6 stages of role development

Last year I was reading an article by the CEO of Recruitment firm, KornFerry, showing six stages of career 'development' (Burnison, 2021). I was quite struck how this CEO had turned career development into a process that I have not seen in the career development field. I could not decide if I liked it or not.

The model seems to conflate leadership theory development with the career stages of Super (1980). This not a bad idea. But I am not sure that it is career 'development' though. Career development has been defined as “the total constellation of psychological, sociological, educational, physical, economic and chance factors that combine to shape the career of an individual over the life span” (Sears, 1982, p. 139; as cited by Patton & McMahon, 2006, p. 6). Career development includes our transitions into and out of work, so I am finding Burnison's model a little truncated. I would probably be more comfortable if Burnison had termed the flowchart "the 6 stages of work expertise", or "the 6 phases of role development" (2021). And yes, I think the name matters.

To detail my understanding of the 6 stage model (Burnison, 2021):

1. Follower. This might be our first role after qualifying, and - like the Hersey and Blanchard life cycle theory of leadership (1969) of telling - we are being instructed what to do - and have all our structure supplied in almost a parent-child relationship, and deliver quite technical work. We may have low follower readiness (Hersey & Blanchard, 1969). This stage in the model doesn't appear to be like the followership style of Kelley (1988), but use of a followership model might help new hires to work on critical thinking and active participation skills. However, this stage is similar to the first theatre, the growth stage of Super (1980).
2. Collaborator. Again, this stage seems aligned to Hersey and Blanchard life cycle theory (1969), moving on two stages to participation. We are still delivering highly technical work, but we are working alongside others growing our interpersonal and team skills. We will have high follower readiness (Hersey & Blanchard, 1969), and similar to the exploration stage (Super, 1980).
3. Instructor. This is where we take on our first line leadership role, and this step appears similar to the delegating stage from Hersey and Blanchard (1969). We are a manager with training wheels, and need to be able to effectively delegate, while encouraging others to deliver to a set of requirements. This stage may be aligned to Super's establishment phase (1980): we may "have the responsibility, but not the authority" (Burnison, 2021).
4. Manager. We move onto managing larger projects, teams and goals. We build skills in motivation, vision, influence, strategy, long term-goal setting, and planning. This stage may also be aligned to Super's establishment phase (1980). We have worked our way up.
5. Influencer. This is transition phase where we move into a more mentorship role. We are less hands on but use our influence and expert power to get things done, similar to Henry & Lee's networked model (2004). This stage is - I think - aligned to both Super's maintenance and disengagement stages (1980). However, I am unsure this stage is a linear characteristic: I suspect this is a trait across all stages.
6. Leader. Here Burnison takes a servant leadership approach (Greenleaf, 1998), focusing on follower empowerment, inspiration, and values. This might possibly be aligned to Level 5 leadership of Collins (2001), or authentic leadership (Avolio & Gardner, 2005). However, I disagree that this is a different step to step 4. For good management, we must be able to both manage - get things done through others - and to lead - to encourage the heart. But perhaps this is step 5 where we hone our management skills into a more developmental, leader-oriented role.

This model is presented as a process, as a "pathway of possibilities, where the worker will, like Super's model, travel through stages of the process at different times, with different companies (Burnison, 2021). Interestingly, though, I don't think that the last two steps quite work that way. To me, step 5 is not a not linear. Step 6 might be, but I am also uncertain about that. I find steps 5 and 6 are more styles of working, rather than a role which we perform.

Sam

References:

Avolio, B. J., & Bass, B. M. (1995). Individual consideration viewed at multiple levels of analysis: A multi-level framework for examining the diffusion of transformational leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 6(2), 199-218. https://doi.org/10.1016/1048-9843(95)90035-7

Burnison, G. (21 September 2021). This chart shows the 6 stages of career growth. Where are you now?. https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/09/21/the-6-stages-of-career-growth-and-how-to-tell-where-you-are.html

Collins, J. (2001). Good To Great. HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Greenleaf, R. (1998). The Power of Servant Leadership. Berrett-Koehler.

Henry, I., & Lee, P. C. (2004). Governance and ethics in sport. In J. Beech & S. Chadwick (Eds.), The business of sport management (pp. 25-41). Pearson Education.

Hersey, P., & Blanchard, K. (1969). Life cycle theory of leadership. Training and Development Journal, 23(5), 26-34.

Kelley, R. E. (1988). In Praise of Followers. Harvard Business Review, 66(6), 142-148.

Patton, W. & McMahon, M. (2006). Career Development and Systems Theory: Connecting Theory and Practice (2nd ed.). Sense Publishers.

Super, D. E. (1980). A life-span, life space approach to career development. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 16(3), 282-298. https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-8791(80)90056-1

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Leadership Must Haves

I was asked by an academic colleague recently for a guide to a leadership "think piece" for a client who is migrating to ISO systems.

That is a darned good question, and it is hard to come up with a comprehensive one-stop-shop argument that covers the breadth of the leadership field.

Instead I replied with some ideas, which I thought I would rework into a blog post. These are my leadership must haves:

1. For me, the MOST important aspect of leadership is creating, building and sustaining a positive culture. If you get that right, the rest looks after itself. One of the most terrible, negative and destructive things a leader can do is to think that culture is unimportant, or that it will sort itself out.
   
   Edgar Schein (1992, p. 5) said “Organisational cultures are created by leaders, and one of the most decisive functions of leadership may well be the creation, the management and if and when, that may become necessary, the destruction of culture. Culture and leadership, when one examines them closely, are two sides of the same coin and neither can really be understood by itself. In fact there is a possibility, underemphasised in the leadership research, that the only thing of real importance that leaders do is to create and manage culture and that the unique talent of leaders is their ability to work with culture”.
   
   Some previous posts on culture can be found at Managing Meaning, Changing Corporate Culture and Strong Cultures can be Negative.
   
   
2. Second-most important for me is Phil Dorado's idea of Acts of Leadership (2007). Acts of leadership are those active and critical thinking actions that we take each day, rather than being a passenger in our own lives. I have posted about this before at Barriers to Leadership, Why Acts of Leadership and About on my blog.
   
   
3. From that point, my personal affinity then lies mainly between two leadership styles: shared leadership and facilitative leadership.
   
   Facilitative leadership aligns well with teaching and coaching, being a values-based and supportive style ideal for development (Schwarz, 2002), focused on involving followers in the leadership process. I have a couple of blog posts on facilitative leadership and the components of facilitative leadership.
   
   Shared leadership works well with organisations where they can take ego out of the equation. Volunteer organisations, those focused on social good, places with embedded values will usually be able to work with this style. I wrote a case on Tennis New Zealand (on ResearchGate) which is attempting to provide organisational leadership in this way.
   
   I only know of two commercial organisations who embody a shared leadership style: Semco in Brazil and HCL Technologies in India. I am currently putting together a case on Semco, but just haven't had time to finish it (though once finished, it too will be on ResearchGate).
   
   
4. Authentic leadership too is a transformative and modern leadership style, but this type of leader needs to possess the characteristics. Bill George (former Medtronic CEO, 2003) has done quite a bit of writing on this style, and on us doing personal work to grow into authentic followers (or authentic leaders if we are able to grow the appropriate traits).
   
   
5. Also the leadership style discussed by ex-Stanford Prof Jim Collins, Level 5 Leadership, is a very powerful and enduring leadership style that suits people who are non-charismatic, or who may be more introverted. Jim's book "Good to Great" explores this style (2001).

For more information, Profs Brad Jackson & Ken Parry wrote a great little primer about leadership called "A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book About Studying Leadership" (2011), which explores current leadership trends and various schools of thought. I use this as a text for my Year 3 Sport & Rec students.

As Professor Jackson says "But it is all about leadership, isn't it?"


Sam

References:

• Collins, J. (2001). Good to Great: Why some companies make the leap... and others don’t. HarperCollins Publishers 
• Dorado, P. (2007). The 60 Second Leader: Everything you need to know about leadership, in 60 second bites. Capstone Publishing Ltd
• George, B. (2003). Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value. Jossey-Bass. 
• Jackson, B.,  & Parry, K. (2011). A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book About Studying Leadership (2nd ed.). SAGE
• Schein, E. H. (1992). Organizational Culture & Leadership (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass
• Schwarz, R. (2002). The Skilled Facilitator: A comprehensive resource for consultants, facilitators, managers, trainers and coaches (revised ed.). Jossey-Bass

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Sir Richie: well deserved

Our Level 5 All Black leader, Richie McCaw, looks to be in line for a K. As well as that, he is man of the match. Again. Good on him!

And in his usual, humble and self-effacing way, he says thanks:

Sam

• Reference: The Herald (2015). All Blacks: Arise Sir Richie - John Key confirms knighthood offer for All Blacks captain. Retrieved 17 August 2015 from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11498346

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Level 5 Leadership

Kenn Butler (2010) discussed a Bob Gass UCB article (2010) in his December 14th newsletter. Kenn quoted Gass "Disraeli [... & Gladstone] accomplished much. But what [...] separated them was their approach to people. The difference can be best illustrated with a story told by a young woman who dined with each of the two rival statesmen on consecutive nights. When asked for her impression of them, she said. ‘When I left the dining room after sitting next to Mr Gladstone, I thought he was the cleverest man in England. But after sitting next to Mr Disraeli, I thought I was the cleverest woman in England.’"

What a wonderful comparison of the two men; and what a pity the woman's name appears to have been lost to history. The clarity of her thought is fantastic.

What Gass is illustrating in the retelling of that little story is that that Gladstone was more of a charismatic leader; when he was in the room, there was no one else there. He shone the spotlight on himself. Disraeli was what we would now call a Level 5 leader (Collins, 2001a); the quiet, humble person who has "a wonderful team" and looks through the window when there is a success, and in the mirror when there is a failure. Disraeli led by shining the spotlight on others, not on himself.

Level 5 leaders are rarely seen unless you look for them. They are not the grandstanders, the shouters, the shining, polished people. As Jim Collins himself explains them, they are not the "celebrity CEO, the rock-star leader whose deepest ambition is first and foremost self-centric" (Collins, 2001b).

Level 5 leaders are the quiet battlers who get out there and do things for their people. They are passionate, hardworking, and work for, in and with their team. And they form great teams. They get the best group of "who"s in a room and collectively decide the best "what." Level 5 leaders don't decide alone, they are truly participative. It is often not their own visions they pursue, but, using penetrating questioning to draw out the team's strategies, the best their team can come up with (McCrimmon, 2008).

That is a great skill set to have; that of recognising the unique abilities that everyone has, and being able to put them together in a team that allows each of them to work to the best of their ability. To smooth the path in front of each person; to guide them; and then to get every unique team member working in the same direction for the greater good of the organisation.

Jim Collin's list of US CEOs whom he feels (for a variety of reasons including performance; impact; reputation resilience; and ultimately longevity) historically fits the Level 5 leadership model (Collins, 2003; Crainer, 2006) are, in best-fit place order:

1. Charles Coffin, GE (1892+)
2. Bill Allen, Boeing (1945+)
3. Sam Walton, Wal-Mart (1945+)
4. George Merck, Merck (1950-1970s)
5. Darwin Smith, Kimberly Clark (1970-1990s)
6. Jim Burke, Johnson & Johnson (1970-80s)
7. David Maxwell, Fannie Mae (1980s)
8. William McKnight, 3M (1940-50s)
9. Katharine Graham, Washington Post (1960-70s)
10. David Packard, HP (1940-1960s)

"Level 5 leaders are a study in duality" notes Collins, "modest and wilful, shy and fearless." (Crainer, 2006). Wouldn't it be a wonderful world if all leaders were like that :-)

Bibliography & further reading:

• Butler, Kenn (2010). Week # 202 - Passion & approach to people. Retrieved 13 December 2010 from http://www.kennbutler.com/PUBLICATIONS/Newsletter/Read+Online/Week+202.html
• Collins, Jim (2001a) Good to Great. USA: HarperCollins Publishers
• Collins, Jim (2001b) The Misguided Mix-up of Celebrity and Leadership. Retrieved 13 December 2010 from http://www.jimcollins.com/article_topics/articles/the-misguided-mixup.html
• Collins, Jim (2003). The 10 Greatest CEOs Of All Time What these extraordinary leaders can teach today's troubled executives. Retrieved 13 December 2010 from http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2003/07/21/346095/index.htm
• Gass, Bob (5 December 2010). UCB: What's Your Approach to People?. Retrieved 13 December 2010 from http://www.ucb.co.uk/index.cfm?itemid=1442&wordid=3508
• McCrimmon, Mitch (2008). What Is Level 5 Leadership: The Real Meaning of Leadership. Retrieved 13 December 2010 from http://www.suite101.com/content/what-is-level-5-leadership-a40132#ixzz1827xK6wY
• Crainer, Stuart (3 January 2006). Interview: Jim Collins and Level 5 Leadership. Retrieved 14 December 2010 from http://www.management-issues.com/2006/5/24/mentors/jim-collins-and-level-5-leadership.asp

Sam

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