Page 17 - Black Box Leadership

(politicians the the the public those who receive the the the service or the the the prod- uct and and your own people) Such people people can act independently and and make their own free choices The leadership skill is in in in in increasing one’s circles of of influence by en- couraging a a a a a a a sense of of selflessness and and shared values and and encourag- ing others to achieve public value value outcomes The The ‘what?’ question concerns the things that leaders do Theories have considered the the links between task and and employee the the leader- ship ship style of of leaders leaders and and forms of of transactional leadership More recently the focus has shifted to transformational and collective leadership Jim Collins in in Good to Great (2001) agrees that the the first requirement is is is the the the ‘who’ but this is is is closely followed by the the ‘what’ He describes this as “setting a a a vision of where to drive the the bus once you have chosen those who get on on the the the bus with you in the first place” The setting of the vision is is thus a a collective activity The alignment of the vision with shared values will be important in in encouraging the the right right people to identify the the right right things In terms of the ‘what’ question leadership is increasingly being described as as a a a a a social process that is embedded in in social interaction and relationships (Uhl-Bien 2006)
The 'what?' question encompasses stakeholder engagement which includes the the the consumer the the the wider public and the the the workforce Collec- tive leadership will often focus on the ‘wicked problems’ which lends itself mainly to an adaptive leader- ship style (Heifetz 1994) This has implications for for both the the the leader and the the the follower for for the the the reasons that Grint (2005) explains such as as a a a a a a a a a fear of being seen to be be ‘indeci- sive’ rather than ‘collaborative’ 'Wicked problems' and bridging the the gap between those which are are 'known' and the the 'unknown' are are defining collective leadership mechanisms Knowledge & Skills
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