Simplify Effective Management

Readiness for Leadership Responsibility

by Hrand Saxenian
SAXENIAN DESIGN, Management Practices

Considering the increasing influence of technology on business, the selection of a strong CIO becomes ever more crucial to forwarding your organization's mission. Today it's necessary that the CIO be your strategic partner who not only has a solid technical sense, but also brings a broad leadership ability to the table.  While

      leadership theories and advice abound, the answers ultimately lie with the CEO and his/her senior executive

      team. Leadership selection is an art—one that is developed with experience. How can you cultivate this art?

Readiness for Responsibility

A good place to start is with a clear and reliable concept of "readiness for leadership responsibility." Consider the following hypothesis:

"Effectiveness" increases (and decreases) with "the expression of one's own feelings and convictions, with consideration for the thoughts and feelings of others."

        In practice, this leadership concept is translated:

Speak—Say what you mean and consider the other person as you express yourself.

This leadership readiness concept dates back to the early days of information management. I proposed it at M.I.T. in 1952 as a practical and testable way to strengthen constructive leadership and human judgment in the escalating uses of technology in the Information Age.  Rigorous field tests of the validity of this hypothesis have yielded positive results, first in program management in the Defense Industry and then across many fields of industry and government. "Effectiveness" was defined as "how well one works alone and with others when under pressure."

Since the 1960s this concept has become a widely used, reliable criterion for constructive leadership. At the same time, it has guided the design of simple yet powerful and challenging practices to improve:

• leadership selection,
• information flow and coordination,
  and
• productivity/quality control.

Today, these practices have evolved into proven leadership tools that can be used successfully in businesses from electronics, utilities and manufacturing to banking and architecture.

Figure I is representative of many informal tests of this effective leadership concept. It shows a pattern of increasing "effectiveness" with increasing "expression."

The rigorous tests were conducted with many different groups of 12 to 50 people, using separate sets of completely independent observers for each of the two variables under controlled circumstances

Alternatives promising criteria for "effectiveness" can be examined statistically by methods 1 and 2 (within text) in quest of the most valid and useful criterion or standard for "effectiveness."

Cultivating Effective Leadership

The usefulness of effective leadership depends upon your confidence in it. While it may seem like common sense, unrealistic, or too subjective, examine it as an idea to be affirmed or refuted. Consider its validity with respect to your own experiences, observations, intuition, values and historical perspectives. Contemplate it first on a leadership selection basis and then on a personal development basis. In other words, examine the relationship of "expression":

1. to your opinion of the relative "effectiveness" of managers you have known with similar roles and responsibilities (as in Figure I) and
2. to your perception of changes over time in the "effectiveness" of people you know. Does one's "expression" change (rise or fall) accordingly?

Using this criterion, effective leaders span all personality types – from quiet to outspoken – and transcend stereotypes. This model is especially useful because it provides a universal, practical potential for increasing one's own effectiveness under pressure, and for selecting for and cultivating a "readiness for responsibility" in others.

While this model cannot be reduced to a written test, it is meant to be a catalyst for awareness (After using it with others in a critical selection interview, one skeptical executive said, "it dawns on you"). It leads to increased objectivity, clarity and integrity in decisions and in day-to-day activities. In today's climate of awareness, it sums up much of the current thinking–with a precision that advances understanding and action.

Leadership Selection

As CEO, your leadership effectiveness is a reflection of the leaders you choose to serve in the various divisions of your organization. In selecting the CIO or other department head from the technically qualified candidates, consider and discuss with your peers the following four factors:

• Bearing and Manner–The ability of the candidate to gain respect and instill confidence (physical).
• Quality of Responses–Does the candidate demonstrate vision, reason and imagination (intellectual).
• Readiness for Responsibility–The extent to which the candidate expresses his/her own feelings and convictions with consideration for the thoughts and feelings of others (intellectual/emotional balance).
• Potential–Considering the three factors above, does the candidate demonstrate motivation and the capability of gaining from experience and management support?

"Readiness" is placed in perspective with the three other major considerations. When considering these factors together with other peers, the subjectivity inherent in the above concepts takes on a significant objectivity. Among its benefits, this practice fosters the promotion of all individuals in a healthy competitive way.

This four-question format has proven especially useful when considering CIOs from outside the organization with whom there is no first-hand experience to draw on. How well will they work with your staff, your clients, your organization's vision and professional standards? Will they bring a new spirit or disrupt the status-quo? Similarly, for the next promotion of a technical or project staff member, how well will the person handle the broader responsibility and increased business uncertainties and pressures of supervision or management, including higher level interaction across your organization's divisions, international partners and clients?

Summary

The concept of effective leadership cited here helps to reinforce and support initiative and teamwork. It can help you and the CIO structure and strengthen the organization. As this concept affirms what we may already know, it also brings to our awareness the importance of using sound leadership criteria for selecting vital leadership positions, such as the CIO, within the organization. It helps to promote forward thinking with a precision that advances understanding and action for the fully responsive use of information and resources. ■

Hrand Saxenian has pioneered computer programming at M.I.T. and has taught management controls as Assistant Professor at Harvard, where he also initiated research on leadership effectiveness. Saxenian has served as a project manager at Itek and Raytheon and as Executive Vice President of The Econometric Institute of New York. He currently heads Saxenian Leadership Practices. His work is published in Office of Naval Research Reports, Fortune, Harvard Business Review, Technology Review., The Police Chief,  National Park Service Papers, .Science today- Bombay, India.