• The Power of Servant Leadership
• A Bias for Action

A Bias for Action
by Heike Bruch & Sumantra Ghoshal

Bruch and Ghoshal have some rather startling information for today's leaders: only 10% of your managers are producing near their maximum potential.

Their conclusion is based upon the results of a ten year study of managerial behaviour conducted in industries from banking to software to airlines to consulting. And their book is all the more relevant for leaders once the reader realizes that the negative behaviour they ascribe to 90% of all managers is equally applicable to 90% of all leaders.

Maximizing Effectiveness

Bruch and Ghoshal discovered that "consistently purposeful action" is the key to maximizing effectiveness. By this they mean consistent, conscious and energetic behaviour that shows a "bias for action". In other words, determined, persistent and relentless action-taking to achieve a purpose, against all odds, driven by a deep personal commitment to the goal that cuts out distractions and overcomes difficulties.

Four Kinds of Managerial Behaviour

Their research identified four kinds of managerial behaviour that they categorize according to the levels of energy and focus that managers displayed:

The Frenzied:

40% of managers are distracted by the myriad tasks that they juggle each day. They are highly energetic but very unfocused and appear to others as frenzied, desperate and hasty.

The Procrastinators:

30% procrastinate on doing the work that really matters to the organization because they lack both the energy and focus. The often feel insecure and fear failure.

The Detached:

20% of managers are disengaged from their work altogether. They are focused but lack energy and often seem aloof, tense and apathetic.

The Purposeful:

Only 10% get the job done. They are highly focused and energetic and come across as reflective and calm amid chaos.

More Than Motivation

Most leaders would ascribe the difference, between the energetic, focused manager and the Frenzied, Procrastinator or Detached, to how motivated (or not) the manager feels. However, the authors point out that although motivation might help managers sustain organizational routines, managers are not paid just to maintain routines but are loaded with tasks that are usually complex and require creativity and innovation. They often face situations involving ambitious, (often conflicting) goals, high uncertainty and extreme opposition.

Distihguishing Purposeful Action

Although the four categories of behaviour are clear in theory, evaluating which category specific individuals fall into is more difficult in practice. The authors spend a chapter outlining ways that you can distinguish purposeful action from active non-action. They also point out that it is easier to know a purposeful manager when you see one than it is to transform yourself into one.

Transforming into Purposeful Action

To help in such a transformation, they discuss ways to:

• marshal your energy by defining your challenge and overcoming negativity and
• enhance your focus through the ability to visualize and the courage to commit

In defining your challenge they counsel the choice of goals:

• that are well defined and concrete
• with which you can personally identify and commit to, and
• that feel are personally challenging

Managing Emotions

Bruch and Ghoshal point out that procrastinating and detached leaders or managers often suffer from overwhelming thoughts and feelings and are then driven by them. Rather than actively managing their emotions, they become victims of them. As a result, they lack the positive emotional fuel needed for energetic action.

4 Stages of Volitional Action

The authors take particular care to address the difference between motivation and will power and how critical this difference is when the challenge you face is difficult. They outline four stages of volitional action that people pass through on their way to achieving a goal:

• Forming your intention or clearly defining your goal
• Committing unconditionally to it
• Protecting your intention from distractions by managing your environment, controlling your thoughts and maintaining positive energy
• Disengaging from your intention - or in other words, knowing when to let go because the goal has been achieved or the project is doomed.

Traps of Non-Action

It's also important to understand the reasons for non-action found in so many of the managers in their study. Bruch and Ghoshal discuss three traps that leaders and managers fall into as well as what you can do to avoid them.

The first trap is of overwhelming demands. Many managers are so overwhelmed and absorbed by day-to-day expectations and demands that they have difficulties reflecting on their goals, deciding what really matters and making sure that the right things happen. As a result they do not take willful action but remain busy with active non-action.

The second trap is of unbearable constraints. Many managers feel squeezed in by rules, regulations, or budget constraints and believe that they have no space for autonomous action. This discouragement results in the negative emotions that lead to non-action.

The third trap is of unexplored choices. Focused on the demands and constraints of their jobs, most managers develop tunnel vision and concentrate on immediate needs and requirements. They do not perceive or exploit their freedom to make choices about what they could do and how they could do it.

Building the Organization

Bruch and Ghoshal clearly bring home the point that people will engage their willpower only when they think that they have personal control over their situations and believe that they have discretion in terms of decisions on their work goals, content and processes. It is easy to see how overly controlling leaders and bureaucratic work environments can easily crush this vital behaviour in an organization's employees. Consequently, the authors spend several chapters describing how to build an organization of purposeful managers and enable your people to use their willpower.

A Bias for Action is an important book. Bruch and Ghoshal have made tangible the critical issue of willpower that plays a vital role in management effectiveness but heretofore has been left largely unaddressed. They do a solid job of weaving real life learning examples in with the theory and providing practical advice on how to improve purposeful action in your organization. This book should be mandatory reading for all leaders and managers.

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Voluntary Followership

His statement that "the only test of leadership is that somebody follows - voluntarily" speaks to one of the most fundamental aspects of servant leadership - the act of persuasion. To Greenleaf, persuasion stands in stark contrast to two standard alternatives - coercion and manipulation. Coercion is not simply the use, or threat of, covert or overt sanctions or penalties. It is also the exploitation of weaknesses or sentiments or any application of pressure. Manipulation is the act of guiding people into beliefs or actions that they do not fully understand. And it is with this criteria that he draws the clearest distinction between the traditional authoritarian model and the servant leadership model.

Persuasion - the Key Difference

Greenleaf defines persuasion as the act of articulating the vision, the rationale, or the basis for a belief or action such that another person arrives at a feeling of rightness about the belief or action through their own intuitive sense. Persuasion requires both leader and follower to respect the integrity and allow the autonomy of the other and that each encourages the other to find her or his own intuitive confirmation of the belief or action.

Creation of a Powerful Shared Vision

The servant leader accepts that optimal performance rests, among other things on the existence of a powerful shared vision that evolves through wide participation to which the leader contributes but which the use of authority cannot shape. The servant leader must be persuasive enough that responsibility for generating and maintaining that vision is widely accepted as a serious obligation. Greenleaf points out that the ambiguity in this process may be that the effective leader may never talk explicitly about vision or its generation because the process may be too subtle for that - the generation of a shared vision may just happen when genuine respect for all persons is consistently manifested.

Ten Characteristics of a Servant Leader

Larry Spears, in the introduction to Greenleaf's book, describes a set of ten characteristics of the servant leader as follows:

1. Listening

Although listening has long been identified as a key leadership skill, the servant leader listens intently with a deep commitment and seeks to identify the will of a group and helps clarify that will. He or she seeks to understand not only what is said but what is not said. Listening also encompasses getting in touch with one's own inner voice coupled with periods of reflection.

2. Empathy

The servant leader strives to understand and empathize with others. He or she assumes the good intentions of individuals and does not reject them as people, even when forced to reject their behaviour or performance.

3. Healing

A great strength of a servant leader is the ability to heal one's self and one's relationship to others while at the same time recognizing the opportunity to "help make whole" those they come in contact with.

4. Awareness

General awareness, and especially self-awareness, strengthens servant leaders. Greenleaf observed: "Awareness is not a giver of solace - it is just the opposite. It is a disturber and awakener. Able leaders are usually sharply awake and reasonably disturbed. They are not seekers after solace. They have their own inner security." Of course, in order to be aware, you must have the willingness and courage to face the truth.

5. Persuasion

Servant leaders rely on persuasion rather that positional authority or coercion in making decisions and achieving compliance within an organization. The servant leader is effective at building consensus within groups.

6. Conceptualization

Servant leaders seek to nurture their abilities to "dream great dreams" and think beyond day to day realities while maintaining a delicate balance between conceptual thinking and day to day operations.

7. Foresight

Foresight is a characteristic that enables servant leaders to understand the lessons from the past, the realities of the present and the likely consequence of a decision for the future. It is deeply rooted in the intuitive mind.

8. Stewardship

Servant leadership, like stewardship, assumes first and foremost a commitment to serving the needs of others. It also emphasizes the use of openness and persuasion, rather than control.

9. Commitment to the Growth of People

Servant leaders believe that people have an intrinsic value beyond their tangible contributions as workers and, as such, they are deeply committed to the growth of each and every individual within his or her organization.

10. Building Community

The servant leader seeks to identify means for building community among those who work within their organization.

A Classic Text Perfect for Today's Business Environment

The Power of Servant Leadership is a collection of essays in which Greenleaf addresses the topic of leadership in organizations ranging from businesses to educational institutions to religious organizations. However, his principles of servant leadership apply equally well across all of these organizations and this book is an enlightening and stimulating read. It is a classic text demonstrating visionary scope and is highly recommended.

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