In cultivating leadership, the use of the appropriate language is important in building people’s worldview framework. If language is hostile to the framework of followers, the entire system of leaders and followers can break down. For example, how an individual frames a question will limit the possibility of valid answers. Hence, a leader’s frame, worldview, and essence of being will guide, generate opportunities, limit possibilities, and dictate how the person interacts with others. Frames will limit anxiety and provide a template for addressing unknown, complex situations.
A personal frame can be defined as the beliefs and values that one holds to be accurate and a sense of personal identity. A frame is a way a person views the world and themselves. Having a strong frame means being self-assured in whom you are as a person. This can only come from trial and error and primarily through life experience. Academics will not build a strong frame: however, academics can facilitate an easier path to forming a strong frame.
It is important that when an organisation decides to begin to develop leaders, the group must start with strengthening the internal framework of the individual. The organisation’s mission should guide these beliefs and values and push the aspiring leader in the appropriate direction. An organisation must reinforce the beliefs and values a potential leader holds and provide the opportunity to test the potential leader’s ideas. Leadership requires action, and without the process of doing, leadership is not possible. Action brings stress and friction, which will further hone and refine the frame of the leader.
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The next criterion for cultivating leadership is an inner alignment of the potential leader. Aspiring leaders need to be people of integrity. By integrity, I mean “the state of being undivided”. Leaders need to be appropriately oriented within and without. When a leader cannot act consistently with their internal world framework, cognitive dissonance will arise. Consequently, cognitive dissonance results from holding “incongruous beliefs and attitudes”. Leadership, in general, requires consistency. Performing at high levels requires the ability to make snap decisions quickly and accurately. Leaders suffering from cognitive dissonance, juggling too many stressors, or simply out of their league are prone to making wrong decisions. While an organisation cannot always predict personal stressors, it can help determine if individuals are out of their league or will actively suffer from cognitive dissonance.
Another step to be considered in cultivating leadership is the beliefs and values of the aspiring leader. Leaders have the power to influence the beliefs and values of their followers. Through beliefs and values, culture is created. Therefore, organisations must take a vested interest in influencing their aspiring leaders’ beliefs and value systems. Organisations will need to figure out which beliefs and values they would like to instill and propagate throughout their organisation. Should we move toward egalitarian views or meritocratic views? Environmentalism or industry? What type of value mix should the organisation reflect?
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Beliefs and actions should be consistent. If the organisation’s belief is one of meritocracy, then an employee should be able to see that belief manifest. If egalitarianism or favouritism is manifest, the individuals who make up that organisation will soon change their beliefs.
In the preceding articles, I emphasised that leaders need to be not just learners but quick learners. With the radical progress of science and technology, the ability to learn new information is becoming more and more critical. The lifestyle of the learner is a character trait that may be able to be taught. Researchers have asserted that changing teachers from repetitive drones into influential educators was to turn them into learners. Learners will have the ability to teach others with passion and conviction. Therefore, teaching is inseparable from leadership, and engaging in one is to engage in the other.
Leaders should have a vision and a clear vision of what might be. To have the most compelling vision, leaders must know what to look for in the environment to understand what could be possible. Leaders must know and learn how to articulate themselves so that the vision is clear and compelling. Leaders must understand their followers and the capabilities and limitations of their people. To be successful in all these endeavours, leaders should be learners and be taught how to learn.
Teaching-learning is a disciple within an organisation that can be challenging. People who are busy and spending time reading journals, books, and other non-entertainment sources may become resentful or burn out altogether. Various programs exist for teaching people how to become learners. To start with, the group might start with assigned reading. The group, however, should not assign books: instead, the individual in the group should choose their source of education. By this, the group will expand, and individual group members will share a diverse learning field. Have each member of the weekly group talk about what they are learning and how it applies to their current circumstances.
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