Management and professional development

How to be an effective leader – It’s not about success alone

There are always acronyms in training and development and sometimes these really do sound odd. One of the best, in leadership terms, is VUCA. That resonates in South Africa because it sounds like “vuka” or wake up.

VUCA is an acronym that stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous which is an accurate description of the leadership environment in government. The volatility comes from political change, uncertainty because there are always things that shake up the future, complex because running a country is difficult, and ambiguity because goals are sometimes based on citizens’ happiness and not just a number.

Before you reject this, let us quickly understand why VUCA is thought of as an accurate representation of the challenges facing government leadership. We have to possess the skills to survive an uncertain world and yet be under observation by our citizens. These days the citizens keep us under pressure by using their smartphones. There is virtually no place to hide and therefore when VUCA is involved, we have to “vuka”.

The Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL) has put together a database tracking the 16 key leadership skills and five others they called “derailment factors”, in a paper published in 2018. It stands to reason each of 16 skills are not equal, that there are more important and less important items on the list. Knowing the most important ones can help create a more robust leadership strategy.

Core skills

The evaluation of these 16 core skills was conducted after analysing nearly 161 000 responses by 16 431 government leaders. The data came from a range of individuals operating in the US federal register, where respondents were asked to evaluate the leadership competencies of a boss or peer or by delivering a direct report using the CCL assessment template.

What they found was that government sector leaders are unlike corporate leaders because working for the state means addressing issues such as gender, race, ethnicity and even culture ahead of simple budget planning. There are also political pressures which corporate leaders do not face.

The CCL assessment found that leaders who are quick to gain knowledge or use limited resources with creativity and who are willing to change were high on the list of successful managers.

The other combinations appreciated by staff included interpersonal skills, intelligence and commitment.

The highest skills appreciated by government workers are an ability to lead, manage change and engage in what’s known as participative management. Being able to lead a diverse group is the most important competency by a human resources department, but it was rated second to last by coworkers in terms of effectiveness.

Change management also languished on this list, finding a position in the bottom half of the core skills when it came to analysing effectiveness.The major lesson here is that good senior managers and leaders learn from a variety of experiences over their career. The potential to lead effectively increases exponentially when they are provided with opportunities to reach outside their own functional areas and departments.

So what are these main 16 skills? As you will read, they make for interesting analysis.

The benchmarks used include

155 behavioural descriptors grouped in 21 overall scales. While we do not have enough space to describe these, take some time to look over the list of 16 below.

1. Resourcefulness.

A good leader can think strategically and make good decisions under pressure as well as set up complex work systems. You need to engage in flexible problem-solving behaviour and interact with both junior and senior staff in a complex way.

2. Doing whatever it takes.

The major skill is being able to persevere and focus in the face of obstacles, while also taking charge and making decisions that sometimes mean standing alone once you know that your position is correct.

3. Being a quick study.

The ideal leadership skill at a time of change is being able to master new technical knowledge quickly, while also incorporating new business knowledge.

4. Decisiveness.

How quickly you respond and act is regarded as a vital skill while at other times you need to know when to slow down and be more precise.

5. Leading employees.

A core leadership skill, is being able to delegate to employees effectively, while also broadening employee opportunities and acting with fairness toward direct reports.

6. Confronting problem employees.

One of the most draining aspects of leadership is dealing with a problem employee. However, you have to do this fairly and with decisive acts.

7. Participative management.

Another core skill is being able to listen and communicate. Leadership is about participation and enabling others while building consensus and influencing others in decisionmaking.

8. Change management.

Managing change is a real threat, but also an opportunity. Organisational change is far more difficult to achieve than personal change, mainly because you need to overcome resistance to change.

9. Building relationships.

Knowing how to build and maintain working relationships with co-workers and external parties is vital, while also negotiating and handling work problems without alienating people.

10. Compassion and sensitivity.

In our multicultural environment being able to understand and being genuinely interested in others is a core and valuable skill.

11. Straightforwardness and composure.

People respect others who are direct and honest, but also use fact-based arguments and do not blame others for mistakes. Troubled situations develop. How well can you deal with challenges that crop up suddenly?

12. Balance between personal life and work.

We are not automatons. We need to ensure there is a

balance between work and our personal lives. Being exclusively a “work” person is regarded as somewhat warped by human resource experts.

13. Self-awareness.

Self-awareness is not the same as being self-obsessed. So often you will find working with staff difficult as your employee cannot take a step away from themselves to assess their successes and failures. Good leaders have an accurate picture of strengths and weaknesses and are willing to improve.

14. Putting people at ease.

You have heard that interpersonal skills and being able to display warmth and a good sense of humour are very important. It is said that those with a diminished intellectual ability have no sense of humour.

15. Differences matter.

This is so important as South Africa has so many different cultures. We need to demonstrate respect for varying backgrounds and perspectives while valuing cultural differences.

16. Career management.

One of the most telling skills is an ability to mentor other staff. We need to develop and maintain a professional relationship with coaching, feedback and an open door policy to discuss staff education needs. But what about weak leadership characteristics? The CCL research found that there are five main “derailment” factors that could cause some damage to government leaders and managers.

They are:

1. Problems with interpersonal relationships.

The main mistake made by leaders is being too closed off and unable to develop good working relationships with others. It is often said that the most successful people in both government and the corporate sector are those who have excellent interpersonal relationships.

2. Difficulty building and leading a team.

Can you select and then motivate an effective team?

Too often subjective analysis leads to hiring and promotion decision-making instead of looking at managing a team which includes various types of people.

3. Difficulty changing or adapting.

This includes actively opposing change and resistance to developing an ability to respond to mistakes. This area is possibly the most difficult for managers to cope with as government features systems which are historic and hard to change.

Yet effective leaders always find a way to cope in this situation so it’s no excuse for failing to change.

4. Failure to meet business objectives.

We are goal-orientated in government and finding it difficult to follow up on promises and completing a goal can damage your career. So much of what happens in government is linked to performance and service delivery.

5. Too narrow a functional orientation.

We all like to think we’re experts at something; however, in government leadership, we often need to manage issues that are outside of our current function. Often we are called on to deal with issues that are related to what we do, but not directly our function.Too often the failure to do so has a knock-on effect throughout an organisation. Leaders who suffer from this often are a major problem inside an organisation or government.

So to sum up. An effective leader in government needs to apply him/herself to the top 16 skills and to approach each as honestly as possible, while avoiding the pitfalls of the five main mistakes that we make. Good luck.

For more on creative leadership patterns, visit the CCL’s website at https://www.ccl.org