A Little Leadership, Please?

 McGill, M.E., & Slocum Jr., J. W.  (1998)  A Little Leadership, Please? 

Four small acts of leadership are uncovered that exert a great influence on followers - a substitute for the current problem with large leaders.

Michael E. McGill and John W. Slocum, Jr. have written an interesting article entitled, A Little Leadership, Please?  From its title, one could assume that this was written as a plea for someone in the organizational setting to step up and assert themselves with qualities of leadership with which to rescue a troubled business.  These qualities of leadership would be learned from this "Next Generation" of leadership where the authors state that the context of leadership has changed, and to survive, content and conduct of leadership must change as well.

 The article spends a good portion of time devoted to the refutation of these new theories of leadership style.  They state that these new styles of leadership have not produced the quota of leaders needed.  The answer to this is explained in four brief points:  1) a sense of frustration or helplessness occurs which results in a decline in the quality of thinking about leadership, 2) popular leadership examples are hard to follow and identify with, 3) the new proposed theories of leadership are not relevant to common business situations experienced, and 4) in all the promoted leadership material there are few prescriptions for how to find or develop these skills.
 
McGill and Slocum go on to explain why this "Large" leadership creates this feeling of helplessness by quoting Karl Weick.  Weick stated that, "people often define social problems in ways that overwhelm their ability to do anything about them."  Essentially, how to become a good leader has been so dramatically examined and dissected and then rebuilt at 10 times its normal size, that when explained to the common person, he/she throws in the towel at trying to be a leader and remains stagnant in his/her attempts to lead.

 The authors' answer to this is a simple 4 step process called Little Leadership, which gives tips to the common worker on how to improve leadership skills.  The four steps are as follows:  1) knowledge of job, 2) say and do, 3) foster listening, and 4) create a context of choice.  In fact, these gentlemen assert that for those people who wish to accomplish magnificent feats in the organization as a "Save the Company" type leader, this would not be the appropriate leadership prescription.  But, for those who find themselves "without position, portfolio, or personal charisma in groups whose cause we care about, a little leadership may be just the right thing."

 The article spends a great deal of time to the explanation of how new leadership styles are not producing the desired leaders as expected.  Diving further into the piece you will find the true purpose of the work.  It is an interesting article to read, especially for those in the lower levels of an organization's hierarchy who wish to someday make advancements up the ladder.  If you are one of those people who believe in taking small steps to achieve you goal, this will definitely suit you fancy.  

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