Studies abound regarding organisational success – what it is, how leaders achieve it and whether it is sustainable. However, little data exists about leaders’ success at an individual level.
A recent study conducted by executive coaching and leadership development firm Change Partners, in association with Wits Business School, revealed that while certain behaviours exert an impact on a leader’s success at an organisational level, they may have very little influence on their success as an individual, and vice versa.
The study, entitled “One size doesn’t fit all – success is an individual thing” will enable leaders to consider what it means to be personally successful. “Working with clients at a personal level, and facilitating change in this regard, we sought to focus on personal, rather than organisational success,” says Dale Hillary, managing director and partner at Change Partners. “The study and resulting tool constitute a springboard for clients to interrogate their own behaviour and success and to question whether they are where they really want to be.”
The research findings are based on insights into personal success among leaders from stakeholders’ viewpoints. The process entailed questioning the stakeholders of a spectrum of leaders about how they perceived the subject’s behaviours in their leadership roles and their personal – not organisational – successes or failures.
“Others’ views are a valuable means to heighten self-awareness,” Hillary explains. “And while we may often disregard these perceptions, taking cognisance of their views can be a catalyst for change, particularly when there is disparity between how people see you and how you see yourself.”
An analysis of the research generated an association of these perceptions with one or more distinct archetypes – a generic model of a person, personality or behaviour - which have been grouped as the Behaviour-Success Archetypes. These include:
Magnanimity versus Egocentricity – magnanimity encompasses showing courage to be honest; keeping promises; communicating clearly and accepting the potential for failure inherent in allowing others to be innovative. On the opposite extreme, egocentricity comprises: seeking public visibility for personal advantage and pursuing personal ambition; showing reluctance to delegate; and refraining from inviting or considering others’ views.
Empowering versus Disempowering - The empowering extreme of this bipolar dimension includes entrusting others with authority; showing and fostering competence; and creating a climate for change. Conversely, the disempowering extreme encompasses neither inviting, nor considering others’ views, and showing reluctance to delegate responsibility.
Solidarity versus Expediency- Leaders on the solidarity pole show behaviours such as: creating excitement around a sense of shared purpose; embedding organisational values through corresponding behaviours; and communicating the vision. By contrast, expediency involves displaying a "West is Best" leadership style paradigm; placing self-interest above service to others; apportioning responsibility for organisational failures to others; and tolerating unethical practices to achieve organisational goals.
“For leaders seeking deeper understanding about their behaviours, these bipolar dimensions become useful when plotted on a three-dimensional graph,” explains Hillary. “To illustrate how the graph is applied, we have labelled each resulting behaviour-success octant with the name of a high profile individual believed to embody the behaviours and successes the octant represents.”
“The research findings in this regard are not prescriptive but rather descriptive concepts used to capture the essence of the behaviours and create an image of how someone’s behaviours and successes would be perceived.”
“Together with clients we can then compare this positioning with how they see themselves and perhaps, equally important, with how they would like to see themselves,” he says. “Fundamentally, the research tool enables leaders to consider what it means to be a success as an individual.”
“Where there is a gap between others’ perceptions and their own aspirations for personal success, the tool constitutes a powerful framework to uncover behaviour and address possible areas for change and development,” Hillary says.
· By Dale Hillary of Change Partners
