Leadership

Skills Theory

"Leadership is a function of knowing yourself, having a vision that is well communicated, building trust among colleagues, and taking effective action to realize your own leadership potential."
Prof. Warren Bennis

Description

The skills approach takes a leadercentered perspective on leadership. Shift from personality characteristics (innate and relatively fixed) to an emphasis on skills and abilities that can be learned and developed.

Three-Skill Approach
Katz (1955) suggested that effective administration (i.e., leadership) depends on three basic personal skills: technical, human, and conceptual.

Three-Skill Approach
Leadership skills are defined as the ability to use ones knowledge and competencies to accomplish a set of goals. Skills are what a leader can accomplish.

Three-Skill Approach: Technical Skill

Technical skill is having knowledge about and being proficient in a specific type of work or activity. Technical skills requires competencies in a specialized area, analytical ability, and the ability to use appropriate tools and techniques.

Three-Skill Approach: Human Skill

Human skill is having knowledge about and being able to work with people. Human skills are the abilities that help a leader to work effectively with subordinates, peers, and superiors to successfully accomplish the organizations goals.

Three-Skill Approach: Human Skill Characteristic behaviors:

Sensitivity to others ideas, needs, and motivations. Adaptability of ones own ideas. Creation of an atmosphere of trust.

Three-Skill Approach: Conceptual Skill

Conceptual skills are abilities to work with ideas and concepts. Whereas technical skills deal with things and human skills deal with people, conceptual skills deal with ideas.

Three-Skill Approach: Conceptual Skill Conceptual skills are central to creating a vision and strategic plan for an organization.

Three Skills Model: Summary

Skills Model
Mumford, Zaccaro, Harding, et al., 2000. A capability model because it examines the relationship between a leaders knowledge and skills (i.e., capabilities) and the leaders performance. The capabilities that make effective leadership possible.

Skills Model

Competencies
Problem-solving skills.
A leaders creative ability to solve new and unusual, ill-defined organizational problems. Skills:
Define significant problems. Gather problem information. Formulate new understandings about the problem. Generate prototype plans for problem solutions.

Competencies

Social judgment skills.

The capacity to understand people and social systems. Skills: Perspective taking understanding of the attitudes that others have toward a particular problem or solution. Social perceptiveness insight and awareness into how other within the organization function. Behavioral flexibility the capacity to change and adapt ones behavior in a light of an understanding of others perspectives in the organization. Social performance the capacity to effectively communicate their vision to others based on their understanding of the others perspectives.

Competencies
Knowledge.
The accumulation of information and the mental structures (schema) used to organize that information. Knowledge and expertise make it possible for people to think about complex systems issues and identify possible strategies for appropriate change.

Individual Attributes
General cognitive ability.
Intelligence: perceptual processing, information processing, general reasoning skills, creative and divergent thinking capacities, and memory skills.

Individual Attributes
Crystallized cognitive ability.
Intellectual ability learned or acquired over time. Store of knowledge gained through experience. Acquired intelligence.

Individual Attributes
Motivation.
Three aspects of motivation essential to developing leadership skills.
Willingness and motivation to tackle complex organizational problems (willingness to lead). Willingness to express dominance. Commitment to the social good of the organization.

Individual Attributes
Personality.
Any personality characteristic that helps people cope with complex organizational situations is most likely related to leadership performance.

Leadership Outcomes
Effective problem-solving.
Good problem solving involves creating solutions that are logical, effective, and unique and that go beyond given information. The degree to which a leader has successfully performed the duties to which he or she has been assigned.

Performance.

Career Experiences
Challenging job assignments. Mentoring. Appropriate training. Hands-on experience in solving new unusual problems.

Environmental Influences

Factors in a leaders situation that lie outside the leaders competencies, characteristics, and experiences. Examples.
Available technology. Subordinates competencies. Task complexity. Communication quality.

Skills Model: Summary

Five components of leader performance. Three competencies at core: problemsolving skills, social judgment skills, and knowledge.

Skills Model: Summary

These competencies are the central determinants of effective problem solving and performance, although individual attributes, career experience, and environmental influences all have an impact on leader competence. Through job experience and training, leaders can improve their abilities to become better problems solvers and more effective leaders.