The Eight Unexpected Roles of the Leader

The following is an edited extract from The Silent Rebellion.

There’s no doubt that leadership has become more complex and multifaceted. It has the potential to make or break teams. It’s simply not enough to have a vision or the ability to carry it out. It requires a leader who can pivot and adopt various roles to support their team. Here are 8 unexpected roles that leaders must embrace to effectively guide their teams.

1. The leader as entertainer

We live in a world overloaded with data. If we want to cut through this then we can use the battering ram of “Recall = Frequency × Duration.” Or we can create an entertaining story. The problem is that competent leadership is not always the most exciting. Yet this need not be a problem. Remember that the leader needs to tell a compelling story. It doesn’t need to be their story. Leaders must know what will stimulate and motivate their team, their client or their audience.

2. The leader as therapist

Understanding mental health issues might have ranked fairly low several decades ago in leadership skills. However, now, mental health is a pressing issue and the levels of stress, depression and anxiety reported are much higher in those under the age of 50, where the majority of the workforce is concentrated. The understanding of essential humanity is a real advantage to managing this group. Further, understanding the way they communicate with each other is vital.

With the changing generations, recognizing the role of mental health and its effect on the team is critical. This is something that cannot always be seen and measured, though clues such as absenteeism and mistakes and indicators in conversations can provide some insight.

3. The leader as politician

The leader’s job is to unify. This could be for a common goal. It could be to defend a set of common values. It could be both. It usually is, because the leader’s job is to articulate the values to be defended and a vision of the road ahead.

The only general rule that should apply in leadership should be that the rules are made for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise people. To decide is to divide. This is why so many of these complex areas are delegated or outsourced to middle management specialists. From a leader’s point of view, pragmatism is far more important than politics. Where politics takes over, the usual result is mutual distrust, suspicion and division. The leader also has to be careful to focus on the trends present in generations, not generalizations about people.

4. The leader as parent

Typically, leadership comes to people around the same time as parenting. There are useful parallels: there’s no official instruction manual, there’s no perfect parent, all you can be is the best version of yourself. Yet understanding as a parent is a complex business. So many children find themselves as vicarious projects of their parents’ ambitions. That’s not to say that they won’t turn out to be ambitious, but not necessarily in the way you think. Children are far more likely to be influenced by who you are, not what you tell them to do.

In the same way that all children are different, so is each generation. However, generations are more alike than they are different. They like active, caring leadership that adds skills and brings humour. They like praise, interesting work and fun colleagues. They also like an overwhelming cause that goes beyond just their need to earn money. Leaders must work across generations and political views. To move between these groups a leader needs to be reliable, honest and polite.

5. The leader as judge

In many respects, the difference between leadership and management is the difference between the police and the courts. While the police are able to use their judgment to a certain extent, changing the law can only be done by the courts. If you think about leadership, it reflects a world of judicial principles. There are statutes. Then there are trials. A judge in a trial may interpret the rules in a different way. Judges, however, must never be seen as pressing political points of view. It undermines their authority. The UK judicial authorities describe the qualities as the three I’s: Independence, Impartiality and Integrity. This is a good model for leaders to follow.

6. The leader as convener

There are seldom times when the leader alone needs to make decisions. As well as the decision itself, the way it is arrived at is just as important. Meetings are often the place where decisions get made, but how they get made is interesting. The leader’s role here is that of convener. Individuals must be allowed opportunities to talk and the loudest voice must not prevail. If the leader speaks at all they should speak last. The leader’s job is to ensure the process is properly executed. Groups that have been involved in decision-making are far more likely to be able to implement the decisions made. If the leader is the smartest person in the room, they’re in the wrong room.

7. The leader as the point of culpability

Leaders all too easily accept credit for things that go well. They do this more easily than when things go badly. Where colleagues sense that the leader will politically manoeuvre the blame onto someone else, the whole organization becomes political and risk-averse. Leaders who accept the blame or responsibility then create more open structures where communications flow. This is called minimizing the downside for colleagues. If they feel that there is more praise on offer than criticism, they’re far more likely to take risks. They have to feel like the leader has “got their backs”.

8. The leader as coach

Providing coaching for members of an organization can be transformative. The primary investment that most organizations make is in personnel. Helping to upskill and develop employees is both sound business practice and a valuable investment. Understanding the expectations of what coaching can and cannot achieve is crucial.

A simple framework for any coaching conversation with colleagues who have performance problems as well as those who are high-flyers is the OSCAR model by Jenny Rogers, which stands for: Outcome, Situation, Choices, Consequences, Action and Review. This doesn’t involve the leader ‘telling’ the colleague anything but asking them to concentrate on what they are trying to achieve.

The role of leadership will demand different skills at different times. From understanding the perspective and mental wellbeing of the people being led and adopting coaching strategies to taking the blame for their own mistakes and bringing people together to make decisions. The best leaders are those able to assume these many crucial roles.