Who Drives Change

The Role of Leaders

Change may be hard, but often it is welcomed. This immediately raises the question: who is driving this disliked or desired change?

Sometimes we take it upon ourselves: when it comes to our own life, there is no-one else who can drive change. But when there is a group involved, then we normally identify particular individuals as responsible for taking the lead.

Leaders drive change, for good or ill.

Here are two examples regarding change in our own life:

we may activate an Atomistic paradigm and see ourselves as autonomous and responsible, which represents self-directed leadership;
OR
we may activate a Unitary paradigm and see ourselves (for example) as a devout believer whose every daily act as well as life choices are specified by scriptures, customs and decrees of the current ruling cleric, who is a dictatorial leader.

When it comes to changing families, groups, organizations or societies of which we are a part, then there are a variety of options: all underpinned and shaped by depiction paradigms and generating their own form of leadership.

Essence of Leadership

Leadership is a topic of endless interest: many thousands of courses, books, seminars and analyses have been generated. The result has been mixed at best. As explained in the taxonomic analysis of a Harvard Business Review article on leadership, the typical account lacks any intelligible underlying framework and offers superficial analyses.

The focus is commonly on particular skills like decision-making, strategy, communication, self-awareness.
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Decision-making, which is PH'1 in THEE: see more here;
or personal interaction, which is PH'6Q4 in THEE: see more in this section;
or communication, which is PH'5 in THEE: see more here.
But these skills are non-specific.

Sometimes advice focuses on self-awareness and personal growth, which is PH'4 in THEE: again wholly non-specific.

And there is also the matter of role expectations in organisations, which is PH'5Q2 in THEE: see more here.

Learning is encouraged, often via recommendations to associate with other emerging leaders or to identify with someone successful and willing to mentor, which are methods for enhancing capability, PH'7 in THEE.

Important as such skills are, they do not go the essence of leadership. We have to ask: what is it that demands all those skills and why? It is proposed that the essence of leadership is the ability to enable those involved to bring about change.

While any change is naturally specified in terms of a desirable goal or outcome, the need for leadership means that this is not just any goal. It is a goal where failure matters. The goal activates all the emotions, fears and risks that are implicit in significant change, and the leader is willing and determined to take those risks.

Sometimes the leader chooses the goal as part of leadership, but not necessarily. Sometimes the leader chooses the strategy, but not necessarily.

Leading Risky Change

The leader is faced with a situation that is never simple, easy and risk-free. If it were, then leadership would not be necessary. To handle such situations, one of the depiction paradigms gets activated and imposed. As might be expected each paradigm has a particular situational suitability and generates a particular type of leadership.

The leader-follower relationship would be expected to differ according to the paradigm. In each case, it will be necessary to determine:

Establishment of leadership occurs as follows:

Unitary paradigm fosters mass consent: the basis for a dictatorial leader.
Why? Closed The group is undifferentiated with all necessarily expected to conform.

Dualistic paradigm fosters majority election: the basis for a representative leader.
Why? Closed The group's situation demands a choice between two main alternatives, each with its supporters.

Causal paradigm fosters suitable qualifications: the basis for a specialist or expert leader.
Why? Closed The group has to achieve specific technically-specialized results.

Structural paradigm fosters procedural order: the basis for a formal leader.
Why? Closed The group views order and hierarchy as features to be sustained via rules.

Dynamic paradigm fosters intuitive recognition: the basis for a natural emergent leader.
Why? Closed The group values open communications that allows general recognition of who is most suitable.

Atomistic paradigm fosters respect for personal autonomy: the basis for a self-directed leader.
Why? Closed All in the group reject any form of coercion.

Unified paradigm fosters self-proclamation or anointment: the basis for a visionary leader.
Why? Closed The situation is a hard-to-imagine system of systems including its environment and the group values the uniqueness of each member.

Change is the quintessential responsibility of leaders.

We are all potentially leaders, whether in shaping our own lives or in contributing to societal change. Where we are not leaders, we are followers:

Originally posted: 30-Jun-2024. Amended 10-Jul-2024.