Page 30 - The extraordinary leader

Demystifying Leadership • 7

This can be even further complicated by the fact that groups are often
scattered across widely different time zones, thus making the
leadership task even more complex. For example, holding meetings
at one point in time can be cumbersome.
13. Another variable is the wide variety of leadership styles used within
different organizations to motivate and inspire the front line. Some of
the best research in this regard comes from Jon Katzenbach and is
2
described in his book Peak Performance. In that book, he describes
firms that were extremely effective and successful but that used very
different approaches to getting high performance from the people
within. He described five of these:

● Mission, values, and pride. In this approach, the organization
immerses everyone in the traditions, the spirit, the core values, and
the mission of the organization. This in turn generates great pride,
and people produce at high levels because of that pride in the
organization. The U.S. Marine Corps is a good example of this.
● Recognition and celebration. Many organizations he studied
practiced extensive recognition for their people and went to great
lengths to celebrate successes. Southwest Airlines is a classic
example of this approach.
● Process metrics. Many organizations post detailed charts showing
productivity and quality metrics for every department. People are
trained to understand these metrics, and the organization’s success
is measured and rewarded by performance against these metrics.
● Individual achievement. Other organizations excel by allowing
individuals to accomplish extraordinary things. Organizational
effectiveness is the addition of all these excelling individuals.
Professional service firms function this way, and McKinsey and
Company is a good example.
● Entrepreneurial spirit. Still another approach to motivating people
to high performance is to let them enjoy a huge financial stake in
the potential success of the firm. Many high-tech start-ups have
relied on this appeal to someone’s entrepreneurial spirit, and this
has enabled such organizations to excel.
This is a good example of the complexity of leadership. All five of the
above approaches work well. One is not right and the others wrong.