The increasing complexity of how
information and knowledge is
produced and shared in today’s
organisations means that all
employees – not only those in
managerial positions – often have
to lead their peers, or even external
partners, when collaborating on a
project. They are also expected to
challenge their superiors where they
see a more effective solution to the
problem at hand.
The ability of the front-line
employees to make independent
decisions that support wider
organisational interests is
welcomed by many organisations.
According to the CIPD Learning
and Development survey 2014,
at least 40% of organisations
name accelerating change as a
key reason for planning leadership
development activities. One HR
representative said:
‘
In terms of managers, we’re
looking for somebody who
is quite democratic in their
approach. But because we
are going through a change
programme [we need]
somebody who can be quite
a pacesetter as well and say,
“Okay, this is the programme
that we’ve got, these are
the steps that we’re going
through”.
At the same time, not all individuals
’
at middle and front-line levels feel
supported by formal organisational
structures to follow the rhetoric
of devolved leadership, as the
organisation’s hierarchy can act as a
barrier to leadership that is devolved
to the line.
Procedural bureaucracy
discourages initiative
One of the key inconsistencies
in messages received by the
managers is the conflict between a
call for more leadership on the one
hand and clear decision-making
hierarchy on the other hand.
Managers noted that they are
quickly discouraged from making
their own decisions after their
initiative is reprimanded the first
few times.
‘
If you try and interpret [the
procedure], you will get a
lot of resistance to that,
and you do feel that it’s not
worth your effort to try and
make your own opinion
heard because people aren’t
interested in it. If you try
and do it differently, you get
told “No, don’t be naughty,
that’s not how we do it,
it needs to be done like
this.” So you give up after a
while.
When the hierarchy discourages
’
distributed leadership and
innovation at the front line, it
can also slow down collaborative
working between departments,
where individuals defer decisions
to the higher level in the hierarchy.
Of course, more senior managers
may not, in turn, have the freedom
to make decisions themselves, with
• Despite the rhetoric of devolved leadership and courage to make independent decisions, individual suggestions
or challenges to the top–down decisions are often dismissed. Some genuine mistakes are penalised because of
the consequences to the external reputation of an organisation, while other individuals can get away with more
severe cases of misconduct.
• Existing top–down communication channels are not suited to provide adequate support to staff and speed up
adaptation and learning.
• There is a split in the perceptions of the quality of leadership and management between ‘operational’ and
‘strategic’ parts of the business, which is indicative of the lack of communication and joint priorities between
the more senior and the more junior managers.
• The decreasing average tenure of senior leaders means a new round of changes is sometimes brought in before
the previous ones have settled.
• When implementing the fast-moving change agenda, managers don’t always have the buy-in themselves,
which undermines their ability to gain trust and credibility from their staff.
8 Leadership – easier said than done
everyday decisions being pushed up
for approval.
‘
There’s a very clear hierarchy
involved when it comes
to very simple decisions.
They’ve looked at it, and
really, it should be within
their remit, but just in case,
they check it with their
director. Sometimes, the
director will check it with
their executive director
before a final response is
given.
People will consult you
because it says in a policy
document somewhere
that they need to consult
someone of your specialism
or level. People already know
the answer that you are
going to give because they
are experienced in their role,
but they still go on: ‘The
policy says that I have got
to ask you because on page
43, 10 years ago, it says, I
should.’ I am quite happy,
as a superior, to manage the
risks that go along with that,
but actually, what value am
I adding to that discussion?
Very little.
The failure of senior managers
’
in an organisation to streamline
ideas coming from the front line
may act as an obstacle to the new,
more efficient ways of working.
Some front-line supervisors admit
that good ideas about operational
aspects of service delivery come
from those who face the customers
directly.
‘
A lot of the people that I
supervise have really good
ideas about how to progress
something. And they show,
really, leadership styles
by coming forward and
researching something and
presenting it. And I think
that’s where the future
leaders start off with coming
up with these good ideas
and presenting them and,
sometimes, progressing with
those ideas.
Communication channels
’
are not suited for sharing
information quickly enough
There is a very clear split in the
perceptions of the quality of
leadership and management
between managers with primarily
‘operational’ and ‘strategic’
responsibilities. Similar disconnect
is present between the managerial
levels and front-line employees.
Senior managers can sometimes
perceive operational departments
to be resistant to change and
lacking the understanding of the
strategic needs of the organisation.
As a result, they are more likely
to adopt a command-and-control
approach in the circumstances of
change and uncertainty, as directive
leadership is expected to bring
greater performance results more
quickly (Lorinkova et al 2013). One
HR representative said:
‘
When we managed change
previously it was a lean
approach but it was very
much bottom–up, so you did
your empirical research, you
responded to that research,
you identified change, and
you involved people in all of
those processes. Of course,
in a time of austerity, things
need to happen in, perhaps,
a more dynamic way. So,
consequently, we’ve drifted
into a much more top–down
approach.
An added challenge for change
’
management is the decreasing
average tenure of senior leaders
(Kaplan and Minton 2012),
who provide strategic direction
for change. While the overall
organisational objectives may stay