What is leading beyond authority?
Many successful leaders learn to lead in roles or circumstances
where they have clear authority, budget and accountability. When
they move beyond this - leading peers, partners and stakeholders -
the skills that brought them success may not be enough. To operate
effectively they need a different approach to leadership - the
ability to Lead Beyond Authority.
Common Purpose founder and Chief Executive Julia Middleton has
written a book on the subject of Leading Beyond Authority. In the
book "Beyond
Authority: Leadership in a Changing World" she interviews
leaders who have either been successful beyond their authority
within their organisation - which she describes as the first outer
circle - or who have succeeded beyond their organisation - the
second outer circle.
The challenges of getting leaders to go into the first outer
circle are well known to organisations that wrestle with the 'silo'
problem, when leaders build walls on the boundaries of their
authority and the organisation struggles to connect the parts up.
They aspire to develop leaders who will operate for the benefit of
the organisation as a whole, dealing with issues that cross
boundaries, problems that leaders could claim were not their own,
leaders who will run the risk of appearing to interfere in other's
business and deal with the complex and messy challenges that will
never fit nicely inside the walls of the organisation.
The second outer circle, that takes leaders right out of their
organisations, presents an even greater challenge. Yet leaders in
the modern world are increasingly called on to work with customers,
stakeholders and partner organisations. Their organisations are no
longer islands entirely of themselves and they need leaders who can
thrive and succeed beyond their organisations boundaries.
Cities badly need the leaders of its organisations and
institutions to be capable of working together, in collaboration,
for the very same reasons. Otherwise opportunities are missed,
resources wasted and problems built up.
Common Purpose courses help leaders develop the ability to lead
in the outer circles.
David Bell on Leading Beyond Authority
Dr Musharraf Hussain is well versed in leading beyond authority
because, as he says, Imams have no authority outside their own
community:
"We made a bid for our school to be supported by the Local
Education Authority in Nottingham- and we failed. I think I became
blinded by the strength of the arguments we were making in our bid.
There was such an overwhelming and strong case and the need was
clear. Maybe I relied too much on the intellectual argument. With
hindsight, the piece we did not put enough effort into was the
building of the relationships."
Dr Musharraf Hussain, Director General of
Bobbersmill Community Centre in Nottingham, and an Imam
"Leaders all look at things from their own core. You have to
coax them to come out and look at the issue again from a new angle
- and to do it together. It takes some time. But, when it works,
it's wonderful."
Zenna Atkins, Chair of Places for People,
the largest housing association in the UK
"As you keep going out of your core circle, and you get better
at it, your circles expand too. As you progress within your
organisation, your core circle gets bigger, often because you have
got better at negotiating your way around the other circles."
James Ramsbotham is Chief Executive of the
North East Chamber of Commerce and former vice-chair of the Esh
group
"Leadership, in and out of authority, takes courage; a broad
view; common sense; a small ego; the ability to focus and
concentrate effort; a preparedness to change your mind publicly for
the right reasons; and an ability to engage and influence
people."
Sir John Rose, Chief Executive, Rolls Royce
plc
"The lovely thing about the outer circles is that all that
really matters there is influence. And influence travels. You can't
transfer authority from one circle to another - but you can
transfer influence. And influence is mainly about character. I
believe influence increases if you behave properly and do what you
say you will do".
Lord Puttnam (David), former filmmaker,
President of UNICEF (UK) and advisor to the Department of
Education
