Cindy McCauley from the Center for Creative Leadership hits the nail on the head
when we she answers the question “How does leadership happen?”  She has a way of simplifying the concept leadership
and the attributes that are apparent when leadership is present.  Without any of the three important outcomes
she speaks of below, leadership just ain’t gonna happen!

In some of my successful assignments in Latin America (Mexico and Puerto
Rico), I may not have realized it, but I was constantly trying to make things
happen.  I realized that we needed
purpose, consistency and commitment to succeed.
Cindy puts another and, I’ll admit, more concise way.  Read on and you’ll see what I mean.

The list of “what makes a good leader” is a long one. “It’s
as if we’ve taken every positive human quality and made it into a requirement
for effective leaders,” says Cindy McCauley.

“It’s time to step back and take a different approach,” McCauley
asserts in Making
Leadership Happen, a new CCL white paper.

Instead of focusing only on individual leaders and their capabilities, we
need to examine how the whole system is involved in making leadership happen.
We need to look at dynamics like the exchanges between managers and employees,
the interactions among team members, the quality of relationships throughout
the organization and the enactment of organizational processes.

How would you know if leadership is happening in a team, in a workgroup, on
a task force, or across the organization? Look for three important outcomes:
direction, alignment and commitment (DAC).

Direction is agreement on what the group is trying to achieve
together. Alignment is effective coordination and integration of the
different aspects of the work so that it fits together in service of the shared
direction. Commitment is when people are making the success of the
collective (not just their individual success) a personal priority.

“We think the only way to know if leadership has happened is to look
for the presence of these three outcomes,” McCauley explains.

So how do you, a manager, make leadership happen in your organization? Here
are three important strategies:

Pay attention to whether leadership is happening. Start
looking for evidence of DAC. By paying attention to outcomes, you will not only
begin to discern where more leadership is needed, but will also start to see
the kinds of processes and interactions that are producing the desired levels
of direction, alignment and commitment.

Make more leadership happen. First, when you notice that
there aren’t many leadership processes in place, create them. For example, do
you need to meet more regularly with your peers to prioritize work in a
matrixed organization (to create more alignment)?

Second, when there are useful leadership processes in place, make sure
people have the skills to participate in them effectively. When a new strategic
initiative is being launched, will your staff be able to take part in (not just
show up to) the town meetings the CEO is holding (to create more shared
direction)?

And finally, when existing leadership processes no longer seem to be
producing the needed direction, alignment and commitment, explore new ones.
Does a more diverse group of people need to be involved (to create more
direction)? Are more honest conversations about proposed changes needed (to
create more commitment)? Are clearer accountabilities needed (to create more
alignment)?

Improve your own ability to participate in the making of leadership.
Back to those long lists of leader capabilities. It is useful to continue to
deepen and broaden your individual skills and abilities. With a broader
repertoire of capabilities you’ll be able to participate more effectively in a
wide range of leadership processes. Often the difficult question is “Where
should I focus my development efforts?”

One lens for examining this question is DAC. If there was one place in your
organization where you would desperately like to see more DAC, where would that
be? Then what would you need to get better at so that more leadership happens
in that setting?

Finally, don’t undertake these three strategies alone! Talk to people about
where DAC is happening and where it’s not; enlist others in your experiments
with new leadership processes; seek input on how to improve your own
capabilities. Leadership is shared work – at the end of the day, you can only
make it happen with others.