High-performance working is a method of working that promises increases in productivity of 20 percent if staff are motivated, involved, and offered autonomy.
This is a prize worth fighting for, but our research shows that unless organizations appoint leaders with appropriate styles of leadership, they are unlikely to achieve it. On a positive note, the research highlights HR practices that can help organizations to appoint the right kinds of leaders.
The literature on leadership suggests that it is a combination of transformational leadership and the contingent reward element of transactional leadership that will create a culture of high-performance working. (The former focuses on inspiring and motivating individuals by paying attention to their needs, whereas the latter seeks to motivate through rewards that are dependent on performance.) In contrast, the literature identifies "laissez-faire leadership" and "management by exception" – where management is invisible until things start to go wrong – as styles that will undermine attempts to introduce high-performance working.
Given the critical link between leadership style and high-performance working, it becomes vital to select managers with transformational and contingent reward leadership skills. However, our research revealed serious obstacles in the way of selecting for these skills. In particular, recruiters would sometimes substitute criteria of their own devising for those laid down in job specifications. Leadership skills could also be enormously difficult to measure.
These lessons came from studying the way two public-sector organizations approached the task of leadership selection and comparing this with their track record in introducing high-performance working.
One organization, where there was little evidence of high-performance working, had a recruitment system that described selection criteria in transformational and transactional leadership terms. But interviewers in this organization used a different set of criteria when selecting candidates.
The other organization, where indicators of high-performance working were more in evidence, had succeeded in ensuring that the leadership criteria in job specifications were applied at the interview. It did this through training that emphasized the importance of these criteria, while also placing them in the context of a leadership framework, focusing on seven broad areas of competence. These included "achieving personal growth" and "active leadership", with the latter focusing on fostering commitment, diversity and a learning culture. This leadership framework was used not only for recruitment but also underpinned many of the organization's other HR practices.
Discussions with key players revealed some initial difficulties in gaining acceptance for this framework. However, the short-term problems were balanced by the long-term success achieved by the organization. This goes to show how careful concentration on leadership skills in recruitment, as well as in other HR processes, can create the conditions necessary for high-performance working.
Key points
• Organisations must recruit leaders with appropriate leadership styles if high-performance working is to be achieved.
• Recruiters tend to use selection criteria that they’ve devised themselves, ignoring those in the job specification.
• Recruiters agree that identifying candidates' leadership styles is inherently difficult.
• The criteria used in recruitment, appraisal or training processes need to reflect the leadership styles that the organization values.
Gloria Moss, Lyn Daunton, Roz Gasper.
From Sri Lanka, Kolonnawa
32This is a prize worth fighting for, but our research shows that unless organizations appoint leaders with appropriate styles of leadership, they are unlikely to achieve it. On a positive note, the research highlights HR practices that can help organizations to appoint the right kinds of leaders.
The literature on leadership suggests that it is a combination of transformational leadership and the contingent reward element of transactional leadership that will create a culture of high-performance working. (The former focuses on inspiring and motivating individuals by paying attention to their needs, whereas the latter seeks to motivate through rewards that are dependent on performance.) In contrast, the literature identifies "laissez-faire leadership" and "management by exception" – where management is invisible until things start to go wrong – as styles that will undermine attempts to introduce high-performance working.
Given the critical link between leadership style and high-performance working, it becomes vital to select managers with transformational and contingent reward leadership skills. However, our research revealed serious obstacles in the way of selecting for these skills. In particular, recruiters would sometimes substitute criteria of their own devising for those laid down in job specifications. Leadership skills could also be enormously difficult to measure.
These lessons came from studying the way two public-sector organizations approached the task of leadership selection and comparing this with their track record in introducing high-performance working.
One organization, where there was little evidence of high-performance working, had a recruitment system that described selection criteria in transformational and transactional leadership terms. But interviewers in this organization used a different set of criteria when selecting candidates.
The other organization, where indicators of high-performance working were more in evidence, had succeeded in ensuring that the leadership criteria in job specifications were applied at the interview. It did this through training that emphasized the importance of these criteria, while also placing them in the context of a leadership framework, focusing on seven broad areas of competence. These included "achieving personal growth" and "active leadership", with the latter focusing on fostering commitment, diversity and a learning culture. This leadership framework was used not only for recruitment but also underpinned many of the organization's other HR practices.
Discussions with key players revealed some initial difficulties in gaining acceptance for this framework. However, the short-term problems were balanced by the long-term success achieved by the organization. This goes to show how careful concentration on leadership skills in recruitment, as well as in other HR processes, can create the conditions necessary for high-performance working.
Key points
• Organisations must recruit leaders with appropriate leadership styles if high-performance working is to be achieved.
• Recruiters tend to use selection criteria that they’ve devised themselves, ignoring those in the job specification.
• Recruiters agree that identifying candidates' leadership styles is inherently difficult.
• The criteria used in recruitment, appraisal or training processes need to reflect the leadership styles that the organization values.
Gloria Moss, Lyn Daunton, Roz Gasper.
From Sri Lanka, Kolonnawa
Dear Professor,
I agree with you I have learned all the lessons out of hard ways. I started my career in sales and went a long way. At one point of time because of the frustration caused by few recruiters (Thanks to them) I changed my career in Recruitment. I could see lot of changes in my personality and behavior. All I had with me is confidence and leadership which made me sucessful in this industry. Now I want to plant the same to some on who is really worth for it.
I wish to thank you for your efforts. Lets share.
regards
Vijay
From India, Coimbatore
I agree with you I have learned all the lessons out of hard ways. I started my career in sales and went a long way. At one point of time because of the frustration caused by few recruiters (Thanks to them) I changed my career in Recruitment. I could see lot of changes in my personality and behavior. All I had with me is confidence and leadership which made me sucessful in this industry. Now I want to plant the same to some on who is really worth for it.
I wish to thank you for your efforts. Lets share.
regards
Vijay
From India, Coimbatore
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