The Time Has Come
“The time has come…” the Walrus said “to talk of many things- Of shoes - and ships - and sealing wax. Of cabbages and kings- And, why the sea is boiling hot- and whether pigs have wings.” 1
I have written regularly here for almost 20 years about my observations and experiences as a Leadership Coach. Looking back, I am proud of- and satisfied with- almost all of that work. Since I have retired from client work, it is evident to me that the time has come to retire this blog as well.
Here are the things I think are most useful to pass along about leadership, all of which will remain online here, for a few months at least.
The best definition I have ever encountered of a leader is the extreme opposite of the primarily motivational framing that shows up way too often in the media. With apologies to John C. Maxwell, a leader is NOT (in my opinion, or experience) “…a person who knows the way, shows the way and goes the way”. Or perhaps I should say, an effective leader is more than that. My own definition for a leader is roughly “…a fully functional human being.” To put some meat on the bones of that rather spare definition, my experience is that an effective leader:
Remains conscious of their own biases and is willing to step out of them when the situation requires it.
Facilitates the best thinking, engagement and effort of others, and organizes resources, communications and energy toward project and organizational goals.
Models a balance of both rational and emotional depth, and a clear capacity to choose which approach serves the needs or challenges of the team (as opposed to a “personal wisdom” default mode).
Both motivates and organizes people and resources toward the fulfillment of a clearly defined, compelling, observable and inspiring outcome.
Remains accountable for pursuit and delivery of goals and the appropriate use of resources in pursuit of program, project and organizational success.
Views with relative attention both the task and relational needs of the team or organization under their leadership, focusing on the outcomes adopted by the team by managing the reactions and challenges to accomplishing those outcomes.
Those capabilities, applied with a relative balance of emotional and task intelligence, can move mountains, change cultures, and foster change. They also provide the capacity to deal with the inevitable surprises that come when leading change, and create a positive culture and environment for those doing the actual work of organizational and process change. 2
And, there is still a lot of work to do to develop leaders who can embrace this model, supplanting a more reactive leadership style.
The latest research that I can find (Changing Point UK and Gartner Group) still shows that:
70% of all organizational, cultural and process change initiatives fail outright.
While 74% of leaders believe that they include employees in creating a change strategy, only 42% of employees report feeling included. (A much-improved number from a decade ago, but still a large and expensive gap.)
31% of CEO’s get fired for poor change leadership.
In short, there is plenty of opportunity to continue improving leadership in organizations of all sizes and stripes. I am encouraged with what I see in the upcoming generation of leadership and executive coaches. Coaching was relatively new when I trained at Georgetown University and it has been inspiring to see the continued development and rigor taking root in coach training and standards of practice. As I retire from the field of play, I am confident that the next generation of coaches will be more than capable of continuing to improve the quality of coach training as well as the practice of coaching as a whole.
My thanks and much gratitude to those of you who have been clients, faithful supporters of the blog, (even through the migration to Substack), as well as those of you who regularly write to disagree and debate.
The quote at the top of this entry comes from “The Walrus and the Carpenter” by Lewis Carroll. It was also the announcement of bedtime in my parents’ home to three young sons, including yours truly, who were reluctant to hear the news but knew that the time has, indeed, come.
This description of leadership reflects the model expressed and employed by The Leadership Circle 360. The LCP employs the most actionable, comprehensive and adaptable definition of leadership I have encountered in over 30 years of leadership development.