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FMI
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IGF JOURNAL
VOLUME 25, NO. 1
Well folks, here we are again! Summer has
flown by and we are getting the kids back
to school. I am also getting ready for my
return to the classroom but this time at
the front of the class instead of the back
of same
(I was always pretty tall for my age!)
.
As always, transitional times get my
brain turning over and thinking of what is
going on around me. That, coupled with
my newest editor’s e-mail telling me that
I owed him a column PDQ, got me really
focused.
As is my custom, I believe in full
disclosure, at least by the time I get to the
end of my regular 1,500-word offering. I
am actually thinking of doing this column
straight. My editor (Hi Roger!) thought
that it might be time for me to put away my
childish notions and turns of phrase and
get down to some serious business. Whoa,
what a concept!!!!
So, here goes! Under the heading of
“Rome wasn’t built in a Day”, I plan on
wading gently into the stiffer and more
constraining side of real journalism. Please
be kind, be gentle and be ruthless in your
public condemnation if this offering rings
false or simply does not satisfy your need as
reader for a tickling of the intellect as well
as the funny bone.
A long time ago, I was told by a very wise
individual (Hi Mom!) to stick to what you
know when asked to speak outside of your
comfort zone. Ever the dutiful and thankful
son, I will do exactly that now. This edition
will focus on leadership. This is a topic
that I have actually done some research on,
especially as it pertains to the public sector.
It is in fact the subject of a rather ambitious
research program that I have now pitched
to two different learning institutions and
that I hope to push through to completion
someday. In essence, it seeks to ask, and
hopefully get answers to, a few very basic
questions about leadership, how it is defined
in modern public sectors, and where it is
going, with a particular emphasis on how
newer generations of public sector workers
will respond to leaders in the future.
First-off, while I am a professor at
Dalhousie University these days, that in
no way solidifies my credentials as either
an academic or even less as a researcher.
Secondly, I wish to point out that there is
a paucity of really good research on public
sector leadership in the face of mountains of
research for the private sector, especially in
the United States. Even more noteworthy
is the fact that we have very poor metrics
to quantify the observation of effective
leadership other than asking individuals
their opinions of what constitutes (or
constituted) good leadership at a given
time by a given person. Thirdly, I wish to
make clear that I am not talking about the
kind of quasi-super-heroic leadership that
parts seas, saves whole nations or stands up
against the axis of evil. I am talking about
every day, run-of-the-mill, get things
done without blowing things up, kind of
leadership. Sadly, this type of leadership
has not taken up much space in our social,
organizational or even political mindsets.
So, excluding the big names of quasi-
super-heroic leaders of the last century
(Churchill, Kennedy, Ghandi, Mandela,
etc.), what do we consider to be effective
leadership in our work day? A number of
researchers much smarter than me have
made much about how leaders are called
upon to set direction and to translate
strategy into action, or to interpret the signs
and motivate their organizations to change
by means of good people and certainly good
communications skills, including plain old-
fashioned listening. Works for me!
Not to belabour the point, but in its
essence, leadership has one very basic
characteristic if it is to be deemed to be
successful. Leaders have to be followed!
That sounds too simple to be true so it
very likely is. This very simple observation
is however measurable and quantifiable
and allows researchers to ask followers why
they were predisposed to follow, other than
the expected response of “Because he’s
(she’s) the Boss!”. But what makes someone
want to follow another person outside of
raw organizational power? Are the most
effective leaders the best communicators?
Can leadership be taught or are you born
a good leader? Is leadership only about
change?
These are all good questions and I would
be less than truthful if I said that there
are clear and irrefutable answers to all of
these questions. If you permit me, dear
reader, I propose to take a bit of license
and distill some of what I have found out
on the subject of leadership and leave it to
you to apply it to your own daily situation
or consideration of leadership wherever
you may find it. I will draw a picture, a
composite sketch of good leadership for
you to play with at your leisure. I will
also put a question out there about how
leadership concepts will intersect, evolve
or even conflict with the characteristics of
the newest generation of workers.
Most leadership is actually quite
Modern Day Leadership or the
Fast-Changing Art of Followership
