Observations of leadership

I am re-reading the book, Leadership Jazz, by Max De Pree. I highly recommend it.

De Pree says, “A jazz band is an expression of servant leadership. The leader of a jazz band has the beautiful opportunity to draw the best out of the other musicians. We have much to learn from jazz-band leaders, for jazz, like leadership, combines the unpredictability of the future with the gifts of individuals.”

He goes on with, “Leaders certainly need to know where they stand. But how do leaders stand? A sound philosophy isn't enough; we all need to connect voice and touch. So much discussion these days talks of ethics as a legal line in the sand, a prohibition against certain actions. But leadership is constructive, the right actions taken in the context of clear and well-considered thinking. The active pursuit of a common good gives us the right to ask leaders and managers of all kinds to be not only successful, but faithful.”

As we look at leadership in our external contexts, what do we see? How is leadership conceived in these contexts, how do we "see" the function of leadership in these organizations? How do these leaders connect "voice and touch"?

Transactional / Transformational Leadership

From Bernard Bass. 2008. The Bass Handbook of Leadership: Theory, Research, and Managerial Applications, 4th Ed.

"A leader of the transactional kind,

1. recognizes what it is we want to get from our work and tries to see that we get what we want if our performance warrants it,

2. exchanges rewards and promises of reward for our effort, and,

3. is responsive to our immediate self-interests if they can be met by our getting the work done. (Bass 1985b, 11)

"A leader of the transformational kind, however, motivates people to do more than they had previously expected to do. This is accomplished

1. by raising our awareness, our level of consciousness about the importance and value of designated outcomes, and ways of reaching them,

2. by getting us to transcend our own self-interest for the sake of the team, organization, or larger policy, and

3. by altering our need level on Maslow's hierarchy or expanding our portfolio of needs and wants (Bass 1985b, 20)

These descriptions provide us with a picture of HOW certain types of leaders function.

Which of the four Bolman and Deal frames do you think is the primary frame for each of these types of leaders? How might we predict what the culture or "how we do things here," plays out with each?

Organizational Culture

If culture is about "how we do things here." Maybe we could add that organizational 'climate' is "how it feels here." Then we might also consider organizational 'context' about "how it looks here." And finally, we might say that organizational 'content' is about "the tools we use here." Add these to Bolman & Deal's (2008) four frames and you can start seeing patterns develop.