1 Leadership as traits

It is likely that you have worked with many leaders in voluntary organisations, many of whom may have built their organisations from the ground up. What is it specifically about these people leaders? Is it possible to come up with a set of leadership characteristics suitable for all voluntary organisations?

This opening exercise was almost a trick because everyone has their own definition of what makes a good leader, making the list in the comment almost endless. In fact, if you ever meet someone possessing all of the traits listed, it is advised that you immediately contact the intelligence services and military, as it appears that an alien invasion is underway; surely no human could ever fulfil such demanding criteria.

Figure 1 Everyone has their own definition of what traits make a leader. Only an alien could embody all of these

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This is a cartoon depiction of an alien.

Figure 1 Everyone has their own definition of what traits make a leader. Only an alien could embody all of these

However, the fact that people in the west tend to have a very clear view of what makes a good leader is telling. There is something particularly individualistic about western liberal-democratic cultures that seems to result in people developing a fascination with those who hold leadership ambition – in public life, sport and business. In many ways this interest is quite understandable. Sole individuals provide someone definite and knowable when it comes to making judgements about the merits of a particular organisation.

The voluntary sector seems particularly smitten with individual leaders. There is a good reason for this, as it is often people with great belief, talent and drive who establish successful voluntary organisations in the first place.

Now watch the following video, an interview with Christine Pearce, Chief Executive of the Milton Keynes Centre for Integrated Living. In the video Christine describes some of the problems organisations face if they rely too much on individual leaders.

Download this video clip.Video player: dlvo_1_video_week2_interview_pearce.mp4

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Transcript

CHRISTINE PEARCE:

One of the biggest challenges for me is people not relying on me and seeing me as the pinnacle point of a new project. I've got quite a big character, I'm quite loud, and I have quite a lot to say. And people, generally, if I'm not careful, people will sit back and allow me to do it all. So I have to be really, really careful about making sure that I involve people from the beginning.

I work for a charity that works with people who have a disability. And so what I try and do is encourage them, the users of the service, to become involved in any new project from the beginning, so consulting them, asking them to work in partnership, or engaging with them somehow and trying to get them to take some of the role. If I'm honest, if I'm setting up a new project, I haven't got time to do all the work because I'm too busy doing everything else, as well. So that does me quite a big favour really because I can't get too involved.

It is really hard if it's a project that you feel particularly close to and it's close to your heart. So there have been times when I've worked on new projects that I think, oh, that's such a good idea and I really want to do that. But part of being a chief executive is to say, yeah, you know, I really want to do it but is it good for the organisation? And are other people going to be able to manage this?

The reason that it's good that lots of people can step up to leadership is if not, then it comes down to one person. And firstly, that one person only has one set of views and it's really important that you get lots of views into an organisation, not just that one person. So I think we all have to acknowledge that sometimes, we have biases or we have things that we believe in more than other things. And it's important that that doesn't come into the organisation that the organisation does what's right for the people that use it rather than what's right for the chief exec.

And also, chief execs are indispensable you know. Things can happen to chief execs and they also need their holidays. So I've got peers that I've worked with in the past who take calls on holiday. They're sitting on the beach. I never ever have done that. I always say, this is my holiday. You will be fine as a team and I'm going off to enjoy my holiday. I need the time but also, they need the time, as well, and they need to know that it doesn't revolve around the chief exec all the time.

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Christine is honest in the video about her big character, as well as her desire to be involved with lots of interesting projects. In fact, this drive to get involved with everything can be interpreted as a social pressure, particularly a pressure to control all processes and outcomes. Christine acknowledges that this is an unhelpful perspective and her solution is to involve people from the early stage of projects. There is a pragmatic dimension to this way of approaching leadership – people in formal leadership roles rarely have enough time. But there something more important at play: Christine notes that it is in the organisation and users’ interests for a diverse range of people to be involved in leadership, as they can bring a range of opinions and expertise to a problem.

The voluntary sector seems especially smitten with individual leaders. There is a good reason for this, as it is often people with great belief, talent and drive who establish successful voluntary organisations in the first place.

Another reason why people are bewitched by leaders is that the alternative is a much more complex consideration of an organisation as a whole, a complex grid of interdependencies and inter-relationships spanning a range of organisational factors, as well as the economic, the political, the professional and the ethical. You will now move on to consider the notion of leadership as embodied in a leader in the case of Kids Company.