There are a lot of
books and articles that exhort their readers to practice certain behaviours or
adopt a certain list of attributes so that they will become good leaders.
But is it really that
simple? Are there other factors, not
those of the leader, that affect the success of the leader?
By my reckoning, the
characteristics of the leader account for less than half of the factors that
make leadership successful. They include
such things as:
- Vision and the ability to communicate vision,
- People skills,
- Technical skills in the activity in which he is leading,
- Courage,
- Grace, and
- Tenacity.
But sadly, research
evidence tells us that most of us are influenced by other, less noble,
characteristics. Even though they would
not admit it, many people are highly influenced by prejudicial and superficial
factors.
|
More likely to follow
|
Less likely to follow
|
|
Tall
|
Short
|
|
Appearance of
fitness and energy
|
Appearance of
lethargy and poor fitness
|
|
Thin and trim
|
Balding and
overweight
|
|
Male
|
Female
|
Obviously, these
characteristics have nothing to do with whether the person is a good leader or
not, but it is clear that some of us have prejudices to overcome!
But even with all
this, probably only about 40% to 50% of the leader's success is due his own
characteristics.
There are two other
huge factors that make it possible or impossible, hard or easy, for a leader to
lead in a certain situation; they are the situation
and the followers.
The Situation
In "The Admirable
Crichton"1, the butler Crichton takes over the running of
the family of aristocrats when they become shipwrecked on a desert island, and
everyone, including the Lord of the Manor, follows his leadership. When the household is rescued and the crisis
is over, he returns to his humble servant role, and life resumes as though it
was never interrupted. Crichton's
leadership was highly situational.
There can be a host of
reasons why someone is a good leader is some circumstances and not others. For example, a Western leader may be too
consultative or too informal for an Eastern environment, or a new leader's followers may have
had a negative experience before he came on board, or the situation may call
for a high level of technical expertise in a certain area.
Taking these things
into account, I reckon that the situation accounts for about 20% to 30% of the
success of the leader.
The Followers
There are so many
factors about the followers that can affect the success of the leader. Here are just some common scenarios.
The Disgruntled
Competitor
There is someone in
the group of followers who thinks he should be the leader. He has the capacity to gain support among the
followers and disrupt the legitimate leadership.
The Non-Believers
There are too many in
the follower- group that have different values to that of the leader. For example, if the leader wishes to lead the
group in an evangelistic effort, but they do not believe in the value of evangelism,
he is unlikely to be successful.
The Limited but Keen
The followers may want
to contribute, but have limited capacity.
They may be elderly, infirm, or of limited capacity. As much as they want to support the leader,
they do not have much to give.
Ironically, some of these people are the most keen and most excited
about the mission.
The Freeloaders
Sadly, in almost every
Christian congregation, there are a number of people who are just in for the
free ride. They really do not want to
contribute. When the leader's claim on
their time and commitment gets too hot they are most likely to slip away at
best, or stay in the congregation being disruptive, at worst.
So the nature of the
follower group will influence the success of the leader, maybe as much as 20%
to 30%.
So What?
So, what should the
potential leader who is armed with this information do? Here are a few things to consider.
1.
As leaders we should do all we can to be the most effective we can be, even
though there are many factors we have no control over. We should make it our life's work to
continually improve our leadership skills and to overcome the things that could
be a barrier to acceptance.
2.
Remember that there are occasions when the situation or the nature of the
follower group may be such that you cannot be effective as a leader. It is OK not to be successful in every single leadership situation. You do not have to blame yourself.
Cut yourself some slack.
Understand that sometimes it is outside of your control.
3.
If you are a leader of leaders, remember that sometimes the combination of
leader, followers and situation is not going to work. Be prepared to recognise when this is
happening, and allow the leaders you lead to step out of situations that are not working with dignity.
1. A comic stage play written in 1902 by J. M. Barrie.
