It’s hard to find sources of inspiration in the news these days. Distressing examples of societal, political, organisational and individual dysfunction are abound and occur in almost every part of the globe including in our own country.
The realists amongst us would say that this is business as usual, that the human condition is prone to dysfunction and repeated failure. Human dysfunction is of course a complex matter and every example of dysfunction and failure is without doubt a matter of some complexity.
But dysfunction and failure especially amongst groups, organisations and institutions must also be seen as a matter of leadership, or more accurately: as an absence and failure of leadership.
The Harvard scholar Barbara Kellerman describes at least two kinds of situations when leadership goes “bad”: bad as in ineffective, where people in leadership roles are generally incompetent and are unable to produce desired change; and bad as in unethical. Our contemporary discourse is filled with examples of both kinds and it feels like stories and examples of dysfunction and failure have hijacked the leadership narrative.
Much has been said recently in our national discourse about the importance of tolerating failure if we are to innovate. But contemporary political, economic and social life is already filled with failure and dysfunction from which we seemed to have learned little! We must stop accepting bad leadership if we are to truly learn from our failures and mistakes.
Our opportunity as leaders in the organisations and institutions we steward must surely be to step beyond our human propensity for failure to actually succeed at the things that we commit to, to complete things of worth and to live up to the responsibilities that leadership demands of us. And in so doing, to give good example and to inspire hope and confidence for a better tomorrow.
To the seasoned realist, this may sound utopian. But individual, organisational and institutional success and good leadership are not utopian concepts. Success and good leadership aren’t about perfection, rather, they are about creating the conditions for success within contexts of constraints and about being ‘good’ leaders under trying circumstances.
In their global research, authors James Kouzes and Barry Posner distil what people around the world and across sectors and cultures look for in their leaders. According to their research, the top five things that people generally seek in their leaders are:
- Honesty;
- Being forward looking;
- Being competent;
- Being inspiring; and
- Being intelligent.
These features are not dark arts. They are very human qualities and potentialities available to and present in most people. If we consider failure and dysfunction to be part of the human condition, then we must also accept that success, achievement, progress, values and ethical behaviour also constitute an equal part of our human condition.
But which part do we let dominate? If we believe that it is also the human condition to be successful, creative, ethical, committed, meaningful and hopeful then it’s within every leader’s reach to stop failure and dysfunction from hijacking our organisational and societal narratives and to shape organisational and national realities that bring out the best in ourselves.
