Psychology of Success writes
The media is dominated by stories where public trust has been betrayed, organisations are being named and shamed, and with our thoughts turning to a general election next year our political leaders are also being examined for these qualities and found lacking.
Business leaders have been under scrutiny since the recession as the public blamed our pain on unethical leadership and a huge lack of responsibility taken by the world’s large corporations. The CIPD have responded by producing several research reports on this subject, if you are a CIPD member you can access them all from our website resources here, if you are not a CIPD member, we have read them for you and have pulled out some of the most important and relevant findings within our various articles here. We've worked through what these really mean in practice and have also linked to other research and books written on the subject. Here is our Voice, we again invite you to comment and express yours.
The call for leaders, and people in influential positions of all types, to be more authentic and trustworthy is all around us at the moment. The media is dominated by stories where public trust has been betrayed, organisations are being named and shamed, and with our thoughts turning to a general election next year our political leaders are also being examined for these qualities and found lacking.
(Image removed)Authentic leadership: what is it and why has it become so important?
The world has been impacted by a recession in which there is a wide belief unethical leadership and a corporate lack of responsibility must shoulder much of the blame. Large companies that were perceived to be unsinkable collapsed leaving the business world facing a need to have a hard look at the culture required to have a successful business in today's world.
A strong interest in authentic leadership has developed and this article looks at what it is, why it's important, and what may get in the way.
Working towards an Adult culture (Image removed)
The world is changing and the way people do business is changing. CIPD are calling for organisations to create open, transparent, straight talking, and dialogue centred cultures. This they have called an 'adult culture', leaving behind the paternalism of the past. Here we look at how and why...
(Image removed)Why should anyone be led by you?
In 2000, Harvard Business Review published an article by Robert Goffee and Gareth Jones detailing their research into leadership and the four unexpected qualities that the most successful leaders shared:
- 'By showing vulnerability, they reveal their approachability and humanity.
- Their ability to collect and interpret soft data helps them know just when and how to act.
- Inspirational leaders empathize passionately—and realistically—with people, and they care intensely about the work employees do.
- They capitalize on what’s unique about themselves.'
Robert Goffee and Gareth Jones
Their full article then explores each of these in greater detail and can still be accessed through the HBR's website. Well worth reading in full.
The role for HR in cultivating authentic leadership
In the report Next Generation HR published in 2010, the role of HR in cultivating an authentic organisation was considered in detail. One quote stuck out as a real positive description of HR's role in successful 21st century organisations: 'HR as architect, facilitator, provocateur and guardian plays a vital role in making an aspirational way of working withstand the stress tests and paradoxes of business.'
Does Cambridge cultivate trustworthy leaders?
The CIPD published their second stage of research into Leadership and Trust in spring of this year titled 'Cultivating Trustworthy Leaders'. Their research was conducted through interviewing 12 organisations about the HR practices and cultural structures in place which enhance or dampen trust. Whilst they came out with some interesting themes from their research, it was clear that each organisation was very different and it got us wondering whether we'd find the same themes here in Cambridge. So we're been doing some research of our own and would like to hear from willing participants. If you're interested then please contact us to discuss.