The Other Side of Leadership: Moving from Authoritarian to Authentic
Robert Palmer, PhD
A psychological dynamic occurs when two opposing factors force a change in function. For example, being a leader and having leadership are dynamically different because of their functioning. A leader is a person who holds a position of authority and bears responsibility for achieving results. Leadership is the ability to influence people in the way they think, feel, and act. The phenomenon is manifested when a leader thinks they influence because of their position, but that’s a false assumption.
When a leader confuses their positional authority with influence, unknown problems surface. French and Raven (1959, 1965) theorized that the basis of power correlates to social influence. However, authority is a limited social influence because it ultimately undermines discretionary effort; therefore, each individual is limited, and ultimately, the organization is limited. It turns out that the more authority that is leveraged the less effort that people make. Leaders leveraging authority fail to influence people to perform at their best. The leader actually becomes a lid that limits the potential of the organization. It’s a phenomenon that manifests quickly into dysfunction. The dysfunction becomes a mystery problem to solve. However, the chase to solve the problem of dysfunctions is based on symptoms and not root problems.
Root problems include intrafunctioning of personality (i.e., temperament, character, habits, and attitude) as well as behavior (i.e., assumptions, beliefs, values, and perceptions). There are also root issues in the leader’s interfunctioning of vision (i.e., principles, passion, purpose, and mission) as well as growth (i.e., planning, discipline, choices, and self-esteem). The root issues lead to core problems where the leader fails to influence people effectively and, in desperation, grasps a desperate hold of their authority. Authority is a weak premise with extreme limitations in its influence and what it can accomplish. Authoritarian leaders ignore their internal growth because they don’t think they need it—they have the authority. Authoritarian leaders confuse their authority with their ability to influence. They mistakenly believe that their position gives them all the influence they need, but it doesn’t, and failure is inevitable.
References
French, J. R. P., Jr., & Raven, B. (1959). The bases of social power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies in social power (pp. 150–167). University of Michigan.
Raven, Bertram H (1965). “Social influence and power”. In Steiner, I D; Fishbein, M (eds.). Current studies in social psychology. pp. 371–382.