Your Presence is about three conversations
Leadership effectiveness is critically shaped not only by decisions and directives but also by the quality of conversations. A leader's interaction involves multiple layers of dialogue: the silent, internal conversations within the minds of both the leader and the follower, and the spoken, external conversation in the room. Understanding these dynamics through the lens of behavioural sciences, social psychology, and learning sciences provides a deeper insight into how leaders can optimize their influence and foster productive relationships. Fundamental to all this is our propensity for judging ourselves by our intentions and others by their behaviour.
The Conversation in the Mind of the Leader
Leadership begins in the mind. A leader's internal dialogue is a confluence of past experiences, personal beliefs, emotional intelligence, and future aspirations. Cognitive behavioural theory provides a framework for understanding how these thoughts influence behaviour. According to Bandura's social cognitive theory, self-efficacy plays a crucial role: "Self-efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave." This belief in one's capability and validity of our intent, affects how leaders approach challenges, solve problems, and interact with others.
Leaders also engage in a process known as reflective practice, where they analyse their actions and decisions. Kahneman’s distinction between 'Thinking, fast and slow' suggests that leaders oscillate between intuitive, quick decisions and slower, more deliberate thinking. Kahneman notes, "A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth." This highlights the potential pitfalls in a leader's cognitive biases and the importance of critical thinking.
The Conversation in the Mind of the Follower
Followers interpret leadership actions and communications through their psychological filters, which are shaped by their own experiences and expectations. Social perception and attribution are central in this process. Heider's attribution theory explains how people attribute causes to behaviours, which in turn influences their reactions to leadership. "Attribution theory deals with how the social perceiver uses information to arrive at causal explanations for events," Heider stated, illustrating how misunderstandings can arise when followers misinterpret the intentions behind a leader’s actions.
Ross further explores these dynamics, pointing out that "People are naive psychologists trying to make sense of the social world." His research into the fundamental attribution error reveals how easily followers might attribute a leader’s actions to their personality and infer intent, rather than situational factors, potentially leading to conflict or misalignment.
The Conversation in the Room
The actual conversation that occurs in a leadership context is where theory meets practice; where intent meets actions. It is the dynamic space where the internal dialogues of both leader and follower are expressed and interact. Communication theories such as those proposed by Watzlawick et al. emphasize the complexity of these interactions: "All problems are problems of relationships," they argue, suggesting that the essence of communication issues lies in relational dynamics.
Learning sciences offer additional insights here. Lave and Wenger’s concept of situated learning within communities of practice shows how interactions within a group can lead to shared understandings and collective learning. They argue that "Learning does not occur only within an individual, nor is it a passive development of behavioural competencies that occur in a social vacuum." This perspective encourages leaders to foster environments where open dialogue and learning are central, facilitating better decision-making and group cohesion.
Integration and Implications
Integrating insights from these diverse fields can significantly enhance leadership training and development. By understanding the psychological underpinnings of their own and their followers’ thought processes, leaders can be better prepared to initiate and manage effective conversations. This holistic approach not only helps in resolving conflicts but also in building a culture of trust and mutual understanding, which are fundamental for effective leadership.
Training programs should therefore include components that help leaders recognize their cognitive biases, understand the psychological processes of their followers, and develop skills for managing real-time conversations in diverse settings. Such training would ideally be experiential, allowing leaders to practice and reflect on different conversation scenarios in a controlled environment.
So what?
The three conversations in leadership — within the leader, within the follower, and within the room — are interlinked and equally important. Recognizing and understanding these dialogues through the perspectives offered by behavioural sciences, social psychology, and learning sciences can provide leaders with a powerful toolkit for enhancing their effectiveness. As leadership continues to evolve in complex organizational landscapes, the ability to engage in thoughtful, informed, and empathetic conversation will be a key differentiator for successful leaders.
