The Characteristics of Leadership
Introduction
This essay discusses the characteristics put forward by Sarros as being an ideal type of leadership, as studied in Topic 3. These characteristics are discussed in the book The Character of Leadership: What works for Australian leaders – making it work for you by James C Sarros et al.
My Own Approach to the World
Passion
Passion fuels me with the enthusiasm from internal resources within my soul. Passion enables me to go the distance. Passion is what we feel in our heart. Too often, feelings are discounted as unimportant, but in fact, passion is a force that can be channeled to drive organizational success (Sarros 2006, p. 144). Passion gives me a heightened sense of experience – I become an active participant in life rather than a passive observer. (Sarros 2006, p. 144).
Self-discipline
Self-discipline is the ability to decide to do the right things at the right time. Leaders with self-discipline exercise personal control over their actions and are able to manage and express emotions in constructive ways. They are well organized and able to persevere in the face of difficulties (Tracy 2004). Self-discipline may be associated with self-confidence, as both focus on an individual’s judgment of his or her capability to successfully accomplish something (Hollenbeck & Hall 2004, p. 255) Self-discipline is also similar to self-responsibility and self-directedness … (Sperry 1999, p.214)
Self-discipline gives me the ability to persist in the face of obstacles and difficulties. (Sarros 2006, p. 192) Persistence and maintaining focus are the central aspects of self-discipline and leadership … (Sarros 2006, p. 192).
Courage
Courage is the ability to stand up for my beliefs and my values – courage to belief in myself – courage to believe in one’s own convictions. (Sarros pp 128) The courage to be oneself is an important character attribute of leaders (Sarros pp 130) Being authentic matters.
Courage is also the ability to be able to make right decisions at the right time.
My Stance To My Organization
Integrity
Integrity is consistently adhering to a moral or ethical code or standard. A person with integrity consistently chooses to do the right thing when faced with alternate choices. (Sarros 2006, p. 231)
The word integrity comes from the Latin Integras, meaning wholeness, coherence, rightness or purity. According to Woden (2003, p. 31), integrity may be defined as consistency between word and deed or ‘the perceived degree of congruence between the values expressed by words and those expressed through action’. In other words, a person of integrity will do what they say – there is no difference between what they say and what they do. Sarros’ study shows that integrity is the cornerstone of character.
Humility
Humility means that I don’t think of myself more highly than I am. Humility is the quality of being humble which provides us with the ability to be able to see straight. Humility keeps us seeing out of the right perspective. It maintains the clarity of sight to see into the distance or into the future. We are able to call a spade a spade, and we are able to see mistakes for what they are.
Humility gives me the right perspective of wisdom, whereas pride and arrogance gives me blind spots. With humility, we have clarity of sight and far-sightedness, whereas pride and arrogance contributes to myopic jaundiced views of situations.
Wisdom
Wisdom is the wherewithal within myself to make balanced and well-formed judgment. It is our inner resources to make wise and right decisions. According to Sarros, wisdom is the ability to draw on one’s knowledge and experience to make well-formed judgments. It also involves the use of one’s power and personal authority to implement an effective course of action.
Wisdom is cultivated through reflection on experience. The pressures placed on many senior managers in contemporary organizations can make the creation of a thinking or reflective space difficult … Creating reflective space play a critical part in building an innovative work culture. (Sarros 2006, p. 160)
Organization Loyalty
Leaders who demonstrate organization loyalty show a commitment to building organizational sustainability. (Sarros 2006, p. 207) A leader’s loyalty and commitment to an organization lends an influence of stability within the organization. A leader that demonstrates loyalty to their organization will encourage and build loyalty within their staff. This allows the leader to build the organization for the long term. Leaders and staff can plan growth and career for the long term. The business can plan and grow in the long term. The organization can depend on the leaders and the staff to be there for it.
In a rapidly changing global business environment, organizational loyalty becomes increasingly difficult, both for the leaders and for the staff. As circumstances change, the business is required to adapt and change according to the circumstances.
Honesty
Honesty is consistently being truthful with others. (Sarros 200, p. 255) Honesty is absolutely essential in leadership (Kirkpatrick & Locke 1991). People value working for leaders they can trust. (Sarros 2006, p. 255) If honesty builds trust, then honesty is an attribute of a transformational leader.
Honesty works hand-in-hand with integrity. You can’t demonstrate one without the other. (Sarros 2006, p. 28)
Competence
According to Sarros, competence reflects an individual’s capacity to develop skills in areas in which they may be deficient, and to acquire the knowledge needed to perform the job. Leaders of character work assiduously at becoming more competent in all facets of their lives. (Sarros 2006, pp. 27-28)
My Stance To Others
Respectfulness
Respectfulness is showing esteem for, and consideration and appreciation of, other people. (Sarros 2006, p. 35).
Compassion
Compassion is concern for the welfare of others and means providing aid or showing mercy for those who are suffering. Compassionate leaders sometimes seem rare. In today’s world, where the combat of commerce may be compounded by the fear and uncertainty of international terrorism and economic disruption, compassion is often missing in leadership vision. (Sarros 2006, pp. 26-27) From my observation and personal experience, this rings true. Compassion in leadership is frequently relegated to church leadership or leadership of non-government organizations. It does not seem to have a place in the rapidly changing landscape of business workplace.
In most organization in the Western culture and in the most parts of the world, the leaders set the tone of the culture within organizations. If the business leader is solely driven by the maximization of profits alone, then the tone of the culture within that organization is hard and uncompassionate. On the other hand, if the leader’s vision is to build sustainable organizations in view of the long term, then the welfare of the staff is appropriately prioritized.
Fairness
Fairness is treating people in an equitable, impartial and just manner. (Sarros 2006, p. 51) In contrast, favoritism is treating a select group of people with special favor. We all like to be treated justly. We all appreciate workplaces that reward based on performance rather than favoritism. To be fair sometimes requires a leader to be tough, to not compromise principles in the face of demands from others. Fairness and courage often share similar outcomes, in which the good of the whole takes precedence over factional interests. (Sarros 2006, p. 26)
Cooperativeness
Cooperativeness is the willingness to work or act together with others in accomplishing a task or some common end or purpose. (Sarros 2006, p. 61) Cooperativeness in leaders is required in order to achieve results. This means learning how to work in a team, learning how to acknowledge that you aren’t always the expert, and being prepared to let your subordinates take the spotlight when appropriate (Sheard & Kakabadse 2004). Cooperative leaders know when to step back to allow the team to achieve results (Sethi, Smith & Park 2002). So another element of character is acknowledging that you cannot be an expert on everything, and accepting the input of others who may be your junior in terms of seniority, but superior to you because of their knowledge. (Sarros 2006, p. 26)
Spiritual Respect
Spiritual respect is about valuing diversity, which means recognizing the implicit strengths and values of cultures and peoples above their differences. Respectfulness and spiritual respect complement each other. They require us to respect other people and their traditions. Leaders of character should develop techniques for making this respect reciprocal. That is, as you respect others, you generate respect for yourself in return. (Sarros 2006, p. 27)
Spiritual respect should be held in balance with integrity and honesty. Some cultures do not value integrity and honesty. Spiritual respect should also be held in balance with the courage to stand up for what is right – the right values and beliefs. For example, some cultures do not have high ethical standards or place a high value on human life. We should have the courage to not compromise our beliefs and values for the sake of spiritual respect. I can say that I respect you as a human being, but I cannot agree with what you are doing, if it compromises my values. As a business leader, I have to set the standards of integrity, honesty and courage.
Selflessness
Selflessness, as with compassion, places the needs of others and of the organization ahead of the leader’s own. Selfless leaders do not expect a return on their investment, but they are more than likely to benefit from their ‘servant leadership’ approach. (Sarros 2006, p. 28)
Conclusions
We have studied the above characteristics of ideal leadership in the Australian context. Although the common perception of leadership is the leadership of followers, one cannot be an effective leader unless one is able firstly to lead oneself. These characteristics of ideal leadership, as described in the Sarros book, describe most of the ways in which one can learn to lead oneself, moving forward into successful leadership.
In business, one frequently has to watch one’s back. There are competitive forces involved. There is rapid change in the business environment. Building character into one’s leadership is both an offensive weapon and a defensive weapon. If one has a clean track record of character in one’s leadership, the leader might have less to worry about – there will be fewer skeletons coming back to haunt the leader and take them out.
The implicit values between these characteristics are the wisdom to exercise wise choice when one is confronted with many tempting and convenient options. The wise leader will have inner reserves to reject the unwise choices and choose the wise choices in preference to the convenient ones. In many successful leaders, experience counts. The world of rapid change and age of information may not value experienced leaders, but experience does matter. Some leaders are born with innate leadership abilities, but most leaders are made.
Does integrity in displaying the characteristics matter? The true leader has to be authentic. The characteristics have to come from the heart of the leader – be a true expression of their heart. As we know through experience, followers will follow what leaders do – not what they say. Authentic leaders will have authentic followers. Pretend leaders will have pretend followers.
How useful are these characteristics in thinking about leadership? Leadership is not just doing a job. It is about being a whole person. Leadership has to flow from the heart. If it is just a method or rules, it would be easy. Thinking about leadership characteristics exposes us to the myriad of choices. Building the character of the leader establishes these ideal leadership characteristics into the leader’s heart. I know that we are rational thinking people, but some things cannot be acquired through logic and reasoning. The leader’s emotional quotient is located in the heart – the seat of the soul.
Bibliography
James C. Sarros, Brian K. Cooper, Anne M. Hartican, Carolyn J. Barker: The Chracter of Leadership: What works for Australian leaders – making it work for you. John Wiley & Sons, Australia, Ltd. 2006.