Leading at a Higher Level

Leading at a Higher Level

The book Leading at a Higher Level by Ken Blanchard is one of a series of books on the subject of leadership and intended to provide the person in the business world with an understanding of leadership and with the tools to become a leader by following the precepts in the book. Such books often focus on one particular aspect of leadership and business, and Blanchard tries to focus more on the role of the leader and to do so in a way that negates the more self-serving aspects of leadership, notably those that focus almost entirely on making a profit, while seeing it more important that the leader have a higher purpose and a more elevated approach to being in business and to dealing with people.

For Blanchard, in fact, the development of people as a resource is just as important as achieving higher performance and so higher profits.

Blanchard's argument si that the idea of leadership has too often been associated with achieving results, making any definition goal oriented. What Blanchard wants to emphasis instead is the process of leadership and how it should encourage excellence in the leader and in the followers alike. He uses his own experience in the business world and in research on leadership to consider what the best leaders are able to do. He find that there are four things that the good leader does well. First, the leader is able to decide on a target, set his or her sights on that target, and develop a vision for reaching the goal. In this view, the leader is one able to inspire others to follow a given course toward the stated goal. Second, the good leader treats the customers well, which is not itself a means for better performance but a recognition of the value of the customers and the necessity of nurturing the relationship with the customer. Third, the good leader simply treats people well, not just customers but employees and others as well. The image of the autocratic boss is set in popular culture but not a good image to adopt, and the leader who treats people well gets the best out of those people. Finally, and less specifically, Blanchard says that the leader shows the right kind of leadership, though what this means has to be developed more fully and may differ depending on the nature of the organization and other factors that one company might have while another does not. Leadership style has long been a point of discussion in the literature, and this section of Blanchard's book is where he discusses that issue.

Blanchard says that the effective leader makes his or her organization into a high performance organization and does so by satisfying customers, being the employer sought out by others, and attracting money in the form of investment to keep the organization operating at peak efficiency. Blanchard is given to creating acronyms tha help people remember the elements of his ideas, such as HPPO for high performing organization, and the acronym SCORE to identify the six elements that contriute to the development of an HPO and that are found in every HPO, these being:

Shared information and communication

Compelling vision

Ongoing learning

Relentless focus on customer results

Energizing systems and structures

Shared power and high involvement

These elements are discussed by others as well, though not necessarily with the acronym to help people remember. The different requirements embodied in this acronym show the need to nurture customers, to create a vision that others can follow, to learn from the process, and to delegate authority while remaining involved in the process as monitor and guide.

For Blanchard, everything in the business organization begins with and traces back to the customer. A customer orientation is clearly the first and perhaps the sot important element in the leadership style of the effective leader. Leadership style is a major issue in business literature, and the classical method of classifying leadership styles is based on a continuum of authority exerted by the leader. The styles of leadership identified under this approach are autocratic, participative, and free-rein.

The different approaches to categorizing leadership styles all involve an analysis of leadership behavior in the organizational setting, with particular reference to how the leader relates to subordinates, usually in terms of how much involvement the leader and the subordinates have in the decision-making process. Giving authority to employees is seen as an act of empowerment that is beneficial to subordinates and the organization.

Blanchard finds that managers spend much of their time reviewing and acting on the proposals of associates, upper management, and nonmanagement personnel. It is common to hear some managers talked of as being "decisive" and others as "lacking prudent judgment."

Decision making may seem like a very straightforward process so that there may seem to be simple steps for collecting and analyzing data, weighing alternatives, testing possible solutions, and arriving at a course of action. In actual practice, however, real-life decision are made in a pressure-packed environment in the face of inadequate input, conflicting information, budget restraints, time squeezes, scarce resources, and other elements that cloud the issues and threaten the quality of the decisions made. What the manager needs is a simple and logical framework for making decisions that will be successful.

Blanchard suggests that there are four basic decision-making styles -- authoritative, consultative, facilitative, and delegative. Each style has a high probability of getting results depending on the readiness of the followers of the given situation, and the leadership style determines the relationship between the leader and his or her followers. Authoritative decision making is applicable in situations where the manager possesses the necessary experience and information to reach a conclusion and where followers do not possess the ability, willingness, or confidence to help. The manager makes the decision without seeking assistance. This style requires direct leader behavior. Followers are not usually active in determining a course of action, and the followers do not usually know what the decision is until the manager announces it. Authoritative decisions are required in cases where the manager has knowledge not possessed by others or where the manager is the only source of information or expertise.

Consultative decision making becomes a valuable strategy in cases where the manager recognizes that the followers also possess some experience or knowledge and are willing but not yet able to help. The best strategy in this case is to seek input before making the decision. The manager using this approach selects those followers who can help reach a decision and asks their assistance. The manager may or may not share with them all the details of the problem, and in any case it is the manager who makes the final decision.

Facilitative decision making is a cooperative effort in which the manager and the followers work together and reach a shared decision. Delegative decision making occurs when the manager delegates the authority to make the decision, an approach that presumes that followers have the necessary knowledge and motivation to handle their tasks.

However, Blanchard emphasizes not the leadership relationship with subordinates but the dedication of the leader to answering the needs of the customer. He sees everything as beginning with the customer and as able to be evaluated on the basis of service to the customer. As a working hypothesis, this is a good approach and one that helps focus decision making and the actions taken toward identifiable goals. This may be a less valuable issue for some of the problems the leader may encounter, and some organizational issue are made customer issues only by assuming that the customer will not be served if the company fails or becomes less effective.