MODULE 1 UNIT 3

Video 1 Part 2 Transcript

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Module 1 Unit 3 Video 1 Part 2 Transcript

How much does effective leadership vary according to the context in which leaders
find themselves?

MICHAEL GILL: Context is king. It might seem obvious to say that what works in one
setting, does not necessarily work well in another setting. But even seemingly obvious, and
obviously valuable, characteristics, like being analytical or possessing charisma, does not
always serve leaders effectively in every setting.

And the key here is that it’s not just about the leader, but it’s about their followers. They
have different desires and interest. A leader needs to understand those. What might they
be? And how might they change? And that means, crucially, interests change over time,
and, thus, if we want to think about the role of context, it means that being an effective
leader is contextual and dynamic, and will reflect the environment in which your leader is
positioned.

JULIE NERNEY: So context is everything. So when you’re leading in an organisation, you

could be leading it in a time of distress, or turnaround, or steady state, growth,
transformation, mergers, acquisitions. So, as a leader, you have to be really aware of
where that organisation is in its life cycle. Because that will determine both what you need
to do and how you need to go about it.

And so, as a leader, you need to consciously reflect on that, and say, “What am I going to
start, stop, or continue doing in my leadership practice, to be effective at this moment in
time?” And then you need to keep checking in, because that changes over time, and that
context will evolve, and so will your practice need to.

STEVE MOSTYN: I really like the context question, because, in a way, leadership is all
about context. If you’re a start-up, the context is so different than managing a business
school, for example. And so, what does that mean for leaders? They need to understand
how they understand and make sense of context. Which then brings us another
contradiction: if you’re part of the system, you are so full of assumptions about how things
work around here, it’s difficult to stand back from those assumptions.

So the key intervention, I think, we do at Oxford well, is stand back and help them challenge
those assumptions they have about the orthodoxy and the operating model of the
environment they work in. So, context is crucial. High growth is crucial. The entrepreneur,
who can never give up their wonderful business that they love when it becomes a scale-
up business, is a significant transition. It’s a different leader that’s needed there. It’s a very
different leader you need in a dean of the business school, which is managing the
complexity of research, faculty, a business, than you would in a Elon Musk Tesla, for
example.

Context is probably one of the most fundamental things to understand and, therefore, we
need to give leaders exposure to understanding organisational design, strategy, and
strategic alignment.

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To what extent is effectiveness as a leader about knowing your strengths and

playing to them and knowing your weaknesses and managing them?

GILL: Understanding your strengths and weaknesses is important for a leader, but it
requires ongoing work. Strengths and weaknesses can and do change. People, not just
leaders, but often leaders, get stuck in routine actions. And these established routines are
seductive for successful people, because they’ve worked. They’ve worked for them in the
past, and they helped them get where they are now, which is typically in a very prestigious
or successful position.

So the trouble is that those routines can become outdated. And what were once your
strengths, or your weaknesses, can change over time. And this means that reflexivity, and
taking the time to reflect on your actions, are vitally important to understand how you
change and how the context around you changes. So this means reflecting on your
experiences, and seeking out multiple and alternative perspectives. That’s key to
reassessing what you do well and what you do badly. So this means taking a step back,
and just reflecting.

But there’s a more subtle point as well, which is that to be a good leader requires reflexivity.
And this is going even further than just reflecting. This is about considering who you are,
and how you are shaped, or shape, your social world, the people around you. Now, to do
this well means you will have to try to unsettle comfortable or familiar viewpoints that you
hold, and being imaginative to develop new perspectives, and, therefore, to be more
sensitive to who you are and the environment around you.

NERNEY: So self-awareness is key to great leadership. Nobody’s perfect. We’re all

different. We have different strengths and weaknesses, and that might lend ourselves
different types of organisations or leadership roles. So, strengths and weaknesses are two
sides of the same coin. We have to understand them, we have to work on them. Sometimes
it’s better to ignore a weakness and just make something good, great. Sometimes, it’s
really essential to work on our weakness, because that’s core to being an effective leader.

But you never stop learning. I get terrified by people when I meet them and they say, “Oh
no, I’m all good, thanks. I don’t need any development. I’ve stopped learning”. That’s not
the right answer.

MOSTYN: Everyone assumes that if we just play to our strengths, we’ve got the answer.
Actually, the research tells us that to be very careful of that. Some of the derailment studies
we’ve looked at suggest that, when a leader gets to, let’s say, general manager and they’ve
been, perhaps, a marketeer, the big tendency, and the number one predictor of derailment
in a leadership role, is to overplay your existing strengths.

And the reason we do that is pretty straightforward. We know we’re good at that. We get
anxious when we’re in a big role, and we become this super marketeer, if that’s our
background. And guess what? The business doesn’t need that.

So, actually, I would disagree with the question. I think it’s about understanding your
strengths, but actually not developing them further, because that’s the number one key to
ineffectiveness. So there’s a real irony here, and let’s be very careful about. Of course,
weaknesses are crucial to understand, but, again, I think the leader’s role is to then recruit

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the team around them. And I think the most humble leaders understand the strengths and
weaknesses in a very mature way.

A coach can often help with that, or the tutor system we run in Oxford can help with that.
And then, if your weakness, for example, is finance, make sure you’ve got a great CFO,
and make sure you’ve got a great CFO who can explain things in simple terms to you.

So absolutely understand your weaknesses, but, again, all the research says, effort to
really create weaknesses as a strength is very hard work and probably not worth the effort.
Awareness is crucial. Beware of the strengths and the weaknesses is my answer to your
question.

TIM MORRIS: Becoming an effective leader is a process of continuous development and

critical reflection. This involves identifying the strengths that you can draw on, and your
weaknesses as areas for improvement.

So, consider for yourself, how can you become a highly effective leader? What are your
strengths? And how do they contribute to your effectiveness? Do you have any
weaknesses or blind spots that hamper your effectiveness?

In this module’s assignment, you will interrogate and critically reflect on these points and
on how to become a more effective leader.

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