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Productivity Improvement through Transformational Leadership

How to Achieve Productivity Improvement through Transformational Leadership

Posted on: December 9, 2019

By John Knights

The one major area of productivity improvement that is consistently not given enough consideration is how the leadership of organisations impacts productivity through their behaviours and values, and their ability to establish a sustainable performance enhancing culture.

The level of productivity in any organisation lies primarily with the CEO and the senior leadership team. That may sound obvious but in a large number of organisations, the accountability for productivity is pushed down to middle management. It is considered a management process issue rather than one for the leadership. Even when it is accepted as the responsibility of senior leaders, the focus is usually on capital investment and process while always highlighting causes outside the control of the organisation, such as market conditions, interest and exchange rates or full employment.

Transpersonal Leadership

The Transpersonal Leadership Model

Before delving into the impact of leadership on productivity, it is important to introduce the Transpersonal Leadership model. The concept of Transpersonal Leadership was first published in a report on tomorrow’s leadership, based on a leadership development journey developed by LeaderShape Global (Knights, 2011). The word “transpersonal” was inspired by the use of the word in “transpersonal psychology” (Bynum, 2010). “Transpersonal” is defined as “extending or going beyond the personal or individual, beyond the usual limits of ego and personality”.

A Transpersonal Leader can be described as anyone that operates beyond the ego while continuing personal development and learning. They are radical, ethical, and authentic while emotionally intelligent and caring.

They are able to:

  • embed authentic, ethical and emotionally intelligent behaviours into the DNA of the organisation
  • build strong, collaborative relationships
  • create a performance enhancing culture that is ethical, caring and sustainable

Employee Productivity

Increasing Employee Productivity Through Engagement

The behaviour and values of top leadership, and the culture they create, have a huge impact on the performance of each individual in organisations. In essence, this is attained by encouraging discretionary effort through focusing on the engagement of all the people in the organisation.

The discretionary effort and performance that each human being will provide if treated in the right way and thus fully engaged can be truly staggering. But for that to work sustainably and effectively, the behaviours and values have to be genuine and connected to a purpose for the organisation that is beyond the narrow benefit of the owners and top executives.

This does not mean that we should dispel with using financial and operational management to improve productivity but rather that it should be a more balanced approach. There is also a role for non-financial “benefit” programmes (a more collaborative term than “incentive”) that are consistent with creating discretionary effort rather than those used to counter poor leadership. For example, providing flexible working is more sustainably effective and constructive than courses to help people reduce their stress.
 

Leadership and Productivity

Free White Paper

This white paper demonstrates that improving productivity is not only about new technology, capital investment, improving processes and cutting costs - but also about people. It explains how leaders can increase productivity by shifting their leadership style, and therefore altering the climate and culture of an organisation.

 
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Effective Leadership

Effective Leadership Through Behaviour and Values

A Transpersonal Culture can only be created and maintained if the leadership first creates the right climate. Climate is the philosophy, attitude, spirit, beliefs and values of the organisation that is set by the top leader or leadership team and which is communicated and received by the people in the organisation. Importantly, a leader can only create the right climate if they demonstrate appropriate behaviours and values, consistently.

This needs to be combined with leadership excellence which the Transpersonal Leadership model shows is first about increasing awareness of both self and others, learning to manage one’s emotions and developing performance enhancing behaviours and cultures. In the advanced part of the journey, it is about learning to bring values to full consciousness, managing one’s ego, working effectively with all stakeholders and understanding how to improve judgement to make the best decisions and choices.

Changing Organisation Culture

Key Factors in Changing Organisation Culture

There is no shortcut to increasing productivity through people. It requires frequent practice, a willingness to be assessed to measure progress and ongoing support. It is a life long journey. Daniel Goleman (Goleman, 2000) explains how George Litwin and Robert Stringer (Litwin & Stringer, 1968) and David McClelland (McClelland, 1976) developed a definition of climate as six factors that influence an organisation’s environment:

  1. Flexibility by minimising red tape
  2. Sense of taking responsibility
  3. Level of standards
  4. Aptness of rewards
  5. Clarity about mission and values
  6. Getting commitment to a common purpose

My view is that the first five are all firmly in the Climate camp whereas getting the commitment is the result of climate and more a desirable trait of the Culture.

John Knights is Chairman of LeaderShape Global, and lead author of “Leading Beyond the Ego: How to Become a Transpersonal Leader”. He has been a thought leader in the field of leadership development for over 20 years following a career as a senior international corporate executive and a serial entrepreneur.

To learn more about the relationship between leadership and productivity download the free white paper or purchase a copy “Leading Beyond the Ego”.

View a bonus video below where John Knights discusses the concept of transpersonal leadership and leading beyond the ego with the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative.