React to at least two significant ideas in the article (i.e., how did these two ideas affect your thinking, cause you to reflect, change your mind, add to your understanding of the topic, e

By Jonathan Pugh

“. . . most leadership development efforts overlook a specific attribute that is foundational to how leaders think, learn, and behave: their mindsets.”

Leadership Mindset Towards an Integrated Model

An OD professional friend of mine recently shared a conversation he had with a senior executive in a large organization who is responsible for leadership development. The conversation began with my friend asking this executive what he thought were today’s most critical skills for lead- ers to develop. To his surprise, the execu- tive responded by saying that skill building was not the biggest challenge—their firm had plenty of training programs to do that; instead, it was how to help leaders develop a leadership mindset. In his view, such a mindset is a greater determining factor for effective leadership than a more nar- row focus on development of various skills. However, when asked to describe the attri- butes of a leadership mindset, the executive was unable to provide much detail.

A recent Harvard Business Review arti- cle (Gottfredson & Reina, 2020) ampli- fies the importance of leadership mindset. Despite organizations worldwide spending roughly $356 billion on leadership devel- opment, the authors cite the findings of

a 2013 survey by the BrandonHall Group that 75% of organizations rated their lead- ership development programs as “not very effective.” As to why companies aren’t get- ting more bang for their leadership devel- opment buck, their own research says it’s likely because most leadership develop- ment efforts overlook a specific attribute that is foundational to how leaders think, learn, and behave: their mindsets.

Deloitte’s 2020 annual Global Human Capital Trends Report also identifies the importance of leadership mindset as the necessary outcome for developing future leaders as shown in Table 1.

Let’s begin by thinking about leader- ship mindsets as the mental lenses that determine what information leaders take in and use to make sense of and navi- gate the situations they encounter. Sim- ply stated, mindsets have a major impact on what leaders do and why. Notice that this description references mindset in the plural. And, indeed, a Google search on “leadership mindset” reveals a number of

Table 1: Building Leadership Skills

Source: Deloitte 2020 Global Human Capital Trends Report

14 ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT REVIEW Vol. 52 No. 4 2020

different constructs. In their HBR article, Gottfredson and Reina propose four lead- ership mindsets of their own for consider- ation. Before we take a brief look at these ahead, several observations are important to make: 1. These and other descriptions of lead-

ership mindsets found in the litera- ture are distinctive in nature. In other words, they do not share commonality with each other under some overarch- ing framework.

2. No single leadership mindset is advo- cated as having a superior advan- tage over others. This leaves open the question of how organizations can best leverage leadership mindsets to improve leader effectiveness.

3. It is unclear whether a single or mul- tiple leadership mindsets should be incorporated into leadership develop- ment programs and what process might be followed to make this determination.

Below is a description of the four leader- ship mindsets proposed by Gottfredson and Reina. These are presented as contrast- ing pairs, so there are actually a total of eight mindsets. » Growth and Fixed Mindsets – A growth

mindset is a belief that people, includ- ing oneself, can change their talents, abilities, and intelligence. Conversely, those with a fixed mindset do not believe that people can change their tal- ents, abilities, and intelligence.

» Learning and Performance Mindsets – A learning mindset involves being motivated toward increasing one’s com- petence and mastering something new. A performance mindset involves being motivated toward gaining favorable judgments (or avoiding negative judg- ments) about one’s competence.

» Deliberative and Implemental Mind- sets – A deliberative mindset has a heightened receptiveness to all kinds of information as a way to ensure that leaders think and act as optimally as possible. Leaders with an implemen- tal mindset are more focused on imple- menting decisions, which close them off to new and different ideas and information.

» Promotion and Prevention Mindsets – A promotion mindset is focused on winning and gains. These types of lead- ers identify a specific purpose, goal, or destination and prioritize making prog- ress toward it. Leaders with a preven- tion mindset, however, are focused on avoiding losses and preventing prob- lems at all costs.

The authors conclude by saying that once there is a better understanding of these mindsets, leadership training programs in organizations can be tailored to unlock the most effective ones for their managers. This suggests that adoption of specific lead- ership mindsets might be linked to orga- nizational context and situational theories of leadership.

Towards an Integrated Model of Leadership Mindset

What follows is an attempt to outline the construct of a new leadership mindset model that overcomes the observations made earlier about the general charac- teristics of leadership mindset models currently found in the literature. The pro- posed new model exhibits the following distinctive features: 1. Offers a larger, unitary construct of

leadership mindset that encompasses several sub-elements, each being dis- tinctive but having a harmonious and mutually reinforcing relationship with each other.

2. Is universally applicable for incorpora- tion into any leadership development program, regardless of organization type, business or industry.

As shown in Figure 1, the proposed inte- grated leadership mindset model has four sub-elements. Each of these will be described in turn with the aim of showing how they synergistically work together. My hope is that this discussion will stimulate new thinking about a more encompassing view of leadership mindset.

Confident Vulnerability This term was coined by DeAnna Mur- phy, Founder & CEO of People Acuity, Inc., and author of the book, Shift Up! (Mur- phy, 2018). It’s a tremendously powerful concept that asks people to discover and embrace their innate talents and strengths (what they do well) while at the same time acknowledging and being positively accept- ing of their weaknesses. Tom Rath, author of StrengthsFinder 2.0 (2007), puts it this way: “You cannot be anything you want to be—but you can be a lot more of who you already are” (p. 9). Confident Vulnerability is a perfect expression of the paradoxical relationship between strength and humil- ity. Bestselling author and speaker, Brene´ Brown, writes that “our willingness to own and engage with our vulnerability deter- mines the depth of our courage and the clarity of our purpose” (Brown, 2018, p. 2). Embracing this concept equips leaders with a mindset that they don’t have to have all the answers, giving them the confidence to seek the input and ideas of others who possess talents and strengths they do not— without feeling the need to protect them- selves from appearing weak.

The prerequisite for confident vulner- ability is self-awareness, which the Stan- ford Graduate School of Business Advisory Council rated as the most important capability for leaders to develop (Toegel

Figure 1: Integrated Model of Leadership Mindset

I. Confident Vulnerability

III. Leading at Every Level

II. Awareness of Others’ Needs

IV. Enterprises as Ecosystems

15Leadership Mindset: Towards an Integrated Model

& Barsoux, 2012). This inward-looking process is essential for helping leaders become aware of the various aspects of their identities, and the extent to which their self-perceptions are internally inte- grated and congruent with the way others perceive them. Researchers (Gardner, et. al., 2005) have proposed four elements of self- awareness that are listed below. I have added corresponding assessments that can be used to help leaders develop this critical capability: » Cognitions regarding identity – Clifton-

Strengths assessment (Gallup) » Values – VIA Character Strengths Sur-

vey (Values in Action Institute) » Emotions – EQ-i 2.0 and/or MSCEIT

(MHS Assessments) » Motives & Goals – MVPI (Hogan

Assessments)

Awareness of Others’ Needs If developing confident vulnerability is dependent upon an inward focus of lead- ers to first identify and become aware of the various aspects of their identities, the Awareness of Others’ Needs mindset compo- nent entails a complementary and equally important outward mindset that has an others-inclusive results focus. The patho- logical downside of an excessively inward focus results in leaders who see others as objects whose primary value to them depends on the extent to which they think people can help them with their own goals and objectives. In contrast, leaders who embrace an outward mindset see others as people like themselves, whose goals, objectives, needs, and challenges also matter. The Arbinger Institute has devel- oped this principle into a new theory of

human psychology and argues that self- deception is the major obstacle to devel- oping an outward mindset. Self-deception occurs when we betray our initial sense or instinct toward a person or situation that distorts our view of reality. Overcoming self-deception requires another kind of self- awareness that is different but nonethe- less related to the self-awareness described above as a prerequisite for confident vul- nerability. The Arbinger Institute’s latest book, The Outward Mindset (2016) is rich with case studies and practical tips for how to make this mindset shift.

The Awareness of Others’ Needs mindset component also has elements in common with transformational leadership theory. This theory can generally be described as a proactive approach that enhances the motivation, morale, and performance

of followers with the end goal of develop- ing followers into leaders. Transforma- tional leaders connect followers’ sense of self with the mission and collective identity of the organization to optimize individual, group, and organizational development. Two of the five behavioral attributes (5 I’s) included in the transformational leadership model proposed by Bass and Avolio (2011) are particularly illustrative in this regard: Individual Consideration, i.e., coaching and developing people, is based on the treat- ment of others as individuals; and Ideal- ized Influence, i.e., building trust, puts the good of the group above the self-interests of leaders.

Assessments that can contribute to development of this mindset element are: » Outward Mindset – Mindset Assess-

ment (Arbinger Institute)

» Transformational Leadership – Multi- factor Leadership Questionnaire – MLQ Form 5X (mindgarden.com)

Leading at Every Level One doesn’t need to be in a senior leader- ship role to be a leader. It’s not even neces- sary to be in a formal leadership position to display leadership behaviors at every level within an organization. The Leading at Every Level mindset component under- scores the importance of self-efficacy as part of a conscious process to continuously develop and assume personal responsibility for striving to be an effective leader at every step in one’s career. In effect, people put themselves forward to be leaders.

Before further exploring this aspect of self-efficacy, it should be emphasized that not everyone desires to become a leader. Many people are content to stay in individ- ual contributor (IC) roles without having supervisory responsibility for others. Prog- ress along this career path often results in ICs developing highly specialized knowl- edge that is vitally important for organi- zations and their competitive advantage. Self-efficacy in this context still plays a very important role in motivating ICs to excel in their fields and contribute to relevant bod- ies of knowledge.

What is self-efficacy in the context of leadership mindset? First, it drives the inspiration of leaders to develop their knowledge to be more productive and per- form better. Leaders with high self-efficacy are always motivated to learn for better out- comes and, in the process, build their com- petencies to perform tasks with a higher degree of success. Second, with improved competencies and increasingly successful leadership outcomes, self-efficacy leads to greater personal confidence, setting up a powerful continuous improvement cycle. This view of self-efficacy is consistent with Bandura’s self-efficacy theory (1997) based on the principle that people are likely to engage in activities to the extent they per- ceive themselves to be competent at those activities. The question is, “Can low ini- tial self-efficacy be stimulated to develop this Leading at Every Level mindset com- ponent, or is it innate?” Research to date has focused on self-efficacy in learning

The pathological downside of an excessively inward focus results in leaders who see others as objects whose primary value to them depends on the extent to which they think people can help them with their own goals and objectives. In contrast, leaders who embrace an outward mindset see others as people like themselves, whose goals, objectives, needs, and challenges also matter.

ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT REVIEW Vol. 52 No. 4 202016

and educational contexts rather than the relationship between challenges and self- efficacy in leader development (Machida & Schaubroeck, 2011).

A Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) article, “The Core Leadership Skills You Need in Every Role” (n.d.), identifies four core leadership competencies that are equally important for leaders at every career level. These can serve as a guideline for developing the Leading at Every Level mindset component. 1. Self-Awareness – This key competency

has already been identified in both of the first two leadership mindset compo- nents discussed thus far. Its inclusion by CCL as a core leadership compe- tency at every level is a third linkage and further elevates its importance. Practical strategies and tools for devel- oping leader self-awareness were pro- vided earlier.

2. Communication – The ability to effec- tively communicate is perennially rated among the most important of leader- ship skills. Here it needs to be under- stood more broadly as an applied leadership capability with the conscious intention of helping to create specific outcomes, i.e., employee alignment with vision and strategy, articulating cultural values, building trust, improv- ing employee engagement, and model- ing relational transparency.

3. Influence – Leadership is commonly thought of as the process of influenc- ing the activities of an organized group (followers) toward goal achievement. Because leadership involves accom- plishing results through others, this capability inherently requires an out- ward mindset. And when that mindset is based on awareness of others’ needs as discussed earlier, building collec- tive commitment is greatly enhanced. The most influential leaders at every level are those whose behaviors are per- ceived as authentic, i.e., guided by an internal moral perspective, balanced processing of information in decision- making, and relational transparency regarding motives and goals (Avolio & Gardner, 2005).

4. Learning Agility – As noted above, continuous learning or learning self- efficacy is associated with the Lead- ing at Every Level mindset component. Learning agility is about recognizing when new behaviors, leadership skills, or attitudes are needed and then tak- ing personal responsibility to develop them. It requires learning from mis- takes and being open to feedback. Through personal example, leaders can also inspire learning in others and help create a learning culture.

Among several available assessments that measure leader self-efficacy, the following two merit consideration: » General/Generalized Self-efficacy Scale

(GSES) – Widely used since 1995 and proven reliable and valid in multiple contexts and cultures. (http://www. ralfschwarzer.de). Access scale for free use in the FAQ section.

» Leader’s Efficacy Questionnaire (LEQ) – Shown to promote transformational leadership style. Captures both personal self-efficacy and means self-efficacy— the belief that others will support their leadership (mindgarden.com)

Enterprises as Ecosystems This mindset component is about the impact on organizations brought about by globalization, hyper-competitive mar- ket forces and proliferation of new tech- nologies associated with the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR). The impact on leader- ship practices is also profound. The head- ing of a recent Boston Consulting Group (BCG) article asserts that it’s the end of management as we know it (Beauchene & Cunningham, 2020). At the center of this major change is a growing recognition that mechanistic views of organizations with their command and control cultures, top down management styles, functional silos, and bureaucratic processes, simply don’t work any longer. The reality is that traditionally managed organizations can- not write enough rules or build enough new processes to cover all the possibili- ties created by uncertainty and change, especially the exponential changes from digital technologies.

Despite this new reality, many organi- zations have persisted in their attempts to address structural issues by imposing new rules. The authors of the above BCG article contend that the number of structural fixes has grown by a factor of 35 over the past 55 years, nearly six times faster than the business complexities they were meant to address. Managers find themselves in a no- win situation where they are asked to solve new business challenges while at the same time adhering to burdensome organiza- tional policies and procedures. It’s no won- der that a 2019 BCG/Ipsos survey of 5,000 employees in five countries (30% of them managers) found that 63% of Western managers do not want to stay in manage- ment and just 9% of non-managers aspire to become managers.

The Enterprises as Ecosystems mindset component is about understanding orga- nizations as living systems, composed of many constantly evolving smaller eco- systems that are hyper-networked and operate as a “team of teams” with con- tinuous feedback loops and distributed leadership. It’s an organizational leader- ship adaptation that is critically important for success in the 4IR. Margaret Wheat- ley, who has written extensively about liv- ing systems theory, says that organizations operating in this manner “have the capacity to self-organize, to sustain themselves and move toward greater complexity and order as needed. They can respond intelligently to the need for change. They organize (and then reorganize) themselves into adaptive patterns and structures without any exter- nally imposed plan or direction” (Wheatley & Kellner-Rogers, 1996, para. 5).

Leaders who possess this mindset component see change as an organizing force, not something problematic. They realize that structures and solutions are only temporary and must continuously evolve in response to disruptive changes in technology, new competitors, and customer demands. In such an environment, leaders emerge from the needs of the moment and fewer levels of management are needed as more people work collaboratively across old organizational boundaries. Agile ways of working are a promising start in this direc- tion, bringing together multi-disciplinary

17Leadership Mindset: Towards an Integrated Model

teams with a high degree of autonomy. As these practices reach greater scale, how- ever, an increasingly important role of lead- ership will be to manage the autonomy of teams to ensure that purposeful alignment with overall organizational goals and objec- tives is not lost.

This last leadership mindset compo- nent highlights the deeply psychological nature of mindsets in general and par- tially explains why leadership development programs have left leadership mindset to chance. There are no related assess- ments in this case to help us peer into a leader’s mind.

Practical Applications

A general description of leadership mind- set was provided at the outset of this arti- cle. To recap, mindsets reside in a person’s psyche and are deeply held beliefs based on experiences that influence a person’s way of interpreting the world. Leadership mind- sets serve as a running background script for how leaders see themselves and act in their professional roles. For the most part, leadership mindsets are bound by familiar ways of thinking and acting.

In many cases, leadership develop- ment programs take a shotgun approach in their design. I was recently asked to review a solicitation from a large public school dis- trict that was seeking assistance to develop a comprehensive leadership training pro- gram aimed at increasing the efficacy and skills of District leaders. A list of 21 cur- riculum topics was provided as a guideline. There was no apparent reasoning for how these topics were selected or in what ways they might be related. The focus was also

on competencies without any thought of promoting leadership mindset.

Several reasons explain why this exam- ple is not atypical (Balzley et al., 2018). First, skills and behaviors are observ- able and can often be measured. If leader- ship mindset transformation might be a desired outcome in some leadership devel- opment programs, there is still a preva- lent assumption that helping leaders adopt new behaviors and learn new skills will accomplish this goal. Second, transform- ing leadership mindset does not take place along a programmable, linear continuum. “Ultimately, mindset change is a personal

journey with no clear roadmap, and a des- tination that often emerges as part of the process— seeing oneself and the world in a new way that informs one’s purpose, pri- orities, behaviors, and action” (Baltzley et al, 2018, p. 6). In short, skills, capabilities, and new behaviors are necessary but insuf- ficient to bring about the kind of leader- ship mindset needed in a world that is radically changing in the midst of a new industrial revolution.

The leadership mindset model pro- posed in this article takes an integrated approach to mindset transformation. All four elements play a role and work together synergistically in a coherent and mutually reinforcing way. Picking any one element for focus will limit the model’s overall transformative impact. Moreover, the pur- pose of using related assessments is not to develop competencies, but rather to develop personal insights into a leader’s current mindset. Kramer (2016, pp. 33, 37) eloquently explains how this process works in contrast to traditional training programs.

A leadership mindset temporar- ily suspends prior professional training— including training offered by management or public adminis- tration faculty who are usually blind to new ideas from other disciplines— and prior cultural indoctrination. . . . [leaders] must learn how to reflect on their own mindsets, in real time, and let go of or drop assumptions and beliefs—ways of being. . . . This rep- resents a profound transformation in mental capacity. Such a transforma- tion involves learning to unlearn just as much as it does learning to learn.

So how can unlearning be facilitated to change leadership mindset? The authors of a Korn Ferry Institute article (Balzley et al., 2018) attempt to address this question by suggesting three “accelerants” that can feed the mind with new experiences to help leaders construct a new personal narrative and shift the way they think about them- selves as leaders. 1. New experiences and small

experiments Feeding the unconscious mind with new experiences of leading others in a different role is a good place to start. The idea is to place leaders outside their usual context where they cannot rely on previous experience and expertise. This might take the form of short-term assignments in different functional areas and/or opportunities to experi- ment in new roles. Finding ways to help leaders step outside their comfort zone can help trigger new perspectives and open their unconscious minds to new ways of thinking and being.

2. Changing context Sometimes small experiments to give leaders broader exposure to differ- ent functional areas or temporarily place them in new roles aren’t enough. Greater distance from familiar physi- cal and social environments may be an additional means of unlocking out- moded mindsets. Ideas for consider- ation might include giving leaders the opportunity to roll out a new product, work in new markets, or to spend time overseas in different cultures—all to

The leadership mindset model proposed in this article takes an integrated approach to mindset transformation. All four elements play a role and work together synergistically in a coherent and mutually reinforcing way. Picking any one element for focus will limit the model’s overall transformative impact. Moreover, the purpose of using related assessments is not to develop competencies, but rather to develop personal insights into a leader’s current mindset.

ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT REVIEW Vol. 52 No. 4 202018

help them see themselves more objec- tively as part of cultivating a new leader- ship mindset.

3. Changing relationships Leaders who are actively engaged in the pursuit of new experiences and per- spectives in order to gain new insights into their mindsets may find that old social networks tend to reinforce the very mindsets they are trying to change. The influence of peer group pressure is well known and may work against what leaders are trying to become by dismissing the changes they are trying to make. In this case, leadership mind- set change may be aided by finding new role models and peer groups who are supportive of their efforts to become a better leader.

There is an oft-repeated cliché about career development that goes something like this: “If you don’t know where you’re going, you won’t know when you get there.” This may be especially true for mindset trans- formation where there is no clear road- map. While the three accelerants proposed by Korn Ferry may have benefit, they are not particularly radical. Many Fortune 500 companies employ one or more of these elements as a normal part of executive development. The added value of the inte- grated leadership mindset model described in this article is twofold: (1) it gives leaders important self-insights into aspects of their current mindsets via assessments closely aligned with components of the model, and (2) it provides a conceptual framework that serves as a lens through which to view, evaluate, and anchor leadership broaden- ing experiences.

On another exciting front, growing research into the field of “neuroleadership” is providing valuable insights into how the brain works and the relation to mindset. This term was first coined by David Rock, author of Your Brain at Work (2009) and Co-founder of the NeuroLeadership Insti- tute. The focus of neuroleadership is to apply the findings from neuroscience to the field of leadership.

In his review of social neuroscience research, Rock discerned that an over- arching organizational principle was the minimizing of threat and maximizing of reward. His subsequent development of the SCARF research model (Rock, 2008) summarized these two themes within a framework designed to capture the com- mon factors that can activate a reward or

threat response in social situations. Five factors deeply important to the brain are targeted: » Status – A person’s relative importance

to others » Certainty – Being able to predict the

future » Autonomy – Sense of control over

events » Relatedness – Sense of connection and

safety with others » Fairness – Perception of being treated

justly

According to Rock (2008), “the SCARF model provides a robust scientific frame- work for building self-awareness and awareness of others amongst leaders” (p. 7). It is significant to note that these factors correspond directly to the first two sub-components of our integrated

leadership mindset model. Self- awareness is a key aspect of Confident Vulnerabil- ity and awareness of others is exactly the name given to the second sub-component of the model.

Exploration of the practical applica- tions of neuroscience in leadership devel- opment programs is also taking place. For example, a white paper by Kimberly Schaufenbuel (2014), Director of the Exec- utive Development Program at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business, exam- ines how neuroleadership insights can improve leadership practices, change man- agement, innovation and creativity, and employee engagement.

Recommendations for Future Research

The study of leadership mindset is still in its infancy. In order to advance a new lead- ership development paradigm where mind- set becomes more of a focus than skillset, Kramer (2016) suggests several areas for future research: » How do leaders’ meaning systems&#x2014

Collepals.com Plagiarism Free Papers

Are you looking for custom essay writing service or even dissertation writing services? Just request for our write my paper service, and we'll match you with the best essay writer in your subject! With an exceptional team of professional academic experts in a wide range of subjects, we can guarantee you an unrivaled quality of custom-written papers.

Get ZERO PLAGIARISM, HUMAN WRITTEN ESSAYS

Why Hire Collepals.com writers to do your paper?

Quality- We are experienced and have access to ample research materials.

We write plagiarism Free Content

Confidential- We never share or sell your personal information to third parties.

Support-Chat with us today! We are always waiting to answer all your questions.