KEY POINTS:
Effective leadership in New Zealand is quite hard to find and part of the reason is New Zealand itself, says Brad Jackson, the Fletcher Building Education Trust professor of leadership.
He points to research called the GLOBE Project which surveyed middle managers from 61 countries.
"New Zealand has one of the lowest 'power distances' in the world. Power distance is the respect that individuals tend to give to authority," Jackson says.
But there are other factors which handicap New Zealand managers from becoming effective leaders.
"Authority is not seen as something that commands a lot of respect. It's part of being a very egalitarian nation. They also won't basically respect you for just the title or position that you have. It's based on your ability to perform."
Jackson spoke at the Auckland Town Hall by invitation from The Human Resources Institute of New Zealand (HRINZ) and has written four books on management and leadership. He says people should pay attention to the specific structural and cultural factors that influence the way people lead in any particular country. Some of the other leadership factors in New Zealand might not seem so obvious.
"We tend to be quite short-term in our orientation compared with other parts of the world and, interestingly enough, we tend to be quite risk averse. We also tend to be quite individualistic," Jackson says.
As if that weren't bad enough, Jackson says we're also low in another leadership measure.
"What's particularly interesting is the GLOBE Project identified that New Zealanders tend to have what we call 'low in-group collectivism'. They don't necessarily feel comfortable working interdependently within groups."
But aside from these societal characteristics, there is also the attitude of New Zealanders toward their leaders.
"There's this sort of unwritten assumption that if you're in a position of authority in this country, you're guilty unless proven innocent. There is sort of an in-built suspicion of authority," Jackson says.
And we also judge leaders harshly on their performance and tend to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
"The most celebrated example, of course, is the All Blacks coach. You win 20 games in a row. All of a sudden you lose one; right - that's it, you've got to go. There isn't this sense of, 'Well, this person has achieved all these other things'."
New Zealand's heavy cultural emphasis on performance at the national level means we're motivated and inspired by the same things on an institutional level.
"We tend to be collective, but at what the academics describe as the institutional level. So, in other words, at the level of the nation we place a heavy emphasis on national identity, on rules, on regulations, on norms, and the state still plays quite a significant role in terms of setting the scene here for leadership," Jackson says.
But unfortunately when it comes to working collectively in smaller groups, New Zealand doesn't rate so well.
"New Zealand leaders, because they're so results oriented and because they tend to be quite short-term focused, that ability to be able to create group consensus to get people collectively behind decisions tends to get pushed by the wayside."
The result is generally a lack of commitment to the plan.
"So what you get is, sure you get some kind of short term, 'yeah, we'll get that done', but you don't get those longer-term benefits that you can do if you're able to engage and connect with a group and create genuine leadership," Jackson says.
Jackson says that if you are able to generate any sort of long-term commitment, given the climate of leadership in New Zealand, then good on you.
"If you can't rely on your authority, like your title, and you are able to get a group of individuals to actually look long-term and think collectively and work collectively and to take risks, because to achieve anything there's got to be an element of risk taking; then you are doing very well indeed."
Leaders in other countries do not face a lot of the obstacles that managers in New Zealand face. They have societies which are very hierarchical and respect authority for its own sake. They have people who are willing to take risks and like working collectively in small groups. But Jackson says you have to work with what you have.
"You can't change those deep-set values, but you need to take account of those values and work with them," Jackson says.
The situation is likely to get much worse as the generation Y factor raises its ugly head.
"People increasingly have a very short sense of obligation to the organisation, and so it's very tough for the leader. They can't take for granted that someone's actually going to continue to believe and be committed to an organisation as they were maybe historically."
But one good thing about leadership in New Zealand is that there is no six degrees of separation. There is no real sense of anonymity and that fosters good leadership.
"Because everybody knows everybody's business, essentially it's very important to be ethical and moral at all times," Jackson says.
Just as everyone dies famous in a small town, leaders in New Zealand will always have to rely on their reputation or else head overseas.
"You can't pretend to be someone else or something else because basically everybody knows your business, knows who you are and you can't pretend."
But there are ways to work around New Zealand's idiosyncrasies and win. Jackson says one thing is not to try and take on a leadership role too soon.
"One of the things that I encourage my students is to not be in such a hurry to get to the top, because there is a sense that they want to run the show, and I always say to take your time and enjoy the view."
Jackson points out that the freedom to manoeuvre gets reduced the higher you go up in an organisation. He encourages people to take lateral transfers to gain as much experience as possible and take on some leadership responsibilities while still at the bottom.
"You have the potential to lead even very low down in the organisation. You have an ability to be able to influence, not only your peers, but customers or stakeholder groups outside of the organisation."
There is truth in the old saying that a good leader is a good follower, Jackson says. But good leaders are also receptive of feedback from below, particularly when it comes to saying, 'This can't be done'.
"One of the key roles is to open up to create the environment where individuals are going to basically say to you, 'Hold it.', but they're going to do it in a constructive versus an openly challenging way," Jackson says.
In regards to the lack of risk-taking, Jackson says good leaders should encourage risk taking by pointing to the past and pointing to the fact that someone has in fact taken risks and they have been successful.
"In order to guarantee them long-term security you will have to take some managed risks, and you then look backwards to provide good examples of those situations to reassure them that they are in fact able to do that."
Jackson says leaders in New Zealand should know what they're getting themselves into.
"If you can influence individuals here, you're doing very well indeed."
