Thomas F. Hilton, PhD
In Myth busters #5, Part 1, guest blogger Tom Hilton talked about the importance of leadership competencies in improving organizational performance. Part 2 continues the discussion:
Why do leadership competencies matter?
Researcher and Harvard psychology professor David McClelland
found that as you move to higher and higher levels of responsibility,
leadership ability begins to overshadow technical skill. Of course, in the
health field, many supervisory positions in clinics require educational
credentials, licensure, and technical skills. However, if people cannot also
lead, they will make ineffective bosses regardless of their professional
accomplishments. Bill Gates might be a technological wizard, but
Microsoft would never have become the corporate giant it is today without his
ability to energize, inspire, and animate a rapidly growing workforce.
The long-term
solution is for the organization to bite the bullet and get professional help
in making senior hiring decisions. If expert help is not an option, have the
entire clinic group interview the top two or three candidates. Their collective
judgment will often be better than that of one person. Because they have some
skin in the game, staff members will ask tough questions. After all, the
counseling staff are trained interviewers. Once leaders are not turning over
frequently, this investment will compensate for the extra time and resources by
reducing turnover and training costs. It is also very likely to reduce
counselor stress, and enable more effective treatment and recovery.
What do you do if the director is the problem?
Sometimes the person in overall charge, the clinic director
for example, is where the leadership problem lies. While oversight boards
sometimes replace ineffective directors, it is not the norm. In most cases, a
broken boss is fixable. Participating in leadership development workshops can
help to develop better leadership skills. The FAA, for example, requires that
every employee who is promoted or hired into a leadership position must attend a
weeklong workshop to develop trust and communication skills. Hiring a coach to
come in periodically can help senior leaders develop greater sensitivity to
their disabling and enabling behaviors. Staff members too can join in by
offering constructive feedback in non-threatening ways. Most counselors have
had some assertiveness training. Here are two examples:
“Boss, when you interrupt a counseling session just to tell me something on your way out, it makes it difficult to restore rapport for an effective session.”
“Boss, I’m sure that you did not mean to put me down just now, but think about how you would feel if your boss said that to you.”
Can leadership competencies be learned?
This is the 900-pound gorilla in leadership science. Is
leadership a trait or a skill? Organizational psychologists continue to dissect
leadership effectiveness. McClelland would say it is both. I agree. Skills you
can learn, but traits are innate. They are in our genes. The more leadership
traits you have, the easier it is to put those leadership skills into action.
Traits become increasingly important as one moves higher in any organization.
Without the right mix of traits, skill alone will be insufficient to ensure
that you always say and do the right things as responsibilities become onerous
and pressure to do the right thing may allow only seconds to respond.
Over my career, I have worked for some amazing leaders such
as the Vice President, the Surgeon General, the Admiral of the Navy, and the
Administrator of the FAA. Each were always situationally aware, always asking
the right questions, always trying to figure out which subordinate executive/admiral/general should take the lead, always weighing the effect of
policies on their workforce and the public, always weighing decisions against
their mission. They were also charming yet never disingenuous, and dependably
ethical. They could sometimes empower you with just a look. That is something
special.
Fortunately for most of us, our leadership demands are not
so onerous, and many of our trait deficiencies can be moderated by improving
both our own and our bosses’ leadership skills. We owe it to the people we work
with and work for. We owe it to our clients.
About our guest blogger
Tom Hilton is a retired NIH science officer and NIDA program
officer now in private practice. Tom has over 40 years of experience studying
and conducting large-scale organizational change initiatives in publicly-traded
corporations, DOD and other large federal agencies, as well as general-medical and
addiction health services organizations.
Other posts by Tom Hilton:
Other posts by Tom Hilton:
Mythbusters #5, Part 1: There's no right way to make promotion decisions
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