Geoff Ribbens MA; BSc; FCIPD; FIoL; PGC.ed; PGC.coach.
Managing Director at Business Enlightenment.
What do you do now?
In 2015 I retired as a management coach, trainer, and consultant. Being retired, I have had time to carry out ‘social science’ research into the concept of leadership.
Where did your career start?
I started my career in the 1970s as an academic, lecturing mainly to post-graduate management students. In the late 1980s I took over a loss-making department in a polytechnic that covered management training. It had a turnover of £650,000 I was told to close it down or make a profit. My new strategy was to link management training to qualifications. After 2 years, the turnover was £2.2m with a huge profit.
This was business success but not leadership as I did not have the team support, indeed they were initially hostile to my new strategy. Some good management trainers left and there was conflict and frustration. It took me at least 18 months to move from managing a team into leadership of a team.
Has there been a stage in your life where you first appreciated what great leadership looked like?
Over the past 5 years I have researched the concept of leadership with two colleagues (see Edge Journal Nov 2021). This research showed that my business success in the 1980s was thinly based on my position as head of department. This form of authority we refer to as transactional authority.
Looking back, I lacked two other forms of authority that would have given me team support. In the eyes of team members, I lacked managerial competence, that is they perceived me as an academic with no knowledge of training or coaching. This form of managerial authority we refer to as expert authority. The other missing form of authority in the eyes of team members was the fact that they gained no social or emotional rewards from working with me, at least for the first 18 months. This we refer to as reward authority.
Do you have any examples of what you have done to develop yourself as a leader?
Our research defines leadership as a situation ‘where team members willingly and enthusiastically accept the authority of their leader.’ To develop myself as a leader I would now be aware that leadership exists in the minds of team members. Team members may accept my authority if it is perceived as transactional, willingly accept that authority if it is based on perceived expertise and willingly and enthusiastically accept the authority if it is based on social and emotional rewards.
How do you think leadership has benefitted you?
Looking at our research’s definition of leadership, where the team willingly and enthusiastically accept their leader’s authority, then the team are likely to be more productive, there will be less stress and the leader is more able to be transformative. Our definition of leadership can be measured, and it can benefit the team, the leader, and the culture of the whole organisation.