Rediscovering Our Roots: Building a Leadership Style for Modern Sri Lanka
View(s):People talk about corruption, discipline, and all the weaknesses of politicians. But how many among the general public in Sri Lanka would like to reflect on their own behaviour? There is a need for certain individuals to step forward and communicate with the public about disciplined country with long term development. True leaders are essential. people talk about the need for better leaders for this country The expectation of this article is to see what kind of leadership is needed at this moment.
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The concept of Strategic Leadership has been discussed by Kautilya’s teachings (4th century BC), which leader has been considered a strategist (Jain and Mukherji, 2009). Furthermore, according to Nuumann (1999) the idea of strategic leadership style is derived from the work of Bass (1985) on transformational leadership. Bass’ (1985) theory is an extension of Burns’ (1978) classification of transactional versus transformational political leaders. However, transactional leadership is defined as a series of exchanges and bargains between leaders and followers in the short run (which we can see in the current context in Sri Lanka, with all deals, businesses and all sorts of ill practices). Anyway, transformational leadership goes beyond mere short-term relationships and focuses on grooming, inspiring, intellectually stimulating and motivating followers for long-term expectations . I think, at the moment we have a problem with having transformational leaders. According to Bass (1990), “Most experimental research, unfortunately, has focused on transactional leadership, whereas the real movers and shakers of the world are transformational”. At the moment not only in research but also in practice people would like to talk about transactional leaders in consumer society. It is worthwhile to elaborate on “four magical factors” which is important to develop a transformational leader:
Idealised influence (charisma) applied by leaders is considered as role models for their followers. They show great persistence and determination in the pursuit of objectives, show high standards of ethical and moral conduct, sacrifice self-gain for the gain of others, and share the success and the limelight (Coad and Berry, 1998). As a result, those leaders are admired, respected, and trusted, and followers identify with them and want to emulate them (Avolio and Bass, 1994). Sometimes we can witness leaders only with this aspect. But you need to have all the ingredients to become a perfect leader.
Inspirational motivation creates a clear picture of the future that is both optimistic and attainable. Leaders set high expectations, use symbolism to focus on efforts, and communicate a vision to followers in simple language. Followers react by willingly increasing their efforts to attain the vision (Avolio and Bass, 1994). Even in Business, we can rarely see leaders who can communicate the vision clearly to the followers and align with the vision of the organisation and subordinates.
Intellectual stimulation describes leadership behaviour that encourages followers to use their imagination and to re-think old ways of doing things. The leader provides a flow of ideas, questions, and assumptions, creates a broad, imaginative picture and encourages followers to come up with their own structures and solutions to problems. The message is that followers should feel free to try out new approaches, and their ideas will not be publicly criticized when they differ from those of the leader (Avolio and Bass, 1994). Furthermore, Thomas (2007) observed that intellectual stimulation is what makes leaders challenge the status quo and influences the intellect of their subordinates. This is one of the areas lacking in politics and business. Most of the leaders in Sri Lanka do not like their subordinates to challenge their decisions which ultimately, in the long run, are described as “dictatorship”.
Individualised consideration means that the leader gives personal attention to followers, building a considerate relationship with each individual, and focusing on that person’s needs. The leader provides challenges and learning opportunities and delegates the authority to subordinates to raise their skills and confidence. In the process, the leader exhibits trust, respect, and some tolerance for mistakes that occur as learning proceeds. The result is that followers are more likely to be willing to develop competence and take initiative. Furthermore, they feel trust and respect for the leader (Avolio and Bass, 1994).
The proposed four specific dimensions of transformational leadership namely charismatic leadership or idealized influence, inspirational leadership or motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualised consideration can be considered as important for managers(even our politicians) to become “Leaders”. Possessing all four of these qualities naturally shapes you into a leader with insight and sensing. This is what we refer to as Emotional Intelligence (EI), as described by Goleman—an author, psychologist, and science journalist. EI includes a range of positive attributes, including political awareness, self-confidence, conscientiousness, and achievement motives, focusing beyond mere intelligence to help individuals solve problems effectively (Brackett & Geher, 2006).In his 1996 book Emotional Intelligence, Goleman argued that EQ (or emotional intelligence quotient) might actually be more important than IQ. Conversely, it can be argued that candidates with high IQ but low emotional intelligence (EI) may not be ideal, as EQ is often a stronger predictor of success among intelligent individuals. Keep in your mind that the IQ of Albert Einstein was estimated at 160, Madonna’s was 140, and John F. Kennedy’s was only 119.Anyway Kennedy stands as the most popular modern president, enjoying a remarkable 90 percent public approval rating!
Sri Lanka needs to study King Rawana, Parakramabahu, Dutugamunu as well as all the ancient kings who brought us pride and prestige. There should be a methodology to blend what we discussed earlier as the “magical factor“ of transformational leadership with ingredients of our own heritage and culture. Simple copy, and paste might not work in this context. There is a need (or duty) for scholars and practitioners in the subject domain of “Leadership” to revisit our history by researching the leadership qualities of people in past . There is a need for us to search for our leadership style!
Professor Nalin Abeysekera-
(The writer is a Professor
in Management Studies ,Open
University of Sri Lanka and You can
reach Professor Abeysekera
via nalinabeysekera@gmail.com.)
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