“Obstacles are a natural part of accomplishing significant outcomes. A leader deals with obstacles by …”

In my experience, one of the greatest obstacles to leadership is one’s self.  Any number of frailties can get in the way of being an effective leader.  In fact, this way of looking at leadership, that there are certain characteristics that prevent one from being an effective leader, remind me very much of trait theory.

Trait theory

A basic description of trait theory is here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoMFwXyg-Dg

While some trait theories are among the oldest leadership theories (e.g. the Great Man theory) and could be discounted in light of more recent leadership theories, other trait theories continue to be relevant in analysis of leadership.  The Five Factor model consists of five traits, comprising the acronym OCEAN:

• Openness to experience
• Conscientiousness
• Extraversion
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism

Let’s take the Five Factor model as our working example of trait theories.  Four of the five factors are strongly correlated to people’s perceptions of a leader:

Factor	Degree of Correlation to Emergence of a Leader
Openness to experience	.24
Conscientiousness	.33
Extraversion	.33
Agreeableness	.05
Neuroticism	-.24

Judge, Bono, Ilies & Gerhardt, 2002

All five factors are strongly correlated to a leader’s effectiveness:

Factor	Degree of Correlation to Effectiveness of a Leader
Openness to experience	.24
Conscientiousness	.16
Extraversion	.24
Agreeableness	.21
Neuroticism	-.22

Judge, Bono, Ilies & Gerhardt, 2002

A leader can still become a leader without these qualities, and can completely ignore his or her shortcomings, muddling through with difficulty.  Assuming, however, that you want to be the most effective leader you can be, how does one constructively deal with a lack of one or more of the essential qualities of being a leader?

Context Matters

Matching the leader to the environment is one way to deal with a lack of particular leadership skills.  Judge’s 2002 study indicates that not all leadership skills are required for all environments:

Factor	Business	Military	Students
Openness to experience	.23	.06	.28
Conscientiousness	.05	.17	.36
Extraversion	.25	.16	.40
Agreeableness	-.04	-.04	.18
Neuroticism	-.15	-.23	-.27

For example, if you lack openness to experience, you may yet to well in the military, where this does not impact your leadership effectiveness.  If you lack agreeableness, you may be fine in business or military, but not in the classroom.

I have worked with principals who function poorly in community schools, alienating parents or being overly harsh with students, but in the context of being principal of a special program (e-Learning, for example), they have done well.

This is well-described by situational leadership theory, the matching of a leader’s style to the employee’s developmental level plays a great role in that leader’s success.  If the situation requires high-task orientation, but does not require relational skills, such as the military, a leader who lacks agreeableness will do fine.  If, however, a situation requires high relational skills, but less task-orientation, such as a special education classroom, a leader who lacks agreeableness will do poorly.

Being able to put yourself in the right context is important, but not always possible.  What do you do when you find yourself in a leadership situation and you are in over your head?

I’m a leader… Now what? The importance of mentorship.

Many leaders are promoted based on their skill level in a particular area, not necessarily leadership!  For example, a school principal may have an extensive background as a teacher, but no experience or skill as a manager.  These two roles require completely different skill sets.  Obstacles encountered in the new role may have no relation to obstacles in the former role.  An essential component of improving one’s leadership practice may be seeking the services of a mentor.  The following video describes the benefits of mentorship:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIqSGMxIQKg

Most people do not have a mentor, and upon introspection, realize that they would like one.  However, to accept a mentor, you must admit that you don’t have all the answers.  And for people in leadership roles, that may not be an easy thing to admit!

There may be somebody within your organization who can coach you.  It requires a time commitment (a set appointment every month, for example) and a focused agenda.  However, if this is not available, a more formal mentorship can occur using a leadership consultant.  Many successful leaders are willing to pay high rates for the services of leadership consultants.  Leaders report that consultants help them to improve themselves, help them to keep themselves accountable, and help them develop ideas that they can take back to their organization.

What can a mentor give you?  According to this video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egIFpFLNKdw, a coach or mentor can provide a leader with self-awareness.

Self-awareness: A key aspect of Emotional Intelligence

When you faces obstacles, you may need to change your approach, but changing the way you do things requires being aware of yourself. Self-awareness is essential in improving practice. In the following video, Daniel Goleman describes the components of emotional intelligence:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7m9eNoB3NU

Emotional intelligence has four components:

• self-awareness - knowing what we feel and why we’re feeling it
• self-management - handling distressing emotions in an effective way
• empathy - knowing what someone else is feeling
• relationship - putting the above together.

The cornerstone of emotional intelligence that makes the other competencies possible, is self-awareness.  Being able to look in the mirror for an honest appraisal of one’s self is essential in changing the way you do things, and overcoming obstacles.

As Einstein said, “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”