This neglect reduces leadership efficacy. Leaders cannot build potent relationships with others unless they have an effective relationship with themselves.
So leadership development needs to follow an “inside-out” approach, centred on self. Developing a leader from the inside-out means building the inner person, rather than just adding layers from outside. This means training programmes have to address three areas.
They have to explore one’s personal internal roadmap – your values, purpose, paradigms, character and motives. They also have to build knowledge and understanding of the external context – the realities and demands of the business environment. Finally, such programmes have to facilitate alignment between the internal and external. Together these areas form a foundation to which competency development, tailored to the circumstance or the individual, can be added.
Many factors, such as the rise of the knowledge era and the competitive advantage of intellectual capital, are leading to increased demand for leadership skills. It is therefore increasingly important that leadership development programmes are designed and structured to ensure the outcomes are aligned with the demands of the future as well as serving the individuals involved.
Cynthia Schoeman is director of the Senior Executive Leadership Forum, Wits Business School