Why Changing Leaders Does not Always Bring Real Change in Organisaions and Institutions and Societies

There is no doubt whatsoever just how important leadership is for companies, organisations, economies and societies is, and this importance is affirmed by numerous research findings including those that quantify the significance of leadership. For, example, Nick Craig, Bill Gorge and Scot Snook authors of “Authentic Leadership: The Discover Your True North Field Book”, had this to say,

“Leadership matters. It matters a great deal-to our organisations and institutions, to the people who work in them, and to the people who are served by them. For our society to function effectively, we need authentic leaders who can encourage people to perform at their best and step up and lead themselves.”

Others authorities also assert that leadership is needed now more than ever before and it is at this very juncture that we are experiencing a serious global leadership crisis. According to the World Economic Forum, this leadership crisis is marked by a huge disparity between power and competence. Several global events provide practice evidence of this crisis including the recent Covid-19 Pandemic, the war between Russia and Ukraine and the response to it by the global leaders and, most recently, the leadership turmoil in the United Kingdom. The crisis is also ubiquitous in other organisations, institutions and societies. Societies around the world are, in general, dissatisfied with the quality of leadership they are getting.

There are many reasons that contribute to leadership incompetence and the global leadership crisis. The first and most important is that there is a disconnect between what makes people ascend to positions of leadership and what makes people in positions of leaders deliver great leadership. Second, research says that most of the efforts at producing capable leaders through training and education are failing, with billions of United States Dollars going to waste. Third, some people who get into positions of leaders have no natural leadership abilities and they are not aware of it and they also resist help with training, education, development and advice so that they become effective in their positions. Many also are driven into leadership positions by their own self-interests and not by the desire to serve.

Changing Leaders in Hope of Changing Leadership Performance

When people are dissatisfied with the leadership they are getting, they seek to change leaders and replace them with others. This happens in organisations, societies and in politics and economies although the processes involved are different in the different contexts.

People generally believe that the only way to get the leadership results that they want is by changing the leaders by replacing those in people of leadership with others. This is most exemplified in political leadership through the process of elections.

What are the Odds of Changing Leadership Performance by Changing the Leader?

Humans overestimate the odds of changing leadership performance by changing the leader. In reality, the natural probability of successfully changing leadership performance by changing a leader ranges from 6 percent and 25 percent. This is what most people never think but this is the reality. Why are the odds of changing leadership performance by changing a leaders so odds? Here are the reasons;

1.??????What makes people rise to leadership positions is not what drives leadership performance once the person has assumed leadership. Charisma is important in leadership selection but charisma does not help in solving the followers’ real problems and delivering on the needs and aspiration of those followers.

2.??????Many people use unreasonable criteria for choosing those they want to lead them.

3.??????Many people who sit on the leadership recruitment and selection panel have no idea or vague ideas on what exactly to look for into someone that can provide some indication of good they are in leading.

4.??????Many great leaders or good leaders become victims of the system. They are captured by the system and lose their strategic control as soon as they assume their leadership position. They end up operating in ways that serve the system that they have taken over and fail to exercise their leadership. The system is the organisation they join or the economy that they lead or the society that they lead.

5.??????Many leaders that replace leaders get the shock of their lives when they realise that promising heaven and earth is the easiest part of leadership; delivering on the promises is a different game altogether. The “what” is not the “how.”

6.??????It is very possible to replace one leader with another leader who has more or less the same leadership incompetence or mindset or characteristics.

7.??????Most people who rise to positions of leadership are not willing to learn and to seek help in their leadership. If they do learn or seek help they learn the wrong things and seek poor help.

8.??????The quality of leadership performance is also very much driven the quality of followership. Followers have a big impact on leadership.

Successfully Changing and Improving the Leadership Performance

Do you have any suggestions of how we can increase the success of changing leadership performance?

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?Simon Bere, 2022