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Leadership and Behavioural Decision Making - Resume (HMA83a)
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Summary of the MBA course at KUL Bastardoz & Brebels, Leadership and Behavioural Decision-Making !!!
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Leadership and behavioral decision makingCLASS 1
Definitions
Leadership is the process of influencing others towards the realization of a shared goal.
Leaders are individuals who have a differential influence on the initiation, direction and coordination of group activities over and
above the influence associated with formal authority.
What is the difference between a leader and a manager (or someone holding a position of formal power in a hierarchy)?
ð Leadership requires some shared goals (between leader and followers) whereas this is not the case with relationships
based on power.
Are leaders born or made?
Few abilities are inherited. The majority of the more important abilities are learned and developed in interaction with others. This
is especially true for such abilities as leadership. à No born leaders.
What we know about leadership
- Leadership is a dynamic influential process, not a position or a static label.
- Leadership requires a social interaction between people. (Authority >< Leader).
- Everyone exercises some form of leadership.
- Leadership can be developed. à Different leadership behaviors and styles can be developed.
- The effective leader behaviors / styles are context-specific.
- Women and men are equally effective as leaders.
- Many leadership practices are universal (integrity, charisma, or team-oriented) and some are culturally-specific.
- Being a leader contain certain pitfalls (ex. : Power, ethics…). ! Ethics
Leadership training vs development
1. Leadership training
= Set of systematic learning initiatives designed to enhance specific job-relevant knowledge (what you know), skills (what you
can do), and attitudes (what you think or feel about it) - KSAs.
Ex. : Leaders should know how to recognize when employees need their emotional support, have the communication skills to
convey their understanding and discuss solutions, hold empathic attitudes, and be motivated to act accordingly.
Ex. : Leadership training is often used for education in response to new policies or technologies, to remediate performance of
leaders and/or their teams, when indices of business performance are declining, and whenever change is involved,
1
,Goal
= To add new skills to an established or emerging leader’s skill repertoire, provide the knowledge to use the skills appropriately,
and adopt the attitudes necessary to adapt and apply them on the job.
5 recommendations :
1. Conduct a systematic analysis of the KSAs for leader success (needs analysis). Because there are so many different
leadership KSAs, researchers have grouped them into four main types of required skills that should be targeted in training
interventions: intrapersonal, interpersonal, business, and leadership.
2. Choose scientifically validated training initiatives and evaluate their effectiveness.
3. Make it easy for learners to apply training back to the job by removing barriers to motivation and transfer.
4. Base the design of training on multiple formats with opportunities for practice and feedback to enhance learning.
5. Help the training stick by providing resources, opportunities for on-the-job practice, and incentives that make it easy to
use newly acquired KSAs.
2. Leader development
One of the reasons for leadership development initiatives is to nudge people out of their comfort zones to acquire new ways of
being an effective leader. As compared with relatively straightforward skills acquisition through training interventions, leadership
developmental initiatives take on more complex and holistic challenges associated with changing the inherent behavioral
tendencies (some have called this personality) of human beings.
Developing as a leader/individual development :
- Across the entire lifespan
- All individuals do not experience or benefit in the same ways from the same experience
- Leaders develop following different growth patterns
Informal rule of “70-20-10” :
70%: Challenging assignments (Ex. : Job transitions, unfamiliar responsibilities, obstacles)
The analyses of the executives’ stories yielded five categories of key developmental experiences :
1. Challenging assignments: New job or task that stretched the executive because it was new, complex, or demanding.
2. Other people: Both positive and negative role models (mostly bosses and others high in the hierarchy).
3. Hardships: Setbacks and failures that generated a sense of loss and aloneness.
4. Coursework: Formal training and academic programs (only 6.2%).
5. Personal life experiences.
20%: Developmental relationships (Ex. : Coaching, mentoring, feedback programs)
Important to build a mentor / coaching network :
1. Leaders’ self-efficacy and leadership performance can be enhanced by a comprehensive mentorship program.
2. For leadership development, networking is especially vital for knowing who to turn to for problem solving resources,
exposure to others' thinking that challenges basic assumptions, and developing social capital that can increase support.
10%: Coursework and training (Ex. : Reflection, personal development, “knowledge”)
- Time spent “in the classroom” contributes to development in unique ways, including giving participants exposure to new
ideas, new behaviors to practice, time to reflect, and opportunities to connect with other leaders.
- Potential issues with course-work and training: “Most investment in leadership training subscribes to a “list” approach.
What I mean is that the provider of the training typically has either an explicit or tacit list in mind of what attributes it
takes to be a good leader; The problem with the list approach is that most trainees find that, as a leadership development
method, it doesn't work that well upon return to their professional homes.
5 recommendations :
1. Leverage work experiences for development.
2. Provide access to feedback and support.
3. Use evidence-based processes for structured reflection.
4. Facilitating changes in self-views.
5. Give it time to work.
2
,Mindful engagement model
Challenging managerial assignments are arguably the most effective
means for facilitating leadership development, especially when focused
on cultivating targeted competencies and supplemented by leaders
systematically reflecting on the insights they glean from such challenging
experiences.
1. Mindful engagement — 1 Approach
3 components :
1. Identify what you need to develop (perform a “needs analysis”).
2. You can “grow” as a person/leader: Growth (vs. Fixed) mindset.
3. Have a learning orientation & set learning goals.
–> Goals drive behaviours.
Learning orientation
Ashford & DeRue (2012): “Research has also established the importance of setting learning goals for complex, challenging tasks where individuals
might not have the requisite knowledge and skills to perform effectively.
In our mindful engagement workshops, examples of leadership development goals that appear include ‘‘learning how to set an effective vision
or direction for a group,’’ ‘‘learning to be more persuasive,’’ and ‘‘learning how to share more of my authentic self.’’ One benefit of these learning
goals, especially in complex, challenging environments, is that they direct individuals’ attention from simply performing the task to what new
knowledge or skills need to be developed to exhibit effective leadership both in the current task and beyond.”
Fixed (F) vs. Growth (G) mindset:
• F=“Of course intelligence is largely hereditary, you either have it or don’t” vs. G=“Of course intelligence can be increased through
working hard in an intellectually stimulating environment”
• F=“How I perform on this project will diagnose my level of leadership talent” vs. G=“How I perform on this project may develop my
level of leadership talent”
• F=“Successes reflect traits such as being smart or gifted in a particular area” vs. G=“Successes reflect the initiatives undertaken, such
as working hard and/or developing effective strategies”
How to encourage growth mindsets in others?
• Attribute others' progress and success to their strategies and efforts, rather than to their brilliance or talent (Mueller & Dweck, 1998)
• Frame team members' areas for development as skills they have not yet mastered (Dweck, 1999)
• Select someone who had not demonstrated their efficacy for a role
About learning:
• Learning and change do initially generate stress, discomfort, and performance decrements; however, persistence and practice with
new behaviors typically leads to even higher levels of performance. The most common reason adults balk at trying a new approach or
a new set of behaviors is that they are afraid to look bad in front of others. The need to be perceived as competent is so strong it can
literally override common sense. Our unwillingness or discomfort with the risk of humiliation or vulnerability gets in our way
• Learning involves unlearning (discarding prior knowledge) and challenging existing mental models (Nystrom & Starbuck, 1984).
Organizational learning orientation requires individuals and groups to question their mental models, assumptions, and behaviors
(Senge, 1992; Sinkula et al., 1997). Learning oriented organizations proactively question long-held routines, assumptions, beliefs, and
fundamental operating principles, giving rise to new understandings (Slater & Narver, 1995). Empirical research found that learning
orientation had a positive impact on organizational innovativeness – employees' willingness to try out new ideas, seek out new ways
to do things, and be creative in their methods (Calantone, Cavusgil, & Zhao, 2002; Keskin, 2006; Lee & Tsai, 2005)
We lose about 40% of our skills about every 3y.
1. Tech savviness is a sine-qua-non condition
2. Necessity of a growth mindset
3. Critical to “learn to learn”
ð Culture of “continuous learning” & mindset “Always be learning”.
2, is about being willing to learn, if you learn then more likely to become better person or leader.
3
, 2. Mindful engagement — 2 Action
Identify the kinds of experiences YOU NEED to add to your leadership portfolio
ð Get out of your comfort zone by gaining some experience in leading through challenging assignments (allowing individuals
to develop their leadership) :
o Unfamiliar Responsibilities: Handling responsibilities that are new or very different from previous ones you’ve
handled.
o New Directions: Starting something new or making strategic changes.
o Inherited Problems: Fixing problems created by someone else or existing before you took the assignment.
o Problems with Employees: Dealing with employees who lack adequate experience, are not highly competent, or
are resistant to change.
o High Stakes: Managing work with tight deadlines, pressure from above, high visibility, and responsibility for
critical decisions.
o Scope and Scale: Managing work that is broad in scope (involving multiple functions, groups, locations, products,
or services) or large in sheer size (for example, workload, number of responsibilities).
o External Pressure: Managing the interface with important groups outside the organization, such as customers,
vendors, partners, unions, and regulatory agencies.
o Influencing Without Authority: Influencing peers, higher management, or other key people over whom you have
no authority.
o Work Across Cultures: Working with people from different cultures or with institutions in other countries.
o Work Group Diversity: Being responsible for the work of people of both genders and different racial and ethnic
backgrounds.
Why do challenging assignments help to grow as a leader?
• Whatever makes an experience challenging - the unexpected, high stakes, complexity, pressure, novelty, and so on - is
what makes it a potentially powerful learning experience.
• Individuals broaden and deepen their leadership capabilities as they do leadership work.
• Much to learn from the “school of hard knocks” and by “learning in the trenches”
à Don’t fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things.
3. Mindful engagement — 3 Reflection
Capture the lessons of experience and make sense of what happened and why.
For specific events, conduct an “after-events review” or debriefing
- Soon after the experience.
- Describe factually the experience.
- Consider counterfactuals.
- Gather lessons learned and distill new insights.
à Experience per se never teaches anyone human relation skills. It is always up to the person to utilize experience properly if
[s]he is to learn.
Reflection: Quite possibly the least favorite activity for managers.
à Yet, to learn from experience, people need to digest their experience by asking themselves, reflect on it by asking themselves,
and relate it to general patterns of cause and effect.
Use:
After-events review (AER) or debriefing, is an approach to training that is based on a systematic review of trainees’ performance
during recently completed tasks or performance events. The AER turns a recent event into a learning opportunity through
systematic review and discussion.
AERs consist of three components (Ellis & Davidi, 2005).
1. Self-explanation : Individuals systematically analyzing their own behavior and developing specific explanations for how
their behavior contributed to performance.
2. The data verification component asks them to imagine alternative interpretations of their experience and consider a
range of alternative explanations for how their behavior contributed to performance. Thus, the self-explanation and data
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