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Dunham and Pierce's Leadership Process Model Offers a Long Term and Lasting Approach to Leadership Development

This model highlights the dynamic nature of leadership.

Leadership is about setting direction and helping people do the right things. However, it can involve so much more than this!

In particular, leadership is a long-term process in which - in a very real and practical way - all actions have consequences, and "what goes around comes around."

Dunham and Pierce's Leadership Process Model helps you think about this, and understand why it's important to adopt a positive and long-term approach to leadership.

We'll look at the model in this article, and we'll explore why it's so important to understand it. We'll also look at how you can apply the model's lessons to your own situation.

What is the Leadership Process Model?

The Leadership Process Model was developed by Randall B. Dunham and Jon Pierce, and was published in their 1989 book "Managing." You can see our interpretation of the model in figure 1, below. (We've redrawn this for clarity.)

Figure 1 – The Leadership Process

The model shows the relationship between four key factors that contribute to leadership success or failure. These are:

1.      The Leader: This is the person who takes charge, and directs the group's performance.

2.      Followers: These are the people who follow the leader's directions on tasks and projects.

3.      The Context: This is the situation in which the work is performed. For instance, it may be a regular workday, an emergency project, or a challenging, long-term assignment. Context can also cover the physical environment, resources available, and events in the wider organization.

4.      Outcomes: These are the results of the process. Outcomes could be reaching a particular goal, developing a high-quality product, or resolving a customer service issue. They can also include things like improved trust and respect between the leader and followers, or higher team morale.

Most importantly, the model highlights that leadership is a dynamic and ongoing process. Therefore, it's important to be flexible depending on the context and outcomes, and to invest continually in your relationship with your followers.

Essentially, everything affects everything else. In a very real way, negative actions feed back to negatively affect future performance, and positive actions feed back to improve future performance.

Note:
Dunham and Pierce used a different format for the diagram illustrating this model. You can see their version in Chapter 9 of the book "Leaders and the Leadership Process."

How to Apply the Model

Pierce and John W. Newstrom highlighted several ways that you can apply the insights from this framework to your own development as a leader, and to the development of your people:

1. Provide Regular Feedback

Probably the most important thing that the Leadership Process Model highlights is how important it is to give good feedback, so that your team can grow and develop.

When you give feedback to your team, it influences the context and helps to improve the outcome. This then cycles back to influence you and your team in a positive way.

Regular feedback also helps you take your people in the right direction, as outcomes and the context change.

2. Be Aware of Actions and Reactions

The model makes it clear that, no matter what you do, your decisions, behavior, and actions directly affect your followers. Every action has a reaction. You, your followers, the context, and the outcome are all tied together in a dynamic relationship.

As a leader, it's essential that you keep this in mind at all times. There will be consequences when you say something thoughtless, or lash out at a team member, even if you don't see them immediately. Those consequences might include diminished performance, reduced morale, increased absenteeism, and accelerated staff turnover.

This is why it's important to develop self-mastery, both of your thoughts and of your actions. Also, learn how to control your emotions at work, and be a good rile model.

3. Lead Honestly and Ethically

The model also illustrates the relationships between leader and followers. If this relationship is built on mutual trust and respect, then the context and outcomes will get better and better. However, if the relationship is based on animosity, resentment, or even fear, the effect on context and outcomes will be negative.

Your people need and deserve a leader who they can trust and look up to, which is why it's important to be an ethical leader. Of course, your people may have to follow your instructions. However, if you're a leader who they trust to do the right thing, they'll want to follow you, and they'll go above and beyond for you because the relationship is deeper. This makes the difference between an average team and a great team.

Also, be authentic in your actions and communication, lead with integrity, and be humble. These qualities will inspire the trust of your people and strengthen the relationship you have with them.

It's also important to build trust actively with your team members. Do your best to support their needs, and always keep your word with them.

4. Lead with the Right Style

In business, transformational leadership is often the best leadership style to use. Transformational leaders have integrity, they set clear goals, they communicate well with their team members, and they inspire people with a shared vision of the future.

However, you'll occasionally need to adopt different leadership approaches to fit a particular follower, outcome, or context. This is why it helps to be able to use other leadership styles when appropriate.

5. Consciously Assign Tasks

Do your people get to use their skills and strengths on a regular basis? If you've been assigning tasks and projects in an ad-hoc way, then this answer might be "No".

We're all happiest when we can use our strongest skills. Try to assign tasks that fit the unique skills of everyone on your team.

6. Focus on Relationship Development

As a leader, you often depend on your people more than they depend on you. Your working relationships should therefore be built on trust, respect, and transparency. The deeper your relationship with your team, the better a leader you'll be.

Start by developing your emotional intelligence; this encompasses many of the traits that we've already mentioned. When you have high emotional intelligence, you are self-aware, you manage your emotions, and you act according to your ethics and values.

You also need to show empathy with members of your team. When your people see you as an empathic leader, they feel that you're on their side, and that you can see things from their perspective. This deepens the relationship they have with you.

Lastly, reward your people for the good work that they do: even a simple "thank you" will show your appreciation.

Key Points

The Leadership Process Model highlights the dynamic and long-term nature of leadership. It shows how your actions and behaviors influence your people, just as their actions and behaviors influence you.

As well as having an awareness of the model, you can also apply lessons from it by doing the following:

1.               Providing regular feedback.

2.               Being aware of actions and reactions.

3.               Leading honestly and ethically.

4.               Leading with the right style.

5.               Assigning tasks consciously and intelligently.

6.               Focusing on relationship development.

Overall, the Leadership Process Model helps you see the interdependent nature of leadership and its effects on situations and outcomes. Use this framework to be aware of your actions and to deepen the relationships you have with your people.

All the success!

Peter Mclees