Charismatic Leadership

The Skills You Can Learn to Motivate High Performance in Others

Oh

• Publisher: Kogan Page
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781789660968
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Business

We say that someone has charisma when they can attract, inspire and influence people through their personal qualities. We think that this is a special power some fortunate individuals have that makes them able to affect and influence others at a deep emotional level, to communicate effectively with them and make interpersonal connections. But very few of us understand what charisma really is. It is not widely-applauded magnetism or shallow charm. Rather, it's the deep-rooted powerful charisma that helps people deliver incredible results. This charisma is a learnable skill. It's the result of developing specific behaviours, which are proven to improve not only how people feel about you, but which will help others change their own behaviours and achieve success. Charismatic Leadership will show you how to be a powerful influencer with your peers, your colleagues and your customers. You'll learn why charisma is a vital asset in any organization, understand its essential components, find out how to grow your charismatic presence and discover why you need the companion skills of coaching, problem-solving and empathy. Using charisma effectively helps everyone perform at a high level. This book will show you how.

PART ONE

An introduction to charismatic leadership

01

Why you need charisma… and what this book will teach you

A small improvement in the soft skills of charisma will make a huge difference to employee engagement and to the performance of the team.

You’ve picked up this book because you’re interested in the idea that you can be charismatic. Until now, you probably never even thought about it. Or, if you did, you dismissed the concept because you didn’t believe you could possess charisma. You’ve seen charismatic people, and you’re convinced you will never be their equal. You think charisma is a gift, something a chosen few are born with, and not something you could aspire to yourself.

This is simply not so. Everyone is capable of developing charisma, because it stems from skills you can practise and apply. These skills will make you more inspiring, more trustworthy, more magnetic and charming and influential. Charisma is something you learn, not something you’re born with. To get the best out of the people who follow you, you need to exhibit more of the behaviours that make people charismatic. If you want to inspire them to performance levels not even they thought they were capable of, the skills of charisma are pivotal to your success. All of these skills are soft skills, and soft skills are in short supply in business, yet easy to learn.

A small improvement in these charismatic soft skills of leaders would make a huge difference to people’s engagement, motivation and efficiency. Of course, you need other skills too: technical skills, marketing skills or strategic planning skills. But the truth is, the managers who do best, and progress the most, are those who develop their soft skills. Yet too few companies invest anywhere near enough in this sort of skills training. So, the hard truth is that it’s up to you to find ways to get better.

You have the wrong idea about charisma

What you need to focus on most is to develop your leadership charisma. You probably don’t see it that way, because, as I’ve just said, you don’t believe you are capable of having charisma. Nor are you aware of the business benefits of charismatic leadership. That’s because you have completely the wrong idea about what charisma is, and how to achieve it. After all, you’ve met or seen charismatic people, and they’ve filled a room or stage with their presence, lighting up everyone around them, infecting them with enthusiasm and warmth. If I asked you to name charismatic people, you’d probably pick from famous politicians, actors, singers, sports coaches, and perhaps even some global business leaders. In workshops I run, all too frequently the participants name people like Bill Clinton, Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Steve Jobs, Martin Luther King, Margaret Thatcher or Jack Welch.

Those people have or had a huge presence. They radiated personality and strength. They had a cause and you could feel their passion for it. Even if you had less well-known people in mind – people in your own social and work circles – you easily recognize those with charisma, and you envy that seemingly natural way they are able to inspire others or make them feel special. They focus on you with a laser-like intensity, and you feel suddenly like you are the most interesting and important person in the world. Their charisma is contagious, and long after they have left, you still feel the energy of their presence and enthusiasm.

Oh no, not me, you say. I can’t be like that. So you don’t bother. And therein lies a major missed opportunity. If you were to try, and if you were to become just a little more charismatic, it could have a big impact on how people see you as a leader. In today’s world we need charisma more than ever. Leadership is about positively influencing emotions and behaviours and aligning those to a great purpose. That’s what charismatic leaders do. It is my belief that charismatic leaders also create charismatic teams. Yes, even whole teams can have charisma, and therefore a positive effect on other teams, on customers, indeed, on anyone they rely on for success. Charismatic leaders create extraordinary teams and achieve extraordinary results.

For this, you need ‘affective charisma’, in order to have a great effect. Affective describes something that has been influenced by emotions or is a result of emotion. Effective describes something that produces a desired result.

It doesn’t matter whether you lead a small team, a big department, a huge division or even a giant company. Affective charisma is about getting members of your team to go way beyond what they have to do, because they want to, because they care, and because they believe they personally can make a difference. ‘Affective charisma’ is emotional, and positively influences the emotions of others. The result of affective charisma is to have a better ‘effect’ on performance.

Defining charisma

Let me define what affective leadership charisma is. It is a special power that enables you to positively influence followers and inspire their commitment and willing devotion to a common cause. It is about bringing out the best in your followers, because they feel great about themselves.

This charisma oils the wheels of leadership and followership by providing the connecting tissue that unites those who lead with those who follow. This charisma is more accessible than the highly magnetic, awe-inspiring kind you have in mind, and is much more desirable in modern management. This charisma is more about how you make others feel, rather than being about trying to influence how others feel about you. Is also much more focused on delivering great results, rather than delivering great reviews of your personal magnetism and charm.

This book is about how to power up your charisma, in ways that will enable you to super-charge motivation in your team and encourage far higher levels of discretionary effort. Why do I say ‘discretionary effort’? Why is that so important? Because the difference between what people have to do and what they want to do is called discretionary effort (Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 The performance benefit of discretionary effort

Figure 1.1 details

The vertical axis shows ‘Value’. The graph shows two lines with upward slope. The line that depicts ‘What I want to give’ shows a steeper slope and runs above the other line that depicts ‘What I have to give’.

If you are a leader, you need to love this concept because it is all about improving productivity and profits, without adding huge additional cost. Organizations with highly committed people perform better. This is a simple truth, and I give you more detail about this in Chapter 36.

Different kinds of charisma

Without realizing it, I have been studying charismatic leaders for more than 30 years now. I observed that the great ones often had very different kinds of charisma. Some were such authentic people that you just had to love them for their honesty, integrity and principles. Others had a knack of making me feel special and wanting to do better work. Some were so enthused with a purpose that it compelled me to help. Others had a magnetic leadership authority I had no choice but to follow. And others were such eloquent, passionate, persuasive people that I fell under their spell because they managed to connect me to what they wanted to do. Of course, there were those with anti-charisma as well. Smart bosses who managed to repel their followers and, sometimes, incite rebellion.

I have devoted the past 10 years of my life to helping leaders be more inspirational. While researching and writing three books, I have spoken to more than 120 CEOs, conducted various research projects among more than 10,000 managers and employees, and, over the past three years, searched out and devoured everything I could find on charisma.

I have found that there are many kinds of charisma, many different definitions of charisma, and many different ways that each of us can display charisma. And that’s part of the problem. For many of us, charisma seems somehow unattainable – gifted to a few lucky people who have it naturally in abundance. Through this book, I want to help us come to a simple view about what charismatic leadership is, why it matters, and what we can do to be more so, and therefore more effective as leaders. I also want to show that charisma is contextual. There will be times when you need to keep it quiet, and there will be times when you need to switch it on. It will depend on the circumstances.

The traits and skills of charismatic leadership

There are five traits that charismatic leaders display. They are:

• authenticity;
• personal power;
• warmth;
• drive; and
• persuasiveness.

A trait is defined as habitual patterns of behaviour, thought and emotion. Those habitual behaviours require skills if they are to be affective and effective. Each charisma trait has five key skills that charismatic leaders can deliver every day in observable behaviours:

• Leaders are seen to be authentic if they have the skills to show who they are, as well as to be consistently transparent and principled, and thereby generate trust with and among their followers.
• Leaders who possess personal power have the skills that enable them to be magnetic and more ‘followable’ as a leader....

Table of contents

• Cover
• Praise for Charismatic Leadership
• Titlepage
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Frontmatter
• Part One An introduction to charismatic leadership
• 01 Why you need charisma… and what this book will teach you
• 02 The five traits of charismatic leaders
• Part Two Authenticity
• 03 How to be a great manager… by managing who you are being
• 04 Authenticity skill 1: Practise honesty and integrity
• 05 Authenticity skill 2: Have and live a personal mission
• 06 Authenticity skill 3: Be more visible, and be visibly committed
• 07 Authenticity skill 4: Be more self-aware
• 08 Authenticity skill 5: Exercise your humility
• Part Three Personal power
• 09 How to have a more powerful presence
• 10 Powerful skill 1: Display a leadership mindset
• 11 Powerful skill 2: Be positive and optimistic
• 12 Powerful skill 3: Be energetic and passionate
• 13 Powerful skill 4: Be assertive
• 14 Powerful skill 5: Look and sound the part
• Part Four Warmth
• 15 How you make people feel determines how they perform
• 16 Warmth skill 1: Be more engaging
• 17 Warmth skill 2: Be a better, more attentive and empathetic listener
• 18 Warmth skill 3: Be more respectful
• 19 Warmth skill 4: Be more appreciative
• 20 Warmth skill 5: Be more inclusive
• Part Five Drive
• 21 How a cause can power your charisma
• 22 Drive skill 1: Develop and articulate a compelling cause
• 23 Drive skill 2: Bring customers into every team meeting and decision
• 24 Drive skill 3: Align everyone’s goals to a common vision
• 25 Drive skill 4: Deliver autonomy through a freedom framework
• 26 Drive skill 5: Develop a culture of continuous improvement
• Part Six Persuasiveness
• 27 How charismatic leaders connect and persuade
• 28 Persuasiveness skill 1: Understand and connect with audiences better
• 29 Persuasiveness skill 2: Have courageous conversations that enable change
• 30 Persuasiveness skill 3: Take a stand with a powerful point of view
• 31 Persuasiveness skill 4: Tell stories that change everything
• 32 Persuasiveness skill 5: Be a good speaker on stage
• Part Seven Understanding and measuring charisma
• 33 The chemistry of charisma
• 34 Why charisma is essential in a digital world
• 35 The dark side of charisma
• 36 What’s the shape of your charisma?
• 37 How to measure your own charisma and determine your shape
• Appendix: The tools
• Acknowledgements
• About the author
• Index
• Copyright