Mastering Leadership
In this refreshingly engaging book, Anderson & Adams set out their Universal Model of Leadership, exploring the behaviours that enable successful leadership and how they are developed.
At its heart is the idea that a leader's behaviour is driven by the way they see the world, and that this consciousness develops in the leader through a series of sequential developmental stages. Indeed, through their own research, Anderson & Adams found that a leader's effectiveness is strongly correlated to their stage of development. Since organisational performance is itself strongly correlated to leadership effectiveness, their hypothesis is that it depends to a significant extent on the level of consciousness of its leadership.
The model - based on a significant body of psychological, organisational and leadership-focused research - outlines five levels of leadership which are presented as a spectrum of behaviour, with leaders becoming more effective as they move through each stage of development.
As an egocentric leader, the only thing that matters to me is myself. I ignore or deny the needs of others as they compete with my own. This stance served me well as an adolescent as it enabled me to ensure my developmental needs were met so I could gradually gain independence. But as a leader, my exclusive focus on myself at the expense of my employees, peers, customers and others is debilitating and means I am ineffective and unproductive.
As a reactive leader, I tend to identify with certain strengths or characteristics, overdeveloping them whilst underdeveloping others. I am either 'authentic', for example, or 'inauthentic'; 'strong' or 'weak' ... there is no room for nuance. I emphasise caution over innovation, defensiveness over engagement, and aggression over connection. Of course, this is all about gaining the approval of others, protecting myself, and keeping my environment as predictable and controlled as I can.
As a creative leader, I am no longer interested only in my own development; I am also focused on developing the capacity and capability of the organisation I lead. I am approachable and skillful in working with people, and lead high-performing teams through listening well, mentoring and and empowering others. I embody my vision for the organisation with such integrity and authenticity that it I come to symbolise it.
As an integral leader, I take creative leadership to the next level. My vision for the organisation includes a greater vision for the whole system of which it is a part. In fact, I internalise that system and come to be seen as an architect of a future in which my organisation plays a transformative role. I focus on the interdependencies and connections between the elements in (and outside of) my organisation and serve to enable the whole.
As a unitive leader, I am at the peak of the leadership game. Through long-term reflective and critical practice, I have achieved a very well developed sense of who I am, how I appear to others and where my right place is in the world. This suggests a level of disengagement from the world, but this couldn't be further from the truth ... in fact, I am in full union with it. My focus is on serving the greater good.
For the authors, development from one stage to the next is conscious and is about leading oneself - the development of one's self - first and foremost. It's about focus and practice, and opening oneself up to critique and challenge. And it's about personal mastery, becoming the leader one's context requires in order to create the outcomes that most matter. As the authors put it, leadership "is the deployment of self into circumstance. You are your primary asset. How you show up moment to moment is your leadership impact."
So what stage were you at today and what do you think was the impact of that on those around you?
What experiences and opportunities do you need to move on to the next stage?
How will you know when you are there?