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An Effective
Leadership Model for
Africa's Development
Building Leadership Capacity in Public, Private and Civil Society
Sector Organisations
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Development-aligned Objectives
Join us and help us make this dream a reality
Our commitment…
1. Make 21st century, Africa’s century
2. Establish African democracy
3. Competent, ethical leadership
4. Reconstruction and reconciliation
5. Leadership advocacy and dialogue
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Basic Basic
Inter- Inter-mediate mediate
Advanced Advanced
Management
Leadership
Integrated Leadership Development ModelIntegrated Leadership Development Model
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Fundamental Concepts
The Great Man Leadership Model
Traditional Leadership Institution and Model
Cohabitational Leadership Model
Black Doughnut Leadership Model
Constellational Leadership Model
Binary leadership Model
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3000 BC• Having invented irrigation, the city, the corporation and writing, Sumer (Mesopotamia)
added professional solders and hereditary kings
• The kings moved out of temples and into palaces of their own, where they forged
personal links with divinity, claiming godly status by virtue of descent from heaven, a
notion that would appear in many cultures and endure into modern times as divine
right
• With kingship came new uses of writing: dynastic history and propaganda, the
exaltation of a single individual
History and Evolution
Reference: A short History of progress – Ronald Wright 2004
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2500 BC…The days of collective landholding by city and corporation were gone
The fields now belonged to lords and great families
The Sumerian populace became serfs and slavecroppers
Beneath them was a permanent underclass of slaves – a feature of Western
civilisation that would last until the 19th Century after Christ
History and Evolution
Reference: A short History of progress – Ronald Wright 2004
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States arrogate to themselves the power of coercive violence:
- The right to crack the whip
- Execute prisoners
- Send young men to battlefield
From this stems the venomous bloom - the black flower of civilisation i.e.
- Torture
- Wrongful imprisonment
- Violence for display
- The forging of might into right
History and Evolution
Reference: A short History of progress – Ronald Wright 2004
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History and Evolution The ideal of the leader as provider and the wealthy as open-handed has survived
for centuries and can be traced in many languages to the present
Our word ‘lord’ comes from the Old English hlaford or ‘loafward’ – he who
guarded the bread supply – and was expected to share it
The Inca title qhapaq meant ‘munifiencet’ – someone who gathers wealth in but
also redistributes it
The Incas emperor ‘wakchakuyaq’ cared for the bereft
In Hawai, chiefs were warned by their elders against hoarding food or goods –
‘the hands of Arii must always be open – on this rest your prestige’
Of Chinese emperors it was said that their first duty was to feed their people
And in Africa…
Reference: A short History of progress – Ronald Wright 2004
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Bertolt Breecht - the Poet wrote…
The books are filled with names of kings
Was it kings who hauled the craggy blocks of stone?
Young Alexander conquered India
He alone?
Reference: A short History of progress – Ronald Wright 2004
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Perspectives on Theory and Practice
• The Great Man Leadership Model
– It is most documented yet least researched model
– It has evolved into the most dominant mechanism for organising
and running organised life across the public, private and civil
society sectors
– It has had phenomenal impact in shaping society and the
institutions that support it
– It has spawned many different concepts, language, traditions etc
– Examples of characterisations of aspects of the model
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Tide is turning against the ‘T-Rex’ Approach
• The Single Authority leadership approach has also produced
spectacular failures
• These failures have provoked global backlash against leaders
and top management
• The tide has finally turned against the leadership few and their
tendency to sideline those operating outside the ‘executive’ team
• This is most welcome break for tradition-bound African societies
whose leadership DNA is based on collaboration, consultation
and open accountability
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Modern Periods: Leadership Theories
Based on the ‘Great Man’ Leadership Theory1. Trait theories
2. Behavioural theories
3. Contingency theories
4. Fiedler’s LPC Model
5. Path-Goal Theory
6. Vroom-Yetton Model
7. Graen’s Dyad Model
8. Charismatic Leadership Model
9. Transformational Leadership Model
Types of Problems
Situation Problemdefinition
Type I
Primary locus of responsibility for the work
Situation and implementation
Clear
Kind of work
Clear
Type III Requires learning
Requires learning
MechanicDoctor
Technical(Recurrent)
AdaptiveLeader and Team
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Current Trends in Leadership Theories
Based on Collective or Distributive Leadership Theory• Traditional or Collective Leadership Theory
• Collaborative Leadership Model
• Adaptive Leadership ModelTM
• Constellational Leadership ModelTM
• Binary Leadership ModelTM
• Community of Mutual Reciprocity Leadership ModelTM
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Collaborative Leadership• Collective leadership
• Distributive leadership
• Adaptive leadership
…the art of getting fulfilling work done with others….
Types of Problems
Situation Problemdefinition
Type I
Primary locus of responsibility for the work
Situation and implementation
Clear
Kind of work
Clear
Type III Requires learning
Requires learning
MechanicDoctor
Technical(Recurrent)
AdaptiveLeader and Team
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Adaptive challenges vs. technical problems• There is a gap between aspirations and reality.
– Progress requires responses outside the organization's standard repertoire
– Narrowing that gap will require difficult learning
– Part of the learning will require distinguishing what is essential and what is expendable
– Painful choices must be made between competing loyalties and values
– The people with the problem are both the problem and they are the solution
– Problem-solving responsibility must shift from authoritative experts to the stakeholders.
• Adaptive work requires a longer time frame than technical work
– Adaptive work involves experimentation and willingness to make mistakes and to learn from
– Adaptive challenges generate disequilibrium, resistance and work avoidance
– Significant organizational change inevitably involves adaptive challenges
The African Leadership Group 20
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g Identityg Historyg Sizeg Worldviewg Culture/Customs g Philosophyg Knowledge systems g Leadership Institutiong Ethics/moralityg Religiong Mythology g Languagesg Achievementsg Contributions
Key elements to leadership effectiveness
TraditionalLeadershipInstitutions
TraditionalLeadershipInstitutions
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Doughnut Leadership Model
Black
Black Leadership Executives
Black Leadership Executives
Key to South Africa's post-apartheid transformation
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Constellational Leadership»Consultation
»Consensus
»Collaboration
»Commitment
»Accommodating
»Adaptive
»Mastery of Paradox
»Big Picture-focus
»Long-term
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Equal among Equals in Consultation
• Rules of Engagement• Develop collective mindset• Identify true adaptive or
transformational challenges facing the organisation
• Keep employee distress within productive and manageable range
• Pay attention to ripening issues rather than ‘hitting the iron whilst still hot’
• Give work back to the people• Protect leaders without formal
authority
Leadership Constellation
• Rules of Engagement• Adopt bold strategies and programmes
aligned with those leading without formal authority
• Provide continuity, consensus• Practice the politics of inclusion• Develop capacity for paradox/ambiguity• Place group or organisational survival
and sustainability above individual gain• Reward outstanding individual
performance equitably
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Equal among Equals in Consultation
Role Players• Reputation for high
performance• Each a leader in own right• Possess diverse expertise and
functional knowledge • Strong independence of mind• Mature and depth of
experience Leadership Binary
Leadership Constellation
• Reputation for high performance
• Each a leader in own right –regardless of status
• Possess diverse expertise and functional knowledge
• Strong independence of mind
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Equal among Equals in Consultation
Consultation Processes• Disciplined
• Purposeful
• Solution-focused
• Information-sharing
• Provide full feedbackLeadership
Binary
Leadership Constellation
• Must have beginning and end
• Thorough and transparent• Integrity, trust & candour• Consensus and compromise
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• The Mandela-Mbeki Binary Leadership System
• The Binary Leadership is located within the constellational
leadership system of the ANC
• There’s nothing new, unusual or extraordinary about this
• Many of human systems operate according the laws of duality e.g.– The Family nucleus (father/mother) inside the family constellation
– The Chairman of the Board the Chief Executive
– The CEO and the COO or CFO
• It’s the business of striking creative balance between
opposites
Partnership for life…