Evaluation of Level 5 Leadership - Assignment Example

Running Head; Evaluation of Level 5 Leadership Name Institution Date of submission Introduction Leadership style refers to a leader's form of providing direction in the group or organization, how to implement plans, and motivating junior members of an organization. There exist numerous leadership styles exhibited by leaders in the governmental, commercial or other fields. Effective leadership styles comprise the all qualities that are most likely effective in today's world where competition remain a major aspect of any company and organization. Today’s current leadership needs to be both similar to leadership of the past and a bit different from leadership that passed quite some ages before. This is because; leadership style comes with different needs and depends on group objectives. However, level 5 leader is the most efficient form of leadership as it is effective in achieving organizational objectives. According to Jim Collins (2001), level 5 leadership style appears at the top in the hierarchy of leadership capabilities is quite necessary in the requirements for transforming every organization from good to better performance. Furthermore, what lies beneath the level 5 leadership style are other four layers of leadership styles. Each one of these layers is appropriate in their own capacities but none has the efficiency compared to that of level 5. Individual leaders do not need to progress sequentially from one level of the hierarchy to another in order to reach at the top of the hierarchy. However, an individual leader requires the capabilities of all the lower levels in addition to all the special characteristics of level 5 leadership styles in order to reach at the top of the hierarchy, (Collins J, 2001) Below level 5 leadership style, there lie other four levels of leadership. Level 4 leadership describes effective leadership. Effective leader influences followers to and vigorous pursuit of clear organizational goals, visions and ambitions. Furthermore, the effective leader stimulates the group to work towards high performance standards that result in effective achievement of group’s goals and visions. Level 3 of the hierarchy describes a competent manager. The leader in this level has the ability to organize followers and resources in alignment to effective and efficient questof the group’s predetermined objectives. Level 2 of the hierarchy describes a contributing team member. This leader contributes a lot of efforts aimed at achieving the group’s objectives. The leader works efficiently and effectively with other team members in an organizational setting. Finally, level 1 in the leadership hierarchy comprises a highly capable individual who makes a lot of contributions through effective blending of talent, skills, knowledge and nice work habits (Collins J, 2001). A close assessment of the hierarchy indicates that every level describes a leader dedicated to instilling efforts towards the achievement of group objectives and predetermined goals. Level 5 leaders express an inconsistent blending of genuine personal humility and exemplary professional will. A simple formula that describe level 5 leadership is Humility + Will = Level 5. The first and foremost principle of this level is that the leader operates with genuine humility that is defined by a burning personal passion, obsessive desire for the work, the company, the cause and for the company, not for their own selves. The level 5 leader possesses an utterly enduring will to make good on their ambition. The level 5 leader channels their ego needs to divert from themselves and towards the larger goal of building a spectacular company. Characteristics of Level 5 Leader The most striking and fascinating character of a level 5 leader is that they are fanatically driven and infected with an irrepressible desire to produce perfect and sustainable organizationalresults. The leaders are resolved to do whatever possible to make their companies great, no matter how big or hard decisions they make (NHS, 2004). Level 5 leaders have the ability to look out the window and think outside the box to attribute success to factors instead of themselves. When things go wrong or poorly against their expectations, however, they do not shift blames to others in the company but put it on themselves, taking full responsibility of the failure. This means that level 5 leaders do not assign blame for disappointing results. Jim Collins hypothesis posits that there are two sets of individuals. People comprise those who do not have the elements of Level 5 leader and those who do. The first category of people comprisethose who never in several years could bring themselves to overcome their self-seeking needs to the greater desire of building anything larger than themselves. For this category of people, their desire for work is guided by what they will earn after the work. This will decide their performance and contribution towards achievement of the company objectives. This category of people expects fame, adulation, power and adulation. They do not value what they build, develop, create, and contribute to the company (Collins J, 2001). According to Jim Collins, (2001), the second category of people comprises those with high potential to develop sequentially to Level 5. Their capability to evolve to this level resides within them, perhaps buried or ignored in some way. Surprisingly, under the right circumstance, self-reflection, sensible personal development, a great teacher, loving parents, a substantial life experience, a Level 5 boss, a mentor or any number of other factors, this category of people begin to develop and evolve to level 5 leaders. Generally, all level 5 leaders develop and groom their successors in an impeccable manner. To do that successfully, it means a leader has to be self-confident enough to enable them hire competent people and then delegate duties and give out clear instructions and guidance. The leader’sprincipal job is to help in the company develop and set strategies, energize people and then keep the group members focused in the company’s objectives and targets. Although lower level leaders and executives may not have the jurisdiction to set strategies, they do have to implement them and they have to utilize other people’s skills and efforts to execute them. However, if theyexecute most or all of the strategiesby themselves, then they are individual contributors, not leaders (Alan M., 2010). Develop Humility The level 5 Leaders possess undisputed humble behavior. They appreciate that humility is important for creation of a great company, and they make sure that they understand at a great and emotional level how and why arrogance destroys the creation of a great company. The leaders ensure that they always behave in a humble way. A better way of expressing their humility is by crediting their success to others for their hard work (Collins J, 2010). They Ask for Help In most cases, level 5 leaders are sometimes mistaken as "weak," because they seek for help when they face some unusually difficult situations. However, the art of seeking help is a genuine and highly respected strength, because it lets the leaders call upon the capability, skill and knowledge of someone stronger in an area they feel incompetent with. The result is that the entire group or organization gains a lot from the contribution. More often than not, level 5 leaders apply the use of questioning to gain understanding of any prevailing situation. They spend most of their meetings and conferences trying to gain an insight of the situation facing the company. During informal meetings, level 5 leaders move among groups of the company’s managers and employees discussing the emerging and current issues in the marketplace and the company they manage. In such a manner, the level 5 leader applies the use of democratic leadership style (Collins J, 2001). Drivers for Level 5 Leadership Although Level 5 Leadership is the perfect to transform a company from good to great, it has other drivers combined with it for efficient and effective company transformation. These drivers are essential in company transformation and include first who, Stockdale paradox, the Hedgehog concept, the Flywheel and a culture of discipline. First Who The level 5 leader value dealing with people first then the company’s vision, strategies and objectives come second. According toJim Collins (2001), level 5 leader evaluates potential employees and makes sure that “the right people are on the bus” and clearly determines where and how to drive the bus. This approach has some understandable advantages as discussed below. 1) Once the leader has brought the right people on the team or organization, adapting to changes required for transformation becomes relatively fast. If people join the group basically because they are happy or rather impressed with direction and performance of the company or the strategy adopted, they are very much certain to feel quite dissatisfied and unhappy when the firm changes its course or strategies according to its situational demands. These individuals who feel unhappy and dissatisfied will rarely become enthusiastic in their participation when the firm tends to move in a new direction with new policies strategies. 2) The right people brought into the bus will not have any remarkable motivational problems. A leader does not have to motivate the new membershave a close supervision on them. The new people are driven by their inner drive to come up with the best results and leave a great reputation in the company. 3) It is also appreciated that a great company will never be created without the right people in place. In the case where wrong, incompetent and less skilled people are in place, it is more certain that they will not be of much use even if the company is moving in right direction with the right strategies. Similarly, great vision or effective strategiesare likely to lack meaning if the right people to strive for them are not in place. Stockdale Paradox This driver for level 5 leader got its name from Admiral James Stockdale, who won the Medal of Honor. From his lessons, level 5 leaders learn to confront the most brutal facts in the current world while at the same time maintain a very absolute belief that they will emerge successful in the end. This means that level 5 leaders hold the two disciplines of faith and facts at all times. Level 5 leaders have the willingness and ability to encourage their people to face brutal facts for the real world. The leaders believe that once they have put enough efforts into knowing the facts and reality of the situation, right decisions that will transform the company will follow. In most cases, this might not be the case. At times, situations where invaluable information on the situation is readily available and accessible yet decision making seem difficult. However, there is one thing that is very certain. Consistently, a leader can make the most suitable decisions only when the leader himself is in touch with the facts and the realities at hand. A level 5 leaders will always use various strategies to understand the facts and realities of the situation at hand (Collins J, 2001). The Flywheel The level 5 leader appreciates and acknowledges the fact that transformation of a company does not happen instantly. They appreciate that transformation from good to great starts one gradually from one movement to another, gaining momentum in the process till the company attains a breakthrough (Collins J, 2001). Technology Operators According to Collins Jim, (2001), level 5 leaders have a paradoxical relationship with emerging technologies. However, they have a good idea of not hoping on to new technology bandwagons yet they pioneer the application of respected and highly selected technologies. In the process, they bold and judicious investments that have direct links with their hedgehog concepts. These technology accelerators help in creating a high momentum in the flywheel, making the company transform fast. Hedgehog Concept A core business that any organization has been engaging in for many years is not guarantee that it will always make it the best in that field. And if any given organization is not the best in the world in its main business activity, then it cannot be a great company at all. Thus, level 5 leaders pinpoint the kind of business activity where their company can be the best in the world. They also identify where their companycannot be great. A Culture of Discipline According to Jim Collins, level 5 leader has three forms of discipline. 1. Disciplined people. People with this form of discipline do not need hierarchy. 2. Disciplined thought. This means the leader do not need bureaucracy. 3. Disciplined action. The level 5 leader do not need excessive controls. Level 5 leaders usually lead with the help of highly disciplined members of the group, disciplined thought, and disciplined action. Their first action is to identify disciplined people and once they have identified the most disciplined people, they do not put in much effort in managing them. The level 5 leader manage the system through the acquired disciplined and right people within their group. After that, the leaders try to attempt at disciplined thought. The leader also acknowledges that discipline is necessary tool in facing brutal facts in the real situation. A level 5 leader appreciate that discipline is a prerequisite to holding their faith of success no matter how difficult a situation is. The attained faith then creates a suitable environment for the leader to have a disciplined thought for running the company affairs. Furthermore, discipline is necessary to persist until the company realizes its Hedgehog concept. In most of the companies that Jim Collins studied took close to four years to identify their hedgehog concept. Additionally, disciplined people are the most important source of discipline. Finally, disciplined action is a prerequisite for company transformation from good to great. This disciplined action will only ensure that the expected results are realized.Combining the culture of discipline together with entrepreneurship ethics brings about high performance. Conclusion Level 5 leaders present a perfect executive that is goal oriented; Jim Collins concludes that level 5 leaders blend both personal humility and professional will to execute his leadership activities, hence producing the expected group results with ease. From the above study, personal humility demonstrates a leader possessing a quite compelling modesty that shuns public adulation and does not have elements of arrogance with him. The leader acts with calm determination towards the company objectives, and is principally relies on highly defined standards. The leader fitting the description of level 5 leader channels his ambitions into the organization’s vision and goals without taking into consideration of who benefits or gets the credit from his success, as a matter of fact, the leader prefers to credit other people in his group for the success achieved. Furthermore, the leader sets up with the intention of developing great leaders even in the next generations. In the event where poor or unexpected results are realized, the level 5 leader looks in the mirror and remains responsibility for his actions. This is to say that the leader does not look out of the window to blame other people and any external factors. Additionally, level 5 leaders have a great professional will for discharging their services. This means that they create outstanding results and are at the center of transforming a company from good to great. They demonstrate unwavering resolve that compel them to do whatever possible to come up with long-term and sustainable success. They do so regardless of how hard or difficult the situation would be. They also set the standards and foundation for building a great company and will always settle for nothing less than that. Reference Alan M 2010, The Wall Street Journal Essential Guide to Management, New York, HarperCollins. pp. 11 Collins J 2001, Good to Great: Why some Companies Make the Leap …and Others Don’t. New York, New York, HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Collins, J 2001, Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve, Harvard Business Review, January 2001. NHS Leadership Centre 2004, Leadership Centre Work Review, NHS Leadership Centre. Read More