Leadership relazionale

Premise

The concept of leadership is very broad. Depending on the point of view from which it is approached, one can arrive at different definitions and conceptualizations, all valid and all partial.

Let's look at some indications of what characteristics a good leader has/should have, highlighted by participants in the webinar on relational leadership for members of the LEVA project, thinking of effective leaders they have known:

• Ability to be recognized as a point of reference
• Listening skills
• Charm, ability to captivate
• Ability to attract others to oneself
• Ability to be followed and become a point of reference
•  Decision-making ability
• Ability to synthesize
• Organizational skills, for oneself and for others
• Ability to clearly separate work moments from leisure moments
• Ability to take responsibility, "put your face to it"
• Motivational ability
• Self-confidence
• Competence
• Ability to help others find solutions without imposing oneself or one's own solutions
• Ability to act as a filter, defend the team

 

Formal and informal leadership

We talk about formal leadership when it is the role a person holds that makes them the leader: a manager, a project manager, etc...

This situation can have its advantages and disadvantages: the fact that one does not have to "earn" the role of leader "in the field," since it is already implicit in the formal role, can make it easier to perform it at best, if the abilities are there. At the same time, the expectation that others have of this person, precisely because of the role they hold, can create performance anxiety that, in reality, does not allow them to best express their leadership qualities (that is: they find themselves shifted too far to the right on their own personal effectiveness curve).

In any case, being formally a leader does not automatically mean being a good leader.

Informal leadership, on the other hand, is what manifests itself whenever a person or group assigns the role of leader to another person, regardless of the formal role – that is, whether this is a peer colleague or the manager.

 

So, what is relational leadership?

It consists precisely in a person's ability to be recognized as a leader regardless of their formal role – that is, it coincides with informal leadership (which, I repeat, can also be exercised by those who are formally leaders, such as a project manager).

 

What characteristics does a relational leader have?

We can choose from the list drawn up in the premise: the relational leader will be the one who is particularly effective with respect to the first five points on the list:

• Ability to be recognized as a point of reference
• Listening skills
• Charm, ability to captivate
• Ability to attract others to oneself
• Ability to be followed and become a point of reference

 

Is the ability of relational leadership innate or acquired?

If, undoubtedly, there are people who have a predisposition that, if not innate, has developed smoothly and without a precise intention, it is equally true that anyone can work on their leadership qualities and improve until they become an effective leader.

 

So, how can we develop these skills? "Everything about leadership is autobiographical.
if I don't know who you are as a person,
    I don't know who you are as a leader." 
Noel Tichy

What Noel Tichy – renowned American coach and consultant, recognized as one of the leading experts on leadership – tells us with this statement is clear: relational leadership develops first and foremost through our ability (and willingness) to be present, in our professional role, with the fullness of our personal dimension (not private!). That is, for example, being open, honest, and explicit about one's value dimension, and behaving consistently with it. But also, being able to serenely show one's own weaknesses and vulnerabilities, without having to wear a mask of implausible perfection.

The ability to be followed, to become a point of reference, to attract others to oneself, will then all be consequences that will happen fluidly.

 

Active listening, assertiveness, storytelling, are all tools that can be useful and enrich the skills of a relational leader: we will address these topics in subsequent, more focused webinars.