The Leadership Challenge (PDF) - UnitingCare Community Options

Occasional Papers
The Leadership
Challenge
www.ucco.org.au

UnitingCare Community Options is a major provider of community support
services in the eastern metropolitan region of Melbourne. Each year we work
in partnership with over 4000 people who need support to maximise their
health and wellbeing and ability to participate in community life. Our vision is
to help achieve a good life for all.
We use a strengths-based, person-centred approach to all the work that we
do in order to help people achieve the goals and aspirations that they have
for their own lives, and with the goal of developing informal supports and
independence from the formal service sector.
We provide a range of services including planning and facilitation,
information, case management and brokerage, planned and emergency
respite in addition to a range of innovative programs such as Circles of
Support and the Community Inclusion Project.
We continue to develop new and innovative ways to support people to
remain at home and integrated into their community. Our research
partnership with the Deakin University School of Nursing helps provide a strong
evidence base for our work.
We encourage you to take a look at the following paper and the variety of
other occasional and research papers we have put together.
If you would like to find out more about us or wish to access our publications,
please visit our website.
www.ucco.org.au

The Leadership Challenge
The disability sector and in fact the community at large face a number of
significant challenges. Many of these challenges have existed for many years
and are challenges that we will continue to face in the future.
However, wherever we find challenges, we also find possibilities, examples of
good practice, cases where things have worked well, and situations where
people are living fulfilling lives, despite disability. So what can we learn by
looking at situations where positive outcomes have been achieved?
In many cases we find that behind stories of triumph there are also stories of
leadership. Leadership by the person themselves who refuse to believe the
negative stereotypes or low expectations placed on them, leadership by
families who were determined to support a typical life for their family members,
or leaders in the community or in the human service sector who were
determined to create support systems that enabled people with disabilities to
live a full life in the community.
A great deal of research has been carried out over the last decade to find out
what makes a successful leader. While much of this has been carried out in the
corporate sector, researchers have also embraced the public sector and
human services. Rather than propose a theory of good leadership, this research
has looked at successful companies, organizations, and community groups and
then documented the characteristics and behaviours of the leaders behind the
success. Success was defined not as short term profits, but rather as a
sustainable organisation that delivers high quality products or services.
The results demonstrate many similarities and these have been summarized
down to three core leadership components that contribute to sustainable
success. These apply to leaders in any role, be they formal leaders of an
organization, parents, community leaders, advocates, public servants, staff in
community organisations, or people with disabilities who take on the leadership
challenge.
1

1. Moral Dimensions of Leadership
As soon as we engage in service to others we are operating in the moral
domain. Leadership is a personal decision to make a difference, to work for the
greater good. Leadership without positive values can be destructive leadership.
For example an elderly gentleman was diagnosed with cancer and given a
dose of chemotherapy that turned out to be too strong and he suffered a
stroke as a result. He was readmitted to hospital though obviously not
considered a good candidate for rehabilitation. The initial plan would have
seen him transferred to a hospice, then a nursing home with no physiotherapy
treatment planned. One nurse took it upon herself to spend an hour talking
with him after finishing her shift and discovered that what he wanted more than
anything else was the chance to get up and move. Despite the plan that had
been made for him, the nurse took him walking every day and as a result of the
improvement he made, he was first transferred to a rehabilitation centre and
then able to return home. This individual’s decision meant the difference
between long term residential care, and life back home with his wife.
If we cease to believe that all people are unique and valuable and that we all
share a common humanity, then history tells us we are able to justify just about
any form of abuse and poor treatment of vulnerable groups. Yet even when we
agree that all people deserve the best possible chance in life, if we do not take
up the leadership challenge and take action to help them achieve that, we
are still failing in our duty.
“The ultimate measure of a man (sic) is not where he stands in moments
of comfort, but where he stands at times of and challenge and
controversy”
Martin Luther King Jr. 1929-1968.
This leadership challenge is faced in particular by all those of us working with
vulnerable people amidst a society that does not always see a place for them
or a value in their contribution.
Jim Collins in his book Good to Great (2001) studied many successful
companies over a long period and identified great leaders who he termed
Level 5 leaders.
“The whole point of Level 5 (leadership) is to make sure the right
decisions happen – no matter how difficult or painful – for the long-term
greatness of the institution and the achievement of its mission,
independent of consensus or popularity” (Collins 2001: 11)
2

Jim Collins undertook a research project that examined 1,435 companies from
the Fortune 500 list and analysed the many factors that contribute to making
good companies great. To qualify as great, companies needed to
demonstrate sustained strong results in a number of key areas over a period of
15 years.
While the study focused on business results, many of the lessons developed from
the study apply equally to human services. For our purposes, success and
greatness may be thought of in terms of organisations or systems that meet the
needs of the people they serve.
The Collins study found:
There were common leadership traits identified in all organisations that made
the transition from good to great. They identified five levels of leadership, with
level 5 leaders being crucial to this transition.
- Level 5 leaders demonstrated a mix of personal of personal humility and
professional will. They were ambitious, but first and foremost for the
organisation and not for themselves
- Level 5 leaders set up their successors for even greater success in the
next generation in contrast to leaders who concentrated on quick fix
results and set up their successors for failure
- Level 5 leaders displayed compelling modesty and were self-effacing
and understated. In contrast two thirds of the comparison companies
had leaders with big egos that contributed to the demise or mediocrity
of the company
- The best leaders were extremely driven, infected with an incurable need
to produce sustained results. They did whatever it took to make their
organisation great, no matter how big or hard the decisions were
- These leaders also displayed great diligence – their approach was more
plough horse than show horse
- Great Leaders attributed success to things other than themselves, but at
the same time took responsibility when things went wrong
- Anyone has the potential to develop into a level 5 leaders
- Level 5 leaders were often found within the organisation
Note that all of these findings are empirically based rather than being
ideological findings.
(Collins 2001)
3

In his new monograph on the social sector, Collins suggests that human services
not just adopt business techniques in the mistaken belief that these are better,
but rather should copy excellence wherever it exists, be that the corporate or
the social sector (Collins, 2005).
Peter Senge (1990) has written extensively about how to create learning
organizations where there is a genuine desire for continuous improvement and
excellence in service. One key element of creating such an organisation is to
cultivate a shared vision. A crucial element of leadership is creating not just a
vision statement, but a shared vision that binds people together to create a
common identity and sense of destiny, to strengthen direction, purpose and
resolve. Such a shared vision creates commitment rather than compliance and
recognizes that we inspire others by tapping into their values and vision.
At UnitingCare Community Options we revised our vision statement from one
that was a few sentences long that no-one could remember to the simple
statement ‘a good life for all’. The new statement is one that our staff
remember and many participants now know. We also ensured that staff felt
that they had ownership of the vision by developing a vision that they shared
and one that applied to everyone be they participants (service users), staff,
families, or other partners in the community with whom we work. However, it is
not just a statement but now a working vision that is often discussed and held
up as the benchmark for what we do.
The moral obligations of leadership extend to staff and volunteers as well as
those we serve. We need to ensure that there is congruence between the way
we treat staff and how we expect out staff to work with those we serve. To do
this we need to ensure a good fit between the ability and passions of the staff
and the jobs they are doing. We need to get the right people in the right roles,
and nurture them for excellence. This strengths focus means that instead of a
single approach for all staff, we use a person-centred approach that enables
each staff member to utilize their unique strengths in their jobs.
In the Gallup survey written up in ‘First Break all the Rules’ (2005), by
Buckingham and Coffman identify what is required to ensure you have staff
who provide excellent service that is sustained over time.
• The persons that are hired, their talents and personal qualities are
more important than their competence
• Employers now spend more and more time training their employees
• The best employees don’t need much supervision
• It’s important to put employees where they are best able to make a
contribution- matching talents to the tasks
• It’s important to give the best employees the best opportunities:
leave problems to others
• It’s important to have good employees and to get rid of those who
harm the organization or who don’t contribute
Buckingham and Coffman defined 12 questions that staff answered positively in
those organizations that experience sustained success:
4

Buckingham & Coffman - 12 questions
1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?
2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing
good work?
5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as
a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel my job is
important?
9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
10. Do I have a best friend at work?
11. In the last six months, has someone at work talked to me about my
progress?
12. This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?
Note that questions 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7 are particularly linked to employee
retention.
Buckingham and Coffman (2005: 28)
If we can answer all these questions in the affirmative, then we can be certain
that employees will be loyal to the organization and we will have fulfilled the
prerequisites for long term sustainability.
One of our moral obligations as leaders is to set up future leaders for success
rather than failure. Collins (2001) identified that most successful leaders come
from within the organization. A recent Boston Consulting Group report (2006)
on the future of leadership in Australia identifies a trend away from organization
hopping to greater employee loyalty to organisations, and from the
glorification of the CEO to the supremacy of the team.
Part of this team building is, as Collins identified, to attribute success to others
and take responsibility for mistakes. We need to move away from a culture of
blame. Sarros and Cooper (2006), in their study on leadership characteristics,
identified great leaders as those with a concern for the welfare of others and
strong sense of fairness. Provided we are clear about the goals and outcomes
we desire, and have a clear set of principles about how we will work with
people, then we are less likely to get taken in by fads and crazes that are sold
as solutions to particular issues.
Sometimes moral leadership will mean we may be forced to act alone on what
we believe to be right. In any change process there will be a small group that
5

can be considered ahead of the pack, there are those who follow willingly,
and then those laggards who resist change.
2. Conceptual Elements of Leadership
The conceptual skills of leadership involve wisdom, the ability to think clearly
and respond correctly to an issue, competence, and an ability to see the big
picture, both in the present and over time.
The first step in this process is to become more conscious of our own ‘mental
models’, those deeply held internal images, assumptions and stories that guide
our behaviour. This concept is discussed by Peter Senge in his text The Fifth
Disciple (1990). He proposes that to become a learning organization we need
to understand how these models limit you in changing the world and doing
new things.
An essential part of this process is to seek insight into one’s own personality. We
may find ourselves espousing the benefits of a strengths-based approach in
working with service users, but not using the same approach with staff. This runs
the risk that we can then find ourselves lacking support and cooperation from
staff in implementing change and driving the organisation forward. Such issues
can be addressed but first we must become conscious of the mental model
that guides our actions.
Senge (1990) uses the term ‘metanoia’ to describe the ‘shift of mind’ that may
be required when we realize that our mental models are not serving use well.
While we may recognize a need for change, until we experience that
‘metanoia’ we will not be able to do things differently. A good example is the
movement that took place from institutions to group homes. In many cases the
institutional culture followed the staff that went to the group homes resulting in
a lack of necessary change. The process lacked the necessary shift of mental
models to think about what it really meant to now be living in and part of the
community.
In my experience this shift of mind and the creativity to try new things comes
from listening to service users and an ability to walk in their shoes. The ultimate
test of the quality of the services we run is asking ourselves, would we want to
be a recipient of our own services?
Wisdom
While the moral dimension of leadership is important, good intentions are not
enough – strong, capable leadership also requires ‘right thinking’.
“Nowhere is wisdom more necessary than in the guidance of charitable
impulses. Meaning well is only half our duty; thinking right is the other and
equally important half”
Samuel Howe
6

Many organizations work hard and have good intentions, but direct their
energy in the wrong direction. Wisdom requires the ability to stop and examine
what you are doing, to look at the outcomes and to spend time on discussion
and discernment of the best way ahead (see Lemay, 2001). Wisdom may mean
deciding to start small to focus and do it well.
“We can do no great things – only small things with love”
Mother Teresa
Collins (2001) talks about the Hedgehog Concept – be clear about what you
can be best at, what you are passionate about and what will bring the
resources to achieve this. Have the discipline to remain focused on this activity,
and say no to others.
7

Competence
Senge (1990) observes that people in learning organizations have personal
mastery – a real knowledge of the area they are leading – and the desire to
learn more. According to the Boston Consulting Group (2006) the era of
‘content-free management’ is gone and leaders once more require real
expertise in their field. There is much emphasis these days on evidence-based
practice, but how much do we really examine evidence of the impact of our
services?
Competence also means confronting reality when things are not going well.
We have seen many examples in Australia where leaders have been too afraid
to confront abuse in institutions, have tried to cover up, and in the process
children have been exploited and had their lives changed by these
experiences. Melbourne’s nursing homes are just one recent example of
mistakes and issues not dealt with appropriately.
Seeing the Big Picture
Leadership requires systems thinking – the ability to look at the whole and see
the interconnectedness of things. It requires the ability to be analytical. Sarros
and Cooper (2006) described this quality as ‘universalism’– approaching work
and life with a macro perspective.
The big picture also requires us to understand history and learn from the past so
we do not repeat mistakes. Many staff have little or no experience of large
institutions, and may therefore have difficulty understanding what life has been
like for participants that have lived in institutions, or what may be wrong with
suggesting that group living may be a solution for the future.
We also have an obligation to look to the future and anticipate future trends.
Writing about servant leadership, Spears and Lawrence (2004) suggest that
“lack of foresight is an ethical failure”. They urge leaders to create a future
based on their vision rather than being reactive to events that happen to them.
8

3. Personal Characteristics or Qualities of Leadership
Once we have made the moral decision to make a difference, and have the
conceptual skills and competence to know the right thing to do, we still need
the necessary qualities or characteristics to implement change.
Sarros and Cooper - Four Key Characteristics of Successful Leaders
Integrity: Wholeness, coherence, rightness, purity. Consistency between word
and deed, honesty that engenders trust
Cooperativeness: Fostering good teamwork and collaboration, cooperation
and unity in service. This is confirmed by the Boston Consulting Group – the
individual is out, the team is in.
Fairness: Treating people in an equitable and just manner
Self-Discipline: Personal control over thoughts and action. Ability to manage
and express emotions constructively, leading to reliable, rational and logical
decisions.
Sarros and Cooper (2006)
This last quality has been discussed extensively under the term ‘emotional
intelligence’. It is also a concept in which we have invested considerable time
at UnitingCare Community Options. Emotional intelligence is about how we
ultimately behave when under pressure. It is the awareness of and ability to
manage one's emotions in a healthy and productive manner. It is also part of
removing the culture of blame that may exist in an organisation and which can
make it more difficult to recover from setbacks and move on.
An understanding of emotional intelligence has led us to develop a code of
conduct that guides how we communicate and relate to one another within
the organisation. The code applies across the organisation- to participants, staff
and other stakeholders and makes it clear that it is not acceptable to take
personal issues out on other staff. This code has been backed up by an
employee assistance program and Pastoral Care services to help staff discuss
issues that impact on their work.
Wilf Jarvis (1997) writes about empathic leaders as those who have a balance
between love, truth, and power. If any one of these elements dominates then
leadership becomes less effective.
Humility and Will
Collins talks about the duality of being modest and willful, humble and fearless.
Effective leaders don’t talk about themselves but about the mission of the
organization. This is described as ‘legislative’ rather than ‘executive’ leadership
– working with people rather than exercising power over them. Effective
leaders help others to find their voice.
9

Conclusion
If we wish to face the challenges that form a part of working in the community
health sector and build effective, sustainable organisations, then effective
leadership is essential. The best kind of leadership needs to combine the
following three components:
• The moral decision to make a difference
• The wisdom and competence to think clearly about the issues, and
• The qualities needed to work collaboratively towards positive change
Everyone can be a leader, no matter what role they have in life, though as we
have seen this can take time and effort. It requires dedication and the will to
make tough decisions. But such leaders can make an important difference in
people’s lives, can face tough challenges and won’t ignore the voices of those
who impacted upon by their decisions.
Ensuring we have such leaders among individuals, families, direct care workers,
community members, managers and CEOs, is a task for all of us. Once we face
the leadership challenge as a sector and make it our goal to be the best
leaders we can, do the best work, and build the best organisations, then we
are a big step closer to ensuring that everyone in our community can reach
their full potential.
10

Bibliography
The Boston Consulting Group. 2020 Vision: The Manager of the 21 st Century.
Innovation and Business Skills Australia. Sydney, 2006
Buckingham, M. & Coffman, C. First, Break all the Rules. What the World’s
Greatest Managers do Differently. Pocket Books, London, 2005
Collins, J. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others
Don’t.
Random House, London, 2001. Chapter 2: Level 5 Leadership. P 17-40.
Collins, J. Good to Great and the Social Sectors: Why Business Thinking is Not
the Answer. A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great. 2005
Jarvis, Wilf. Four Quadrant Leadership. Sydney, 1997
Kendrick, M. Personal Leadership and Its Contribution in Service to Others
Proceedings: Sharing the Road Conference, Brisbane, Aust. 2001
http://www.kendrickconsulting.org/docs/PersonalLeadershipAndQuality.doc
Lemay, R. Good Intentions and Hard Work are not Enough: Review of Levy, P.F.
The Nut Island Effect: When Good Teams Go Wrong, The International Social
Role Valorization Journal, 4 (1&2) 94-97, 2001.
Sarros, J. & Cooper, B. Building Character: A Leadership Essential. Journal of
Business and Psychology, 2006
Schein, E.H. Organizational Culture and Leadership. 3 rd ed. Jossey-Bass,
California, 2004
Senge, P. The Fifth Discipline. New York: Doubleday Currency, 1990
Spears, L.C & Lawrence, eds. Practicing Servant Leadership: Succeeding
through Trust, Bravery and Forgiveness. Jossey Bass, USA, 2004
11

www.ucco.org.au