In this second section of Curated 2020, six essays are offered that focus on specific models of leadership and group development that address the complex, unpredictable and turbulent challenges faced by contemporary organizations around the world.
It is proposed by one of us [WB], as co-editor of this Curated 2020 volume, that no one leadership style is best and that there are strengths associated with three primary styles, as well as strengths associated with various blends of these three styles. The metaphor of color is used in describing (and hopefully making memorable) each of these primary and blended styles. That is why this model is titled: The Leadership Spectrum. It is also proposed that groups journey through multiple stages while journeying to becoming teams. Styles of leadership and stages of group development are closely intertwined.
The Leadership Spectrum: Basic Framework
The first two essays in this section provide the foundation for the Leadership Style model. The third document offers a description of the Leadership Spectrum that is delivered as a brief 30-minute video-recorded lecture.
The Leadership Spectrum: I. Three Primary Perspectives and Practices
This first essay presents a model of leadership styles that addresses the complex, unpredictable and turbulent challenges faced by contemporary organizations around the world. It is proposed that no one leadership style is best and that there are strengths associated with three primary styles, as well as strengths associated with various blends of these three styles. The metaphor of color is offered in describing each of these primary styles. That is why this model is titled The Leadership Spectrum.
The Leadership Spectrum: II. Blended Perspectives and Practices
The first essay described the “pure” versions of each leadership style. What about those leaders who want to “mix it up” with other people and seek to engage in collaborative leadership, generating ideas, intentions and information through discussion and dialogue? And what about those leaders who choose to use all three leadership styles and even to find a way in which to integrate all three? Four styles of leadership are described that blend two or all three primary styles of The Leadership Spectrum.
The Leadership Spectrum III: Summary Description
The third essay provides a summary description of The Leadership Spectrum in a different format. A 30-minute lecture has been recorded as a video document and presented with a few summary points offered in writing following the lecture.
The Leadership Spectrum: Expansion and Implications
Two essays begin to trace out the implications inherent in the application of The Leadership Spectrum in seeking to understand how people relate to one another. The first of these essays begins by expanding our perspective from just leadership to the differing motivations and resulting behavior of all people–The Human Spectrum is described. This model of human motivation is then engaged in providing insights regarding the way in which interpersonal needs are being met in groups and teams. With the Leadership Spectrum and Human Spectrum models in place, an analysis is offered regarding how specific forms of leadership and human behavior can cause harm (as well as yield benefits) to a group or team.
Interpersonal Needs and The Human Spectrum
This essay concerns the personal dimension of life in a group or team—and particularly the interpersonal needs of those who participate in this group or team. The specific premise underlying the concepts presented in this essay is that a group is more likely to become a functioning, productive, collaborating team if the interpersonal needs of all members have been acknowledged and are being met. This specific description of interpersonal needs comes directly from the remarkable work done by Will Schutz (Schutz, 1966; Schutz, 1994).
Harmlessness and the Leadership Spectrum
Do we lead a life when no harm is being down to other people—or do we harm other people through the actions we have taken (or not taken). Can we ever lead a harmless life or is our world designed in such a way that harm is inevitable? Is this especially the case when we are in a leadership position? With the best of intentions, are we inevitably going to leave someone feeling wounded, ignored, misunderstood, betrayed – or at least disappointed? This essay is all about these important (and often haunting) questions and about the way harm and harmlessness play out in the decisions and actions taken by leaders who embrace differing styles of leadership.
Leadership, Interpersonal Needs and Journey from Group to Team
The final essay in this section of Curated 2020 brings together all these perspectives as broader dynamics are identified that are inherent in the journey of groups as they seek to become effectively functioning teams.
The Journey from Group to Team
A snapshot of team functioning is offered in this essay: why is it formed and how does it function? However, the formation of an effectively functioning team requires a movie not just a snapshot. This formation usually is best defined as a journey, rather than being instant arrival at the destination. This essay provides some expectations and guidelines about how this journey can best be executed. A key feature in the journey from group to team concerns the diverse perspectives (The Human Spectrum) held by its members—. It is this diversity that creates both the potentials for and barriers to effective team functioning.