Blog Post 1 – Defining Leadership

“Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse, 2018, p. 5)”.

As I settled into my armchair,  cracked open and began to read Chapter One of  Leadership Theory and Practice (Northouse, 2019), I became so absorbed that my coffee began to get cold on the table beside me.  I began excitedly scribbling notes in the side columns as I read and found myself identifying and applying what Northouse was sharing to my own personal journey as well as to leaders that I have both admired and profoundly disliked. 

According to Northouse (2019), “Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (p.5)”.  Northouse’s definition of leadership succinctly clarifies three key aspects of leadership. Firstly, (and what stood out to me the most), is that it is a process. We often hear that people are ‘born leaders’, however, Northouse (2019) stipulates that leadership is not restricted generally to inbred traits, but rather it is a process that is available to everyone and is built through our interactions and relationships with others. It isn’t necessarily dependent upon position or title, but how we communicate with others. Secondly, a leader has the ability to influence others. It goes without saying that  you can’t be a leader unless you have a group of individuals (followers) to influence; “Leadership is not a linear, one-way event, but rather an interactive event (Northouse, 2019, p.5).”  Without influence, leadership simply does not exist. Thirdly, a leader needs to work with individuals towards a common goal. If you’re not working towards a common goal, it is not influence but rather coercion for the leader’s own singular goal (Northouse, 2019).

I love the use of the word process as it suggests an ongoing journey and emphasizes that it is not a one-stop ideal. It isn’t restricted to inbred traits, or positional titles and can be learned.  I especially appreciated the reference to leadership being a “transformational process that moves followers to accomplish more than is usually expected of them (Northouse, 2019, p. 5)”.  I immediately thought of the football coach from the death crawl scene in Facing the Giants who during practice one day challenged a player to carry another player on his back and crab walk 25 metres while blindfolded.  The player wanted to quit so many times, however, the push and encouragement of his coach caused the player to dig deep and apply grit he never knew he had and as a result, (to the player’s own amazement and the rest of the team who were watching), the player ended up crab walking the length of the entire football field!  Watch it here. Transformational process allows leaders to bring about change in a group and inspire others to work diligently towards a common goal.  This is the kind of transformational leader I would like to aspire to be.

Power is a fascinating word because it sometimes seems to automatically depict certain images in our minds, most of them associated with negative connotations of leaders (at least for me anyways) like Hitler, the Taliban and even Donald Trump. The kinds of people who use influence to negatively control other people. However, after reading Northouse’s (2019) description of the two different kinds of power, (personal and positional) and how they fit into the six different bases of power, I began to view the word power from a different lens. Instead of viewing it as something negative, I began to see it as something positive and a way that leaders can help make a genuine difference in helping influence others to achieve a common goal. To be clear,  power is not dominance over others. True power comes from the building of relationships and the ability to communicate effectively. Northouse (2019), discusses power as a way to promote meeting collective group goals. What I most appreciated was the emphasis on the interrelationship between followers and leaders when it comes to the perception of power; “Leaders are not above or better than followers. Leaders and followers must be understood in relation to each other (Hollander, 1992) and collectively (Burns, 1978). They  are in the leadership relationship together and are two sides of the same coin (Northouse,  2019, p.6)”.   As I read further, I began to make personal connections to myself and leaders I have known and worked with.  It never ceases to amaze me, how some people are drawn to the myth of power like moths to a flame. A title, while providing positional power, does not guarantee that the person holding said title is a genuine leader or respected as one.  As an educator, I work in a system where there are individuals in roles who hold legitimate positional power over others, like Principals and Vice-Principals or the Superintendent of Education.  I have worked with a lot of administrators who I deeply admire and respect for their actions, their ability to inspire change and to create vision and their ability to bring people together. However, there are others, who through their titles,  have the capacity to reward or punish certain team members, who are the gatekeepers of important information which they can choose to dole out as they see fit and who have also been known to be coercive to push their own agendas (which are not necessarily beneficial for the team as a whole). On the “other side of the coin” (Northouse, 2019, p. 6),  there are also leaders on staff who don’t have a formal title but due to their knowledge base and likability factor they have amassed a following of their own, whether they are aware of this or not.  They are looked up to because their followers believe that these leaders have something of value to share that benefits the team and the common goals.  These people according to Northouse (2019), possess personal power.  I have had the opportunity to have been on both sides of this coin and will discuss that more in our next post on assigned and emergent leaders.

In order to be a leader, you need to have a group. If you don’t have a group, you don’t have anyone to influence towards a common goal. Without anyone to influence, you don’t have leadership. “Leadership occurs in groups. Leadership is about one individual influencing a group of others to accomplish common goals (Northouse, 2019, p. 6)”. Groups of people are always interesting to observe. There are always the loud, outspoken individuals, the quiet ones, the knowledgable ones, the creative ones, the skilled ones and the confident ones. In order to stand out as leader and be able to influence others, one be must able to communicate.  Communication is key to building relationships, asking questions, sharing knowledge, initiating new ideas and keeping informed.  Communication is essential in determining the will of a group and setting and working towards a common goal. If a person is unable to communicate, they will not be able to gain the confidence of the group or be viewed as helpful in  the development of a common goal to work towards.  People naturally are drawn to those who have referent and expert power bases and who use that power to work towards the common goals of the group.  I know those are the people that I am drawn to and look to for guidance and direction. The more a leader can communicate that they are in tune with the group prototype, the more a person will be perceived as an emerging leader (Northouse, 2019, p. 8) and be able to successfully influence others.

My take away from Northouse’s introduction to leadership is that influence,  power, process, groups and goal attainment are all necessary pieces of the leadership puzzle. You can’t fit it all together if one piece is missing. Without a  group, there is no one to influence. Without a common goal to work towards, it’s not leadership, but coercion at best. And most importantly, leadership is a process, not a one stop deal.

I found it interesting that Northouse (2019, p. 11) linked referent power and expert power bases in his chart to personal power and deliberately kept them separate from positional power.  I’m sure we all know leaders who have positional power but who also hold large influence due to their likability and knowledge base (former US President, Barack Obama comes to mind).  Do you think these referent and expert based positional leaders are in the minority? What has your experience been with positional leaders possessing these power bases?