TThe science of leadership and the language of its development A personal perspective by Julian Burton, Delta7 Associates, julian@delta7.com , 077 9000 7560 "What do leaders actually do?" This session title caught my eye recently at a leadership conference I was attending. I thought perhaps the speaker would describe some real interventions or stories of leadership behaviours, and give us new insights into the meaning of leadership or real knowledge we could use back at work. Yet as the lecture unfolded, I got that sinking feeling. "Am I stupid? I just don’t get it"! How did the words of this so-called expert relate to the reality of the daily experience of trying to lead improvement in services? He was simply dishing out the usual Powerpoint slides with the same old vague platitudes: "Leaders create new value and look for new value to create" "46% of managers believe leaders must embrace change!" "Leaders turn inputs into outputs" "Leaders create strategies, have a vision and deliver results" S o what! Do these quotes say anything new? I have heard it all before! Judging by the audience's response -- blank expressions, stifled yawns and heads resting on hands – I think they have as well! Where was the energy and the passion? Where was the engagement? When I compared the energy I felt in the lecture hall with the energy I saw during coffee and lunch breaks, I wondered why the audience sat through lectures. I could only assume that people come to such conferences primarily to take a few days out from the chaos and relentless anxiety at work -- to network, let off steam and discuss what is really going on. I doubt if they would come if conferences were wall-to-wall powerpoint. There is a pattern here I often see. Experts on leadership lecturing on with their precise data and impenetrable jargon. A silent, bored and captive audience who don’t feel like challenging because they assume that the expert knows the truth. So to speak up and to admit you don’t understand would leave one open to ridicule, "don’t ask such stupid questions!" Even if a question is taken, there are so many clever, rational arguments supporting the high status knowledge of the experts that it is really easy to skewer any dissent. And it doesn’t help that we live in a culture were it seems that people are scared to disagree and go to great lengths to impose concensus. And when we don’t challenge each other we don’t share our realities which results in a group illusion that no one criticises, so the lies get bigger! The experts seem to have such a tight grip on the Truth, that we dis-empower ourselves by denying the validity of our own experience at work. This is the best source of knowledge and power there is . When vague abstractions are so far from our own experience we cant imagine the experts being wrong. So we doubt ourselves, and begin to lose sight of were the real knowledge is. The meaning of "leadership" Does anyone know what leadership really means anymore? We all do! its just that the crushing weight of intellectual abstractions research data, statistics and expert knowledge squeeze out our daily lived experience, so it goes and hides in the corner, not thinking that it is worthy of respect and dignity it really deserves. But that is were the real treasure lies. The only expert in leadership you will ever need is you! We get fed lots of important ideas and clever models but does anyone purporting to be an expert in leadership ever tell us how to actually do anything? How do you actually inspire and motivate your team? The chasm between the rhetoric of leadership and the reality of actually doing it better is one that is still yawning. And it will stay that way until we look at leadership as something inherently human, impervious to scientific analysis. I have never understood how numerical targets and statistics are supposed to change behaviour! Exhausting the language The language of leadership has been exhausted. When sterile intellectual abstractions are served up as useful knowledge what words do we have left to lead with? The language of leadership has lost its power by being diluted and exhausted by constant misuse. People are now cynical of the empty promises that leaders make because their words don’t have the energy needed to inspire. I believe by using abstract words we focus on abstract ideas, and in doing so we lose the link between thought and action, between word and experience. This has the effect of losing trust in our own judgement, dis-empowering ourselves, losing responsibility for our actions and a sense of priorities. Putting our ideas and feelings into abstractions and jargon can be a defence against say what you really think. There is a fear of speaking up, energy wasted on carefully crafted statement that wont hurt anyones feelings. It is so easy and safe to keep things as they are, and carry on being disgruntled, "if only I could be a better leader". Real leadership takes courage. The courage to lead Leading change in any context involves adult-to-adult conversations, having the courage to speak honestly in the sort of grounded language that creates real human relating and action. The leader directs attention to what needs to happen and speaks in a way that inspires and encourage the actions that gets the job done. However abstract and distant leadership rhetoric is, it is only useful insofar as it will influence daily "micro-interactions [a euphamism for being human!] that is the real work. How about looking at this from a different perspective? Any expert on leadership expounding on their subject to an audience of leaders is at that moment leading the leaders. They have a audience of followers hoping to be told some useful insight, some hint on what to do next. So any idea that an expert gives to the audience has to be immediately applicable, otherwise it would be like eating the menu! So how did the expert "create new value" for the leaders in the audience? How did they inspire them to act differently? I don’t think they did. So what is going on? And why does leadership development and research cost so much? Where is the precise data on how successful it is? And why is there so much confusion around the subject of leadership? How come it is a highly profitable business? What are the hidden agendas and vested interests at work here? So many dull HBR articles, benchmarking case studies and learn-ed models and yet so little excitement or inspiration in any of it! A new language of leadership The biggest barrier to leadership development is the way we talk about it. For each of us to get clarity on what it really means we need to ground the leadership conversation. Change the language and things will start to happen. We need to get back to the real meaning of words and retrieve the purpose of language which is to create and maintain valuable relationships for mutual benefit. Nothing will change if leaders fear to speak honestly. What is need is for leaders to create a space in their organisation where people can reflect on the real meaning on what they do and speak what needs to be said. Next steps Next time you attend a day on leadership try to notice how bored you become, how much time do you spend drifting off into day dreams or the issues back at work. It is such an ingrained habit to go to a conference, dutifully take notes, and go back to work none the wiser. Was there any change in your behaviour? Did your performance improve as a result of sitting through hours of dull slides of clever abstractions? Next time you find yourself bored with some precise data ask the expert to give you a real example, say you don’t understand, tell them what you think of statistics or challenge them to inspire you! The Art of complexity - an exhibition on the nature of change Other pictures and essays relating to change and leadership