Leadership does not happen in a vacuum

Simón Franco is the Associate Director of Student Engagement & Events at the University of Minnesota Morris. Simón has also served as a leadership educator for about a decade in Higher Education, primarily working with traditional college-age students from many backgrounds. We asked Simón about his approach to leadership and how to be a great leader:

How do you approach leadership?

I subscribe to Northouse's definition of leadership. Leadership is "a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal." In my experience, and having spent quality time researching the subject, this definition is the clearest and most concise way of looking at leadership.

Leadership does not happen in a vacuum. It is in the interchange between the leader and followers where we find actual leadership. You cannot be a leader by yourself. You need people to lead.

Leadership is not (necessarily) about power. It is about influence. It is about investing time to develop the talent of the followers, and to develop the group into a sense of cohesion. Leadership, then, is about convincing, getting buy-in, and motivating a team to move forward to accomplish something, to change something.

So four things are necessary for Leadership to happen: Process, Influence, Group, and Common Goal.

Does someone need to have a traditional "leader" job title to be a leader in an organization?

Definitely not. In the field of leadership education we often make the distinction between positional authority and leadership. If we understand leadership as being about exerting influence, not power, and motivating a group to change something, then we can see clearly that the title, job, position, etc, does not matter.

What matters is the influence. How do we gain that influence? Well, I think that is about a couple things. Relationship building, demonstrating you are knowledgeable and capable, being a good team player and showing that you have the interest of the group or organization at heart will all confere you a certain degree of influence regardless of where your "job" happens to fall within the organizational chart.

What qualities does someone need to be a good leader?

In this area my views are a little unorthodox. When I started my journey in becoming a leadership educator, I realized something interesting. A lot of the leadership literature spent plenty of time talking about leadership skill. However, little time was devoted to what these skills were. In time, I came to realize that leadership skills are just regular old skills anyone could/should have.

If I ask you, the reader: take a second and tell me what skills a leader should have? (Stop here and think about it for a second before continuing reading.) You, the reader, may come up with answers such as "communication skills," "time management," "organizational skill." Or maybe you came up with qualities such as "vision," "passion," or "self-awareness." My answer is "sure, all of those are good things." But I would contend that the aforementioned skills and qualities should be had by everyone.

For an organization to function to its highest level, all members of the organization should cultivate skills and qualities that contribute to the ethical advancement of the organization. From that perspective, I do not think in terms of "leaders should or must possess X, Y, Z, skills or qualities." I instead think about what the needs of the organization are, and how the skills and qualities I possess as part of the organization contribute to the advancement of the mission or the common goal.

I believe that as leaders we need to realize that our teams, our organizations, and ourselves are always evolving and improving. So in that sense, any skills or qualities can be developed as long as it is in the interest of the organization.

What challenges do organizations face when investing in future leaders?

I think that the main challenge organizations have with emergent leadership is a reticence to change. If we understand the "common goal" part of Northouse's definition of leadership as "change," then a resistance to that change may frustrate emergent leaders.

That is not to say that all change is good or even warranted. But, keeping an open mind to possible improvements is paramount for an organization's success. I believe that providing opportunities for those changes or ideas to be implemented would go a long way with emergent leaders.

Finally, since organizations are made of people, developing the talent of an organization is extremely important. Helping people develop new skills and qualities will result in improvements and efficiencies to the benefit of the organization.

What students do you work with, and what generational differences do you see in university students that current leaders should know about?

The majority of students I work with are from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds in higher education. That is to say, students from racial and ethnic minoritized backgrounds, first generation college students, and low income families.

The most salient difference between this generation of students as compared to the last generations is that current students are more values driven than previous generations.

Students want careers that match their values at places where those values are also compatible with their sense of social responsibility. I think that one thing organizations could do is to be clear and honest about what their values are. That will attract candidates that match with the organization and who are eager to work for what the organization represents.

Thanks to Simón for sharing this excellent perspective on leadership within and across organizations.