Quiet Leadership

We have heard a lot in the past twenty years about “heroic leadership”, “strong leadership”, “transformational leadership” promoting charismatic leadership styles as the only way forward. The very language that is used is assertive, if not aggressive: we talk about leaders “driving” improvement in their organisations. Often people are put off leadership roles because they don’t believe they don’t have the charisma to be a leader. It doesn’t have to be this way; leaders can be “quiet”, reflective and collaborative. As Albert Schweitzer says:

“Of all the will toward the ideal in mankind only a small part can manifest itself in public action. All the rest of this force must be content with small and obscure deeds. The sum of these, however, is a thousand times stronger than the acts of those who receive wide public recognition.”

Schweitzer (1963)

Being a football supporter, when I think of quiet leaders, I think of Alf Ramsey who led the England team to their World Cup win of 1966, still a unique achievement. Ramsey never sought the limelight, he thrust his team forward during the celebrations on the pitch and stepping back himself. Following a celebration dinner at the Mansion House, Ramsey left the reception to catch the last bus home.

Joseph Baderaco (2003) conducted a survey of men and women who lead quietly, he points out the disadvantages of a hierarchical leadership structure with the hero at the top of a pyramid and everyone else at the base. Baderaco says that when we see leaders as heroes, it distorts our view of leadership and implies that no one else is significant. He sees hero leadership as simplistic especially when faced with complex problems, the world is not about a choice between right and wrong but choices from issues that cannot be polarised in this way; we may, for example be choosing between the lesser of two evils or unsatisfactory options. Or we may be choosing between two rights with different consequences. The third disadvantage concerns heroic leadership’s inability to deal with uncertainty:

“Grand stories of past heroics are hardly instructive for people who have to decide what to put in and cut out of next month’s budget, and don’t know which way the rollercoaster will swerve next.”

Quiet leaders have the ability to reflect and cope with complexity and uncertainty; as leaders we often have to manage and support staff in these circumstances. For eight years I was employed by my Local Authority to lead schools in crisis and prepare them for new leadership for periods between one and two years. I worked in five schools all of which were very different but which had many commonalities. 

“Quiet leaders recognize that time lets turbulent waters settle and clarify. It lets people discuss their situations with others and think things through on their own. Time gives people a chance to assess their real obligations and gives sound instincts a chance to emerge. It lets them observe and learn, look for patterns, understand some of the many, subtle ways in which individuals and events interact, and look for small, subtle opportunities in the flow of events.”

Quiet leaders value listening over talking, they garner much information by watching and listening to others. Leading schools in crisis, I quickly learned to first of all listen; there was a lot of angst, anxiety and anger in those schools, they had either failed an inspection or had a crisis in leadership, it was important for staff and parents to be heard and for their feelings and opinions to be taken seriously. In many schools, listening was the first thing I did; I gave over staff meeting time for people to speak and held 1:1 interviews with all staff.  It was only when they had expressed these feelings that we were able to move forward, learning from the past but looking to the future.

What motivates leaders is fundamental to the effectiveness of their organisations; quiet leaders are motivated by doing the best they can for the organisation and the people in it; if leaders are motivated by personal gain (money and status) their decisions will be skewed towards those aims.

References:
Badaracco, JL Jr A lesson for the times: Learning from quiet leaders . IVEY MANAGEMENT SERVICES • January/February 2003Schweitzer, Albert, Out of My Life and Thought, P. 74, New American Library, New York, 1963