The Leadership of John Adair

How do people who develop managers, develop themselves?

I 'do' management development and Leadership for a living, so I have a responsibility to keep up to date. However, in February I got the chance to look back at the way Leadership development has changed!

I went to an event to meet John Adair, organised by the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM). Adair is something of a founding father of management development, and an advocate of 'Action Centred Leadership'. In 1979 John became the world’s first Professor of Leadership Studies at the University of Surrey. Today, at the age of 78 he is running Leadership programmes for the UN.

He told us that in 1968 there were no meaningful Leadership programmes anywhere in the world. Leadership was thought to be “in the genes”. It was “male, military and western”. By 2012 spend on Leadership in the UK stood at 1 billion pounds.

This shift was brought about by the level of change in the workplace and globalisation.  

Change requires leadership!

Adair posed an interesting question:

“Why is one person accepted by a group as a leader, rather than another?”

Part of the answer seems to be that Leadership is tribal!  In other words the Leader manifests the traits expected by the group.  For example in the military – courage.  In nursing – compassion.

This set me thinking! I've worked in some modern organisations where leaders do not necessarily represent the traits or qualities of the staff. One example is the NHS - leadership in the NHS is quite 'managerial'. Senior medics are very 'professional' and the staff are... well, perhaps that's another blog!

 Adair's ideas about leadership do still have relevance and some sectors (the military for example) still apply them enthusiastically. However, I came away wondering, if you're a modern organisation, subjected to ceaseless change, does being 'Action Centred' actually provide comprehensive answers?

Maybe not! I think I'll go away and re-read Beverly Alimo-Metcalf's stuff on Transformational Leadership...

~ John

A Few Words from The Chair

Maybe it’s a result of my natural learning style, but I’ve always believed the most powerful learning comes from direct experience. Sometimes this can happen in contrived environments, like the simulations and exercises that we build into our workshops, but sometimes good learning can turn up completely unexpectedly.

My most recent experience happened quite by accident, in the form of a broken ankle! Early learning confronted my total lack of skill in being able to balance on one leg, resulting in even the simplest task became a major feat! Why should balancing on one leg make cleaning teeth such an impossible task?

I needed to get back to work as soon as possible, and whilst crutches are ok for hopping between the sofa and the loo, they’re not ideal for trekking around the country running training events.

I decided to hire a wheelchair (thank you Wheelfreedom – amazing service!) and that’s when my learning really moved up a gear! I started to think about the logistics of travelling to my sessions and was surprised to discover in this technologically liberated / customer focussed era that if you are a wheelchair user, journeys on public transport need to be planned with military precision. Trains need to be pre-booked so that ramps can be available to get on and off the train, and routes planned to ensure step-free access at the beginning and end of every journey. Bus services seem to be better, with well designed wheelchair areas as standard, together with automated access ramps or ‘low-floors’, meaning they can be lowered to pavement level by the driver at bus stops.

Once I had begun to re-claim my place in the outside world, it highlighted the next – and in many ways most powerful - learning: As a wheelchair user, I became invisible! People stopped seeing me (the person) even if they managed to notice The Chair! At it’s most terrifying, this resulted in being climbed over by stressed commuters trying to get to work in the snow, who failed to register me as anything more than an obstruction! However, on many occasions people stopped talking to me, even if it was about my need. I found it harder to be assertive, felt it challenging to be independent, and even found my style of training changed as I couldn’t easily move around the training room which made it more difficult to facilitate my groups..

In many ways this wasn’t new learning. Over the years I’ve worked with colleagues and clients with a range of disabilities which has given me perspectives on how we, Society, can stereotype people and reduce inclusion. This knowledge has led me to be an advocate for Equality and work towards making it an everyday reality. However, as the KOLB learning cycle explains, Knowledge and Experience are totally different things! What I learned from my first-hand experience has added a depth of understanding and awareness to my knowledge of the concept of inclusion.

Lastly on this particular journey I’ve remembered the power of setting goals to motivate progress. I’ve signed up for ‘Race for Life’ in June. I won’t be running the 5K, but am determined I will be walking the course, without crutches.  That means I’ve got 14 weeks to get out of the plaster and into the running shoes – oh yes, and achieve the £500 sponsorship target I’ve set myself! Challenging goals? Maybe, but that’s what makes them interesting!

Help me to achieve my £500 target, and give me a few words of support at my sponsor page:

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/terrylinehan0

~ Terry