Why Leadership Needs to Be Turned Upside-Down

Many leaders in this country (and the world) are not doing so well right now. Take political leaders. They are not getting very high marks for how they have dealt with the global pandemic (with a few exceptions, of course; New Zealand, for example). Political leaders have also not seemingly done well in solving international conflicts or addressing issues of poverty and global warming. In many cases, constituents are trying to get rid of their leaders by voting them out (or, in the case of my state, recalling the Governor).

How about business leaders? Many companies perform so-so. Yet, CEOs and top-level leaders’ compensation keep going up, seemingly not tied to how well or poorly the company is performing. In short, there’s plenty of failed leadership around. What’s wrong with leadership?

In a traditional view, we see leaders at the top of organizations or collectives and we expect them to make the big decisions and engage in the key actions that will get things done. We focus on leaders at the top and we give them most of the credit for the success of a team, organization, state, nation, and we blame them when there is failure. But leadership doesn’t really work like that. In reality, leaders and followers-constituents working together get things done (or don’t). Yes, leaders may be important in directing and mobilizing followers, to some extent, but leadership – getting things done – is a collaborative effort of all the members working together.

Leaders succeed when they focus on those they lead.

There are a few leadership theories that do indeed “turn things upside down.” They view the leader’s role as helping followers achieve their goals. And, if there is alignment between the followers’, the leader’s, and the organization’s goals, success is imminent.

Servant leadership is one example. It argues that a leader is obliged to make followers’ welfare and well-being a priority and serve followers by providing for their needs and responding to their concerns. Doesn’t this sound like what a political leader (the so-called “servant of the people”) is expected to do – and should do [more on Servant Leadership here].

The Path-Goal Theory of leadership is another theory that turns leadership “upside-down” by viewing the leader’s priority as helping the team or group achieve the goals they seek. In essence, the leader’s responsibility is to remove obstacles that keep the team from reaching their goals. This is done through a sort of coaching-mentoring process. Again, in this approach, the leader is not most important. It is the team and the path they are on. [More on Path-Goal Theory here].

What should leadership look like going forward?

Leaders should put their followers first – working to assist them in goal attainment and developing the shared leadership capacity of the collective. Success is all about alignment of goals, leader and followers working together to achieve outcomes that benefit the team or organization and all of its members.

Website: riggioleadership.org