In Issue No. 35 of this magazine, we took readers on a journey about what leadership simply means, and challenged them to subject themselves to a 360 degree feedback system to see if they met those qualities. I hope you did. We also discussed the functional leader’s dilemma of managing his character, his environment and his team. In our concluding remarks, we promised that in Issue No. 36, we would deal with the functions of leadership, and so here goes.
Let’s face it, how many of us knew or were told what was expected of us when we became Team Lead, Unit Head, Head of Department or Group Head, apart from the fact that we were now in charge of a group of people and their business targets? From my little unaudited and unpublished observation, we usually get pre-occupied with the elation that we’re now the boss, and it’s time to exercise our new-found authority, sometimes for selfish reasons or to settle scores. Some others also feel that they are technically competent in their function and so leading the team would be ‘chicken feed’. I dare say that this narrow perception of what it takes to lead in functional roles is usually the reason for the pathetic failure of functional leaders, which is largely reflected by the poor management of our society today. Of course, some functional heads turn out to be good managers, but this article will challenge you to go beyond being a good manager to become a great functional leader.
Functional leadership focuses on how a job or task is accomplished rather than who does it, and this leadership model is attributable to John Adair. It focuses on how best to manage three important elements of the job, known as the leader’s workgroup needs, in order to achieve the best results.
The Leader’s Workgroup Needs
To perform work effectively, every leader (note not manager) has to put on three caps; he has to deliver the task at hand (task needs), he has to build and maintain the team (team maintenance needs), and he has to develop the individual members of the team (individual needs). These three elements are described as the leader’s workgroup needs. Although work groups may differ in form or background, the above overlapping needs are common to them all. As such the leader would have a task function, a group function and an individual function.
The Leader’s Task Function
Every leader, at any level of the organisation, first and foremost, has a task to accomplish, a problem to solve, an objective to achieve, a goal to reach. For example, a coach is hired to take a team to the championship tournament; a president is elected to get a country out of its economic woes, a CEO is appointed to grow the business and deliver value to its stakeholders; a commander is appointed to lead an army to victory in a war; a captain is appointed to restore unity in the team, a class prefect is appointed to ensure sanity in the class etc. These primary responsibilities of the leader are what we refer to as his task function, and they engage his time, mind, and energies more than anything else; when he accomplishes the assigned task, he is a success; when he falls short of the task, he’s a failure! In most purposeful and results-oriented societies, in assessing the performance of leaders, apart from reasons of catastrophic dimensions like acts of God, there is usually no place for excuses. For the leader to succeed, he defines the task; he then devises a workable plan; he briefs team members on the task and their roles; he delegates work to team members, he allocates the relevant resources to them; he checks the quality of their work, he controls the pace of work, he keeps the team members focused on the plan, he evaluates progress and modifies the plan accordingly.
In the just ended 2015 African Cup of Nations tournament hosted by Equatorial Guinea, after eliminating African’s top soccer nation and tournament favourites Algeria at the semi-finals, Ivory Coast’s Head Coach, Herve Renard said this in an interview to the media, ‘With the task at hand, you may be facing a better team; but you need to be realistic with the players at your disposal, and devise a plan that will work for you. The ultimate is to win and we just did.’ And this is a perfect example of one who is focused on his task function.
While this posture of ‘You better win or be relieved of your post!’ may seem stern, it has led many leaders to dig deep into themselves and devise solutions to seemingly impossible challenges. In the process, they rediscovered themselves and realised how much more they could do when pushed to the wall.
On the other hand, this posture has also made monsters of some leaders.
The Leader’s Group Function
The leader’s group function is really an enabler of his task function. Whenever a group of people come together, some group dynamics begin to play, and for a smart leader, these dynamics will not escape his attention. It is in his interest to guide those dynamics to work for the team’s achievements rather than otherwise. He sets standards and maintains discipline; he builds team spirit, maintains morale, gives encouragement, and motivates members to achieve success. He also keeps open communication, trains team members in appropriate skills, deals constructively to resolve conflicts; he avoids getting too deeply embroiled with the task itself and he appoints sub-leaders where appropriate.
But hold on a moment, before you quickly move on to the next paragraph; take a moment, and tick off how many of the above that you consciously and deliberately take the trouble to deal with? Did you just say, ‘what has that got to do with my primary task?’ There goes the beginnings of the leader’s failure! Too often we fail to see the connection between the group’s behaviour, their energy level, how united or disunited they are, etc. on one hand, and their performance on the other. When the group is not cared for, in that sense, it loses focus and energy, and refuses to think; the members act like robots, with no mind of their own, and performance suffers gravely.
In the Cote d’Ivoire – Algeria encounter mentioned earlier, Coach Renard Herve conceded that the Algerian team were a better side, according to the records and their FIFA rankings, etc. That meant that technically they were more competent, but that did not deter him. He latched onto what he had and thought he could use to his advantage; team spirit, team unity, team morale!! He played on these effectively and did what he was paid to do, win! He went on to win the ultimate, the 2015 AFCON Trophy, at the expense of Ghana.
The Leader’s Individual Function
Like the leader’s group function, his individual function is equally crucial, and an essential enabler to overall team performance. Beyond the group dynamics of a team is the element of individuality; the group is made up of individual members, from varying backgrounds, with different temperaments, different cultures, different exposures, different experiences, different faiths, different mind-sets, etc. As such, individually, they have their personal challenges, fears, egos, ambitions, agendas, strengths, weaknesses, and so on.
In order for the team to excel, a smart leader would take steps to know his team members individually and personally; their backgrounds and the various elements mentioned earlier. Armed with this knowledge, he is able to involve each member in the activities and discussions of the team; he draws in the quieter ones, controls the over-active ones, and utilises the skills and strengths of individual members to the benefit of the wider team. He is deliberate in giving praise and recognition to those who do a great job, and when appropriate, rewards them materially, or with extra responsibilities, or career advancement. He provides constructive feedback, and avoids taking sides in arguments. He also takes steps to provide support and skills enhancement to those who are struggling in their roles; by the time he decides to let such people off by reason of non-performance, he would have given them all the support he possibly could, and even then, he would recommend them for other roles he believes they would do well in. Appropriate reprimand is also meted out to team members who go out of line, but there is no question about the objective of the reprimand; always task-related and not personal.
Have you noticed how, in tough nail-biting soccer encounters, a late substitution almost always comes in to pull the ‘magic’? I recall that in the final match of AFCON 2010 in Angola, between Egypt and Ghana, the Egyptian coach brought on Gedo at the 70th minute, and on the 84th minute, he scored the only and winning goal for the cup final! And mind you, that was his 5th goal in the tournament, and all 5 goals came when he was brought in as a substitute; talk about track record! Well, that may be magic to many, but to the initiated, it is the result of knowing your team members deeply and what they can do best.
When a leader performs his individual function very well, he enjoys a certain strong personal loyalty from individual team members that outsiders would find difficult to comprehend. That loyalty drives the team members to go the extra mile, die a little more, and sacrifice time, resources and even family to do anything for the leader. For many such leaders, the feeling is sobering and can sometimes be quite over-powering; and it requires level-headedness not to take advantage of the team members.
Be a Leader and Not a Mere Manager
Leadership is different from management. While not all leaders are great managers, most leaders possess good management skills. The role of a leader is quite clear, knowing where to go, deciding on the path to take, and carrying others along with him. To be effective in this job description, you cannot do without paying attention to all three elements of the leader’s workgroup needs. Focusing only on the task function will make you a good manager, but master the group and individual functions as well and you will be a great leader, at whatever level you find yourself. Once again, try it and give me your personal feedback.