Leadership Skills Approach - Jyväskylän yliopisto

1 81 LeadershipLeadershipSkillsApproachSkills ApproachI am amazedto see peoplerunningcompanies who do not havethe creat ivity torespo nd in a dynamic an unf orgiving,fa st-pacedbusinesscli -mate,you are infinitelybetterpr eparedif you are a creative com -mu nicatorshavean eno rm ous ad vantage over poorcom municators bec ausesomu ch of runninga co mpanyis inspir ational, externaland internal,that is,inspi ri ng your emp loyees,shar eholders,industry analysts, and customers. CraigConway1In a manner sim il ar to the traitapproach,the ski lls approa ch to leadershipis a leader-centeredper spe twoapproachesaredi fferentin thatin thetra it Approach ,we foc usedon personalitytraitsthatareconsideredinhere ntandrelatively stablefrombirth,wh ere as in thischapter,wefo cusona person s sk illsandabilities thatcanbelearnedanddevelo ped (Northous e, 2010).

2 Skillssuggestwhatleaders ca n achieve,whereas traitssuggestwhoth ey arebased on theirintrinsi c characteristi s thatsk il ls, kn owledge,andabi liti es arerequiredfora leaderto thischapter,wefoc us ontwost udi es thatdefine d th e ski lls Approach :Ka tz(1 974)an d Mumford,Zaccaro,Harding,Jac obs, and Fleishman(2 000).1 CraigConwayis theformerPresidentandChiefExecutiveOffic erof H A P T E R5 CHAPTER382 CASESIN LEADERSH IPKat z s Three-SkillsAppro achKatz s(19 74)se minalart icleon theskills appro ac h to leaders hi p suggested tha t lea dership(i .e.,effectivead ministration)is basedon three ski lls : te chnica l, human , lsTechnicalskill is pr oficiency, basedon specifi c knowledge, in a pa rticularareaof meansthata personis competentandkn owledgeablewi th respecttotheactivities sp ecificto an orga nization, theorganization srules andstandard operatingprocedures,andtheorganization sproductsandservices (Katz,1974;Yukl, 20 06).

3 Technicalskil l is mostimportant at supervisorylevelsof management,lessimportant formi ddlemanage rs, andleastimportantfortopmanagerssu ch as CEOsandsen iorma n-age rs. Fin all y, te chnical skillis proficiencyin workingwi ththi Ski llsIn contrastto technical Skills , human(o r int erpersonal)ski ll s areprofici ency in workingwi thpeop lebas ed on a person skn ow ledge aboutpeopleandhowtheybehave, howthe yoperatein groups, ho w to co mmunicateeff ectivelywiththem,andtheir motives,at ti-tudes,andfee lings. Th ey aretheski lls requiredto effectivelyinfluencesuperiors, pe ers,an d subordinate s in the achievementof org anizational illsenablea lea derto influencetea m or gro up membersto worktogetherto ac complishor ganizationalgoalsan d pro fic iency meanstha t leadersknowtheir thoughtsondif -ferentissuesand,simultaneously, become ,leaderswithhigh er levels of inte rpe rs onalsk illsarebetter ableto adapttheirownid easto otherpeople sideas,especiallywh en thiswill ai d in achievingorgani-zationalgo alsmorequickly whatmotivatesothers, createan atmosphere of trustfor theirfo llo we rs, andtak eothers needs and mo tivations intoacc ountwhendecidingwhatto do to achieve organi-zationalgoals.

4 Interpersonal skillsarerequiredat all three leve ls of management:super-visory, middle management, andsenior manage ment(K atz,1974; Yu kl, 2006).Con cept ual Ski ll sConceptual skillsallowyouto th inkthrough th higherle v-els of conceptualskills aregoodat thinkingthr oughtheide as th at forman organizationandits visi on forthefuture, express ingtheseid easin verbal andwrittenforms,andunder-standingand expressingthe ec on omicprinciplesun derlying theirorganizat ion s eff ect ive -ness. Theseleaders arecomfortable asking what if orhy potheticalquestionsandworkingwith abstract ideas. Conceptualskillsall owleadersto giveabstractid easmeaningandto makesenseof abs tra ct ideasfortheirsuperiors,pe er s, andsu bo illis most importantfortop managers, lessimportant formiddle managers,andle ast impor-tan t forsu pervisory managers(Northouse,2010).

5 Wewouldofferon e caveat. Whilecon-ceptualski lls ar e lessimportan t at lower levels of management,to be pr omotedto higherlevelsof management,it is importan t to developanddemonst ratethisskillat all levels ofmanagement(Yukl,2006).It is a skill thatcanbe le arned;consequently,I encourage youto tak e advantageof everyopportunity to developandth e abilityto ter 3: Leadership Skil ls App roa ch83 Rec entresearch use d a four-skillmo delsimilarto Ka tz , whichincludes interpers onal,cognitive,busine ss, an d strategicskills. Resultsshowth at althoughinterpersonalandcog-nitiveskills wererequiredmo re thanbusinessandstrateg ic ski lls forthoseon thelowerlevelsof manage ment,as leadersclimbedth e care er lad der,higherlevelsof all fouroftheseleadershipskillsbecamenecessa ry(Mumford,Ca mpion& Morgeson,2007).

6 Leadership Skills ModelThisapproach suggeststh at leadershipis notjus t thepurviewof a fe w pe oplebornwi thtraitsth at maketh emef fective e Skills approachimpliesthatmany peoplehavele ad ership potential, andif theycanlearnfromth eir experiences, theycanbecomemoreef fec tivitiesand/orexposureto peo-pleandeventsleadingto an increasein Skills ,knowledge, ffe rentfroma whatleaders do approachandfocuseson capabilitiesthat mak e lead-erseffective(Mumford,Zaccaro,Hardin g,et al., 20 00 ; Northouse, 2010).Theleader-shipskills appro achby Mumford,Za cc aro,Ha rding, et al. (2000)has fiveelements:individualattributes,compet encies,lea dershipoutcomes, careerexperiences, and envi-ronmentalin e th e mostimportantelement the k ingpin le ad to leadershipoutcomesbutthe mselvesareaffectedby a leader sindi-vidualattributes.

7 In addition, theimpactof lea ders attributes onleaders competenciesandleaders competencieson outcomesis dependenton careerexperiences andenvir on -me nta l inf lue nces. In th e nextfewparagraphs, we desc ribecompetenc ie s, ho w attributesaffectcompete ncies, andhowco mpetenciesaff ectleadershi p outcom es, andwebrieflydi scussth e impactof care er experienceson at tributesandcompetencies andtheimpactof environmentalinfluenceson attributes, com petencies , der CompetenciesMumford,Zaccaro, Harding,et al. (2000)identified threecompetenciesthatresultineffectivele a dership : problemsol vin g, so ci al ju dgment, an d reeworktogetherandse par atelyto affect oblem-SolvingSk esearecreativeab ilities tha t leadersbringto unique,vague , h ardto geta ha ndl e on organizatio illsincludethefollowing.

8 Defining proble msand iss uesthatareimportant,accumulatinginformat ionre la tedto th eproblem/i ssu e, deve lop in g newwaysto comprehendeachproblem/issue,anddev elopingunique,first-of-its-kindalternati vesforso lv ingtheproblems/i in thecontextof anorganizationandits en vironment andrequirethatleadersbe aware of theirowncapacitiesandchallengesrelativet o thepr oblem/issueandtheorganizationalcontext(M umford,Za cc aro,Connelly,& Marks, 2000). Thesolutionsor alternativesdeveloped to solve problemsandissuesrequire tha t leadersbe consc iousofthetimerequiredto develop andexecutesolutions whetherthesolutionsar eachie vingshort-termand/orlo ng-termobjectives,whetherth eseobjectivesar eorganizationalor personal,andtheexternalcontext suc h as theindustry, national,an dinternationalen vir on ments (Mumford, Zaccaro, Harding, et al.)

9 , 20 00).Soc ial Ju dg men t skillsthatenableleadersto comprehendpeoplean d thesocialsystemswithinwh ichtheywork,play,andhavea soc ial lif e (e. g. , fri endsandfamily )(Zaccaro,Mumford,Connelly, Marks,& Gi lbert,200 0) . Socialjudgmentsk illsfacilitateworking withothers to leadchange,solveproblems,and makesense of d colleagues (Mumford,Zaccaro,Ha rdi ng , et al. , 2000)ou tlinedfourele ments importantto social judgmentsk il ls: perspectivetak ing,social perceptiveness,behavioral flexibility,an d social sen sitivit y to oth ers objectivesandperspect ive;it is an empathicperspective to sol vingproblems,andit me ansthatleaders activelysee k ou t knowledgeregarding people,the ir organization s social fa bri c, andhowthesetwoveryimportantareas of knowledgeintersectwit h eac h associated withothers attitudes,soc ial perceptivenessisabout leaders knowingwh at peoplewilldowhen confrontedwi th proposed ch changewhatonedoeswhenconfrontedwithother s attitudesandintendedactionsbased onknowledge gai nedthroughperspectivetakingandsocialperc eptiveness,respectively.

10 Leaderswi th behavioral flexibilityunder-st andtha t there aremany differentpathsto ac hi evi ng changeandthegoalsandobjectivesass oci ial performancemeansbeingskil ledin sev eralleadership compete nci es. Someofthese are abilities in persuadi ng and communicat ingin order to conveyone sownvisionto othersin th e organization, abilitiesin mediationtha t enabletheleaderto mediateinterpersonalconflictrelatedto cha nge andto les senresista nceto cha ng e, and abilities incoaching andme ntoring by giving subordinatessu pport anddir ectionas theywork toachieveorg anizationalobject ivesan d summarize,Northouse (2010)statedtha tsocial judgment skillsareabout beingsensitiveto howyourideas fit in tandothersandtheiruniqueneedsandmotivati ons?