LOA PRESS RELEASE: More Cloak, Less Dagger,
by Iona Miller
MORE CLOAK &
LESS DAGGER
CIA Veteran Leutrell Osborne says Covert Action is
Obsolete
Can We Maintain Security with a Kinder, Gentler
Intelligence Community?
also see http://voices.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/2010/07/odni_memos_outline_contracting.html
Annapolis, Md. June, 2010. “When did the DNI’s new leadership start
determining that we had to give up rights so we can protect a vulnerability in
our nation-state’s security? What is the real DNI agenda? When will the HUMINT
capabilities be improved and increased? When will the funds be pulled from
Covert Action intelligence operations so the funds can be used for greater
results? Tell me when you news people will really get the more important
stories going? ” –Leutrell Osborne, Sr.
“The future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before
it happens.” –Rilke
Leutrell Osborne, Sr. bids for Director of National Intelligence
June 7, 2010. Annapolis, Md. In late May of 2010, President Obama forced out
his Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and began reevaluating the post,
which is probably best led by a civilian, according to top lawmakers. “The
president needs to decide what he wants the DNI to be,” Feinstein said, “and
then work with the intelligence committees to see that the necessary authority
is, in fact, in law.” It needs to be someone who can work with Directors of
CIA, NSA and FBI, as well as the support agencies.
But, as of this writing, the President supports tough-sell candidate James
Clapper, with his military background. Since retiring as a US Air Force
general, he’s headed the Pentagon’s intelligence operations, the National
Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and the Defense Intelligence Agency. But, he
may lack Congressional support and credibility. Further the function of DNI,
who doesn’t actually direct anything, needs to be clarified by Congress.
Legislation is required to increase the power of the position.
Clapper is a personal favorite of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who
selected Clapper as undersecretary of Defense for intelligence in January 2007.
When he stayed on in 2009, he became one of the few holdovers from the Bush
administration in a top policy position.
Two former intelligence officials said the nomination of Clapper would send
a signal that, by design or default, the administration was accepting a more
limited mandate for the DNI than advocates for the position had in mind when
Congress created the job in 2004 to address intelligence failures prior to the 9/11
attacks.
While Obama said Clapper would be his principal intelligence adviser, former
officials said that task was increasingly in the hands of John Brennan, the
White House’s Deputy National Security Adviser for Counterterrorism and
Homeland Security.
It is sad that the Military Covert Actions intelligence umbrella now covers
the NIC. It may be worse than what went on in the Soviet Union when the KGB and
GRU did Covert Action intelligence operations. Given the oil chaos the US Govt
has to regroup on all major fronts and that means even NIC CA.
Osborne wonders how things will get done especially knowing that the govt
has two major internal weaknesses: each agency and department refuses to
adequately collaborate with each other nor is there any tech system that works
between the entities in the NIC. Today only big dog companies are being hired
by the NIC agencies and departments without hope of solving the inability of
the agencies and departments to communicate to one another with harmony.
Top Spook
The DNI needs to wear many hats to coordinate and deploy the 16 intelligence
agencies and report those filtered results directly to the President. First and
foremost he needs visionary insight to navigate through the turbulent waters of
international sociopolical complications, as well as the diplomatic power to
mesh all the powerful players involved in the National Intelligence Community
(NIC).
An effective DNI needs credibility to get the job done and the clout to
determine and execute direction. He needs the capacity to mobilize and
transform the Draconian bureaucracy. He even needs to be able to stand up to
the President, helping him navigate and course correct the ship of State.
One intent in establishing the DNI was to gain control of the budgets of the
16 agencies and departments of the NIC. Congress was previously unable to
handle budget issues of the NIC. Hence, Congress created the DNI layer of
management over the NIC.
As in Rilke’s line, “The future enters into us, in order to transform itself
in us, long before it happens,” the future has entered Leutrell Osborne, Sr.
Advocating the ethical High Road, he would like to bring transformation to the
NIC’s clandestine intelligence operations while balancing equities of
governance with stakeholders and career government employees. In short, US
foreign policy can be improved by re-inventing the NIC especially regarding
“Covert Action (CA) intelligence operations.”
The creation of the DNI has been a transformational and very tumultuous time
for the intelligence community and particularly the CIA. When you ask somebody
to do so much transformational change, often it makes sense to let somebody
then take the agency forward from there.
Osborne suggests he has “natural leadership qualities” with his “decades of
experience in the intelligence community,” government and private business
world. He suggests Intelligence needs to be more human. Humans provide the best
intelligence. An extrovert and “relater,” he emphasizes the value of the human
connection and even intuition. The county’s core needs are changing. Citizens
are fed up with corrupt government, institutions and corporations.
Transformational Leadership
Osborne doesn’t mind admitting that transformational leaders need to listen
to their Spirit and ethical conscience. He advocated against “dirty tricks” and
for the moral/ethical approach during his tenure with CIA. CIA is somewhat
infamous for an “ends justifies the means” attitude, but Osborne claims those
ends simply aren’t met with “dirty tricks,” such as those chronicled in the
book of greatest hits, CIA’s Family Jewels. So, we need to consider the real
effects and rework our strategy.
HUMINT or human intelligence remains one of the best forms of clandestine
intelligence trade crafts though other methods such as “TECHINT” continue to
play a significant role in the nation-state’s effort to obtain so called secret
information. The question remains, without Covert Action (CA) could the USA
still have achieved what it has? This “change agent” says, “Yes, since there is
little to no evidence indicating that CA ever worked, per se.”
The sequence of events prior to shooting wars remain questionable and may be
where the next transformation needs to occur. That is, once the USA deals with
reduction of CA it can press on more HUMINT and TECHINT clandestine operations.
Please remember there is no need for CIA clandestine operations when the
Department of State and our diplomats exchange overt information with other
nation-states. Useful secrets are ‘captured’ or acquired on policies, scenarios
and deployments, etc. through normal espionage.
Annapolis, Maryland resident, “Mike” Osborne, Sr. was a spymaster for the
CIA. Case Officers function more like spy managers over independent contractors
(agents, assets and recruits), overseeing select operations within their
respective specialties. They are deployed periodically outside Langley as Field
Officers.
Operations include three types: 1) Intelligence, or collection of
information, 2) Counter Intelligence (CI) to prevent or stop foreign intrusion;
and, 3) Covert Action (CA). Other CIA activities include analysis and
projections. Osborne’s specialty was and still is CI – Counter Intelligence —
the defensive “cloak” of “cloak and dagger.”
Intelligence is one form of control system. Other control systems on the
minds of large populations include education (controls behavior), money
(controls wealth), law (controls authority), politics (controls national will),
economy (controls wealth), history (controls beliefs), psychology (controls
thinking), philanthropy (controls opinion), medicine (controls health),
religion (controls spiritual beliefs), media / propaganda (controls culture,
opinion), and continuity of succession (controls power).
CIA is not the only intelligence agency deployed by and reporting to the
U.S. President. There are now 16 intelligence collection agencies (IC)
coordinated by the DNI. They include military intelligence, information
operations (IO), satellite and electronic surveillance (SIGINT), science
intelligence, even domestic spying and homeland security.
Osborne notes, “Law enforcement in the USA has to change and acquire some of
the attributes of intelligence work. That’s why FBI SAs are now going to CIA
for training. That’s why USA is fighting dirty tricks, aka CA, aka terrorism,
formerly known as secret para-military warfare.”
“For the record,” Osborne says, “the continued preoccupation with reducing
vulnerabilities is costly and just the opposite of what the “Osborne Ultimatum”
recommends. We recommend more and improved HUMINT. Intelligence is a property
of human beings.”
MORE CLOAK and LESS DAGGER
Osborne was trained in Transformational Leadership in both CIA and
government contracting as a transformation agent. He would bring a Transformational
Leadership approach to the position of DNI. His view of leadership
transformational theory is one of reaching to higher moral positions without
the pitfalls and conceptual weaknesses of charismatic leadership.
Osborne believes he can translate his CIA and business experience into an
overview and coordination of the entire Intelligence Community and its
administrative guidance needs in the rapidly shifting balance of world power.
Yet, he continuously questions the CIA’s transformation to a paramilitary
organization. He also notes, while CIA was originally mandated to perform
foreign espionage, Intelligence has now merged with domestic law enforcement in
Fusion Centers that monitor and control the activities of US citizens.
The global war on terrorism has, if nothing else, renewed the discussion of
when and how societies—especially those believing that they are constituted on
some values more noble than the mere continuation of their governing
regimes—can use violence or restrict (on security grounds) the liberties of
their own citizens or persons they encounter from other countries, friendly,
neutral, or hostile.
The military services have faced transformational decision points for
centuries. We know how the right path to innovation, so easy to define in
hindsight, frequently proves “too hard to do” even for devoted and capable
professionals trapped in a framework of institutional loyalties and structures.
There could be an inverse rule between how much military SpecOps does and
reduction in CIA CA, leaving CIA to focus on its specialties. The entire NIC
does CA without genuine oversight. CIA has been the real agency that has
previously received oversight after flaps. Spec Ops more than likely can be
classified as CA ops. In the old days it would be secret para-military
operations.
The creation of the DNI has been a transformational and very tumultuous time
for the intelligence community and particularly the CIA. When you ask somebody
to do so much transformational change, often it makes sense to let somebody
then take the agency forward from there.
Dedicated to civil rights and protection of Constitutional law, Osborne has
certain pet peeves that have prompted him to continue his own investigations
into the injustices and truth of our nation’s clandestine history. His
interests include what he calls more intelligent intelligence (HUMINT), the KKK
Assassinations (JFK, RFK and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.), 9/11, COINTELPRO,
Covert Action (CA) oversight, and transnational crime including global drug
trade.
Osborne was interviewed on national television channel BET the day after
9/11 with Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Anderson Cooper has also interviewed him
on CNN about life in CIA when he assisted in the defense with lawyer Mark Zaid
of a fellow Black CIA Case Officer (Jeffrey Sterling), who had lost his job.
Osborne was also interviewed in Mike Ruppert’s book Crossing the Rubicon. He
has championed many issues and been a valuable mentor and “godfather” to many.
Osborne’s personal story of his mother’s CIA employment and his own vocation
was featured on CNN during Black History Month in February 2007 A highlight of
his life was attending the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize for Martin Luther
King, Jr. and a long conversation with the Civil Rights leader at the following
reception. Dr. King was a very influential transformational leader and Osborne
seeks to emulate him. But more than charisma and comprehension of task importance
is needed to direct the IC of the United States and coordinate it with both
military and law enforcement agendas
QUASI-MILITARY OPERATIONS
As a CIA veteran, Osborne sees the main conceptual weakness of CIA as its
ineffective use of dangerous and expensive COVERT ACTION. Secret paramilitary
activities within other nations have largely failed and cost the US in
credibility and public opinion. Even the “most successful” operations during
the Soviet War in Afghanistan have blown back upon the US which is now mired in
a similar stalemate.
CIA is now taking on bigger and riskier roles in the Front Lines. In recent
years the civilian spy agency has transformed into a paramilitary organization
at the vanguard of America’s far-flung wars.
TARGET INTELLIGENCE
The C.I.A. has always had a paramilitary branch known as the Special
Activities Division, which secretly engaged in the kinds of operations more
routinely carried out by Special Operations troops. But the branch was a small
— and seldom used — part of its operations.
That changed after Sept. 11, 2001, when President George W. Bush gave the
agency expanded authority to capture or kill Qaeda operatives around the world.
Since then, Washington has relied much more on the Special Activities Division
because battling suspected terrorists does not involve fighting other armies.
Rather, it involves secretly moving in and out of countries like Pakistan and
Somalia where the American military is not legally allowed to operate.
The fact that the agency is in effect running a war in Pakistan is the
culmination of one of the most significant shifts in the C.I.A.’s history. But
the agency has at times struggled with this new role. It established a network
of secret overseas jails where terrorist suspects were subjected to brutal
interrogation techniques, and it set up an assassination program that at one
point was outsourced to employees of a private security company, then known as
Blackwater USA.
Some longtime agency officers bristled at what they saw as the militarization
of the C.I.A., worrying that it was straying too far from its historical
missions of espionage and intelligence analysis.
When he took office, President Obama scaled back the C.I.A.’s
counterterrorism mission, but only to a point. He ordered that C.I.A. prisons
be shut and that C.I.A officers no longer play a role in interrogating suspects
accused of terrorist acts. At the same time, the administration accelerated the
C.I.A.’s drone campaign, using Predator and Reaper aircraft to launch missiles
and rockets against militants in Pakistan.
HUMINT
Human intelligence is the collection of intelligence from human sources,
including defectors, voluntary sources, spies recruited to betray their country
or organization, prisoners, diplomats, information from allied or liaison
intelligence services.
The US needs to reconfigure how it uses HUMINT tools by examining their
effectiveness in the recruitment-centered model. When using this tool, the
collecting agency finds a member of an adversarial group with access to
important information. He then turn him or her into a spy by building a
personal relationship and eventually popping the question, “Will you spy for
me?”
Back pocket agents are nefarious agents or assets, loosely associated to the
Company. The key is an “agent” has a narrow meaning and in the espionage
business one ought not use words and terms that are loosey-goosey. An agent
generally is paid and proven. An asset may not be paid nor in agreement with
the nation state.
This model dominates since the Cold War, when spying followed fairly
predictable guidelines. The organizational solution to the question of
penetration was to rely on finding agents ‘in-place’ and to develop an approach
in which agent recruitment played the fundamental role in HUMINT operations.
However, even using ‘in-place’ sources had its difficulties. The normal process
of developing and managing a HUMINT source consists of a cycle of Spotting,
Assessing, Recruiting, Handling, and Terminating an asset In the Recruitment Cycle.
Driving this is an organizational culture that elevates recruiting in the
hearts and minds of the Clandestine Service cadre. Career paths are driven by
asset and agent recruiting, ‘hallway reputation,’ and ‘scalp-hunting,’ which
measures performance for promotions. The highest value is given to recruiting
and personality traits that facilitate it. In the Cold War that meant
infiltrating the diplomatic scene of embassies and consulates under the guise
of ‘official cover’ – cover where an officer’s affiliation with the US is not
concealed, but his or her status as an intelligence officer is.
Intelligence liason in the War on Terror is necessarily more difficult, due
to access to cultural groups, de-centralization of authority, and heavy need
for collection on terrorist targets. Liason with foreign security units is
crucial, actually better understood as a form of subcontracted intelligence
collection based on barter.
Thus, liaison for the purpose of HUMINT collection is essentially
“outsourcing the task of penetration,” an approach upon which the CIA appears
to regularly lean when collecting on terrorists. Herein lies liaison’s greatest
weakness – that we cannot control it. In a liaison partnership, HUMINT officers
may be afforded access to a captured terrorist, or made aware of or allowed to
participate in the partner service’s surveillance.
THE PROBLEM
WAR, ETHICS & TERROR
Issue No. 1
US intelligence needs to be reinvented and transformed, especially Covert
Action intelligence operations in all of the various aspects called “dirty
tricks.” Tighter oversight and accountability with improved end results are
required. Accountability boards are not enough. One still has to measure the
failed Covert Action intelligence for “blowback.”
Issue No. 2
No nation-state currently polices transnational crime, which is a growing
threat. Failure to provide adequate Human Intelligence (HUMINT) is a true
weakness in the USA system. Most policy decisions are not based on hard HUMINT
sourced information but other so-called facts and truths open to spin and
interpretation. Senator Jay Rockefeller, Chairman of Select Committee on
Intelligence claimed congressional oversight has increased about 100% since
9/11, but that program is now strangled.
Issue No. 3
The shadow of the Shadow Government, including domestic spying and
assassinations, needs to be revealed to the American people and the world so we
can finally heal. We must take responsibility for that shadow..
Issue No. 4
Our Constitutional rights are under attack, including the First Amendment.
Free speech, the right to assembly, and freedom of the press are in jeopardy.
It will be illegal to disagree with government policy, even with patriotic
dissent. We’ve traded our democracy for corporate feudalism.
Issue No. 5
A serious consequence, the breakdown in credibility between the U.S.
government and its citizenry, needs to be addressed, as well as increasing
militarization of police and unwarranted surveillance of US citizens. The
breakdown of domestic relations is a serious issue, perhaps concealing further
manipulations. Those hunting the truth continue to press for disclosure from
all knowledgeable sources.
WHY Leutrell Osborne, Sr.?
Osborne characterizes himself as, “a living a transformation and change
agent from the world of espionage that can improve the DNI.” The story of his
life as THE BLACK MAN IN THE CIA is currently in press and recounts the
inspirational details of his rise within the Agency. He cites his decades of
varied experience, mentoring and activism:
1939-1951 Birth, mother, father, WDC, light skinned black man w/o money-
then at 12 mother working at CIA when he got the vision to get a job at CIA and
become a Spy Manager.
1952-1957 – Inspirational life involved in participating in changes like reduction
of segregation barriers especially in high school and self taught photography
skills that got me hired by CIA as well as eloping and marrying a wonderful
life partner Rose Marie Battle Osborne who enabled us to have six children,
raise 11 other children and stay married 52 years.
1957-1968 From the CIA’s DO become CIA Case Officer w/o a college degree and
graduate from the CIA’s Career Training Program (CTP) after having a tour
abroad in the Far Northern Country (FNC) that enabled the family and me to
serve as genuine change agents, including actually meeting and talking with Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Rose talked with Coretta while I was talking to Dr.
King for over one hour at the US Ambassadors reception for Dr. King, Jr.
1968-1972 Acquiring language and college degree overcoming obstacles that
godfathers and mothers helped me resolve.
1972-1974- Latin American tour as Case Officer involved in clandestine
service change management and accomplishing firsts in tech operations, agent
access opportunities and even sending out information that was from a tech op
that become a formal CIA intelligence dissemination to the NIC.
1974-1976 While holding down a significant position as CI for Central
America, I was selected to be an advisor to two CIA Directors: Colby and
“daddy” Bush 41. These opportunities enabled me to serve as a transformation
agent while being on the DCI’s EEO Advisory Panel that brought greater equality
to the CIA. That advisory opportunity was extra-curricula and enabled me to have
the same vantage point on the CIA as the DCIs. Thus, from this platform, I made
the decision and move to desegregate the management of CIA’s Office of
Communication and I became a Communications Security (COMSEC) officer.
I led a transformation team in COMMO and again advised another DCI Admiral
Stansfield Turner. Two of our recommendations impacted NIC telecommunications
and creation of CIA’s move to separate telecommunications and information
management. One of the other significant events was the participation in the
NIC’s decision to no longer depend on host government’s to provide protection
for US Embassies and personnel but for the USA to include such matters in NIC
protection of US property and personnel.
1976-1981 As the only known CIA Spy Manager with six years COMSEC
experience, I was able to transfer the NIC especially on improving NIC tech
information across agencies and departments.
1982-1984 As Chief CI for the Directorate of Operation’s Libya Branch, again
I was position to use past transformation experiences especially knowledge of
CIA Commo to improving the DO’s handling of vital and important raw information
from the field so that it went through the maze of barriers easier and faster
to the NIC customer.
1984-1988 Private sector experiences as an international food broker,
commercial mortgage broker and security and sales director for one of the few
Black owned armored car companies in the world provided more experiences and
insights into what works and what does not work. I even had the experience of
working with the FBI to investigate a million dollar armored car robbery.
1988-1994 Return to govt via tempo jobs at the Department of Education and
the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in l988 and l989. The latter OPM
opportunity besides serving as the platform to continue as a change agent
allowed me to re-enter government service but now in government procurement as
an advocate for small business owners, I began learning and keeping book on
many things, but the government vertical systems that don’t work such as Equal
Employment Opportunity and the Inspector General enabled some of us to gain
greater understanding of government barriers and challenges to equality and
justice. With the peer election of me to serve as the Director OSDBU, I along
with key other govt employees worked through Public Law 95-507 and even
improved Congressional understanding of the adversities impacting small
business. The OSDBU Director experiences resulted in my assisting in the
creation of FAR Part 10 which was part of the stimulus that eliminated my OPM
job as Director OSDBU when I retired in l994.
1994-2010 Performing as a “sales consultant” guiding companies in Marketing
to the Government (MTG). Note that these 16 years of private sector procurement
experience and the prior five (5) years inside of government with several
significant transformation managements surely enabled me to influence
government to improve contracting for small business owners while these same
events also helped set the stage for much of the current government success
with government contracting preference programs today.
In conclusion, the family “relationship” responsibilities for over 50 years
of marriage as well as various leadership roles in the Catholic Church and the
Knights of Columbus enabled me to gain significant insight and sensitivity for
community stake holder expectations that further assisted me in being the
transformation agent that I am.
Thus, Osborne feels feels he epitomizes the transformational leader. If we
examine the overview of Transformational Leadership Theory, we see he fulfills
the criteria and has experience in each segment.
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP: The Ties that “BOND”
Pulitzer Prize winner, James MacGregor Burns first brought the concept of
transformational leadership to prominence in his extensive research into
leadership. His key innovation in leadership theory was shifting away from
studying the traits of great men and transactional management to focus on the
interaction of leaders and led as collaborators working toward mutual benefit.
He is best known for contributions to the Transformational, Aspirational and
Visionary schools of leadership theory.
Excerpts from his book Leadership:
* Leadership over human beings is exercised when persons with certain
motives and purposes mobilize, in competition or conflict with others,
institutional, political, psychological, and other resources so as to arouse,
engage, and satisfy the motives of followers… in order to realize goals
mutually held by both leaders and followers….
* Transformational leadership occurs when one or more persons engage with
others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher
levels of motivation and morality.
* That people can be lifted into their better selves is the secret of
transforming leadership and the moral and practical theme of this work.
“Essentially the leader’s task is consciousness-raising on a wide plane. The
leader’s fundamental act is to induce people to be aware or conscious of what
they feel – to feel their true needs so strongly, to define their values so
meaningfully, that they can be moved to purposeful action.”
In this leadership style, the leader enhances the motivation, moral and
performance of his follower group. So according to MacGregor – transformational
leadership is all about values and meaning, and a purpose that transcends
short-term goals and focuses on higher order needs.
At times of organizational change, and big step change, people do feel
insecure, anxious and low in energy – so in these situations and especially in
these difficult times, enthusiasm and energy are infectious and inspiring. And
yet so many organizational changes fail because leaders pay attention to the
changes they are facing instead of the transitions people must make to
accommodate them.
In Osborne’s view it is the responsibility of the director leading the
change to supply an infusion of positive energy. The transformational approach
also depends on winning the trust of people – which is made possible by the
unconscious assumption that they too will be changed or transformed in some way
by following the leader.
Bass defined transformational leadership in terms of how the leader affects
followers, who are intended to trust, admire and respect the transformational
leader.
He identified three ways in which leaders transform followers:
* Increasing their awareness of task importance and value.
* Getting them to focus first on team or organizational goals, rather than
their own interests.
* Activating their higher-order needs.
Bass has recently noted that authentic transformational leadership is
grounded in moral foundations that are based on four components:
* Idealized influence
* Inspirational motivation
* Intellectual stimulation
* Individualized consideration
…and three moral aspects:
* The moral
character of the leader.
* The ethical values embedded in the leader’s vision, articulation, and
program (which followers either embrace or reject).
* The morality of the processes of social ethical choice and action that
leaders and followers engage in and collectively pursue.
The four components of the transformational leadership style are:
(1) Charisma or idealized influence – the degree
to which the leader behaves in admirable ways and displays convictions and
takes stands that cause followers to identify with the leader who has a clear
set of values and acts as a role model for the followers. Idealized Influence
provides a role model for high ethical behavior, instills pride, gains respect
and trust. Charisma is seen as necessary, but not sufficient, for example in
the way that charismatic movie stars may not make good leaders. Two key
charismatic effects that transformational leaders achieve is to evoke strong
emotions and to cause identification of the followers with the leader. This may
be through stirring appeals. It may also may occur through quieter methods such
as coaching and mentoring.
(2) Inspirational motivation – the degree to which the leader articulates a
vision that is appeals to and inspires the followers with optimism about future
goals, and offers meaning for the current tasks in hand. Inspirational
Motivation – the degree to which the leader articulates a vision that is
appealing and inspiring to followers. Leaders with inspirational motivation
challenge followers with high standards, communicate optimism about future
goals, and provide meaning for the task at hand. Followers need to have a strong
sense of purpose if they are to be motivated to act. Purpose and meaning
provide the energy that drives a group forward. The visionary aspects of
leadership are supported by communication skills that make the vision
understandable, precise, powerful and engaging. The followers are willing to
invest more effort in their tasks, they are encouraged and optimistic about the
future and believe in their abilities.
(3) Intellectual stimulation – the degree to which the leader challenges
assumptions, stimulates and encourages creativity in the followers – by
providing a framework for followers to see how they connect [to the leader, the
organization, each other, and the goal] they can creatively overcome any
obstacles in the way of the mission. Intellectual Stimulation includes the
degree to which the leader challenges assumptions, takes risks and solicits
followers’ ideas. Leaders with this style stimulate and encourage creativity in
their followers. They nurture and develop people who think independently. For
such a leader, learning is a value and unexpected situations are seen as
opportunities to learn. The followers ask questions, think deeply about things
and figure out better ways to execute their tasks.
(4) Personal and individual attention – the degree to which the leader
attends to each individual follower’s needs and acts as a mentor or coach and
gives respect to and appreciation of the individual’s contribution to the team.
This fulfills and enhances each individual team members’ need for self-fulfillment,
and self-worth – and in so doing inspires followers to further achievement and
growth. Individualized Consideration includes the degree to which the leader
attends to each follower’s needs, acts as a mentor or coach to the follower and
listens to the follower’s concerns and needs. The leader gives empathy and
support, keeps communication open and places challenges before the followers.
This also encompasses the need for respect and celebrates the individual
contribution that each follower can make to the team. The followers have a will
and aspirations for self development and have intrinsic motivation for their
tasks.
Transformational leadership applied in a change management context, is
ideally suited to the holistic and wide view perspective of a program based
approach to change management and as such is key element of successful
strategies for managing change.
Yukl (1994) draws some tips for transformational leadership
1. Develop a
challenging and attractive vision, together with the employees.
2. Tie the vision to a strategy for its achievement.
3. Develop the vision, specify and translate it to actions.
4. Express confidence, decisiveness and optimism about the vision and its
implementation.
5. Realize the vision through small planned steps and small successes in the
path for its full implementation.
Transformational leadership is defined as a leadership approach that creates
valuable and positive change in the followers with the end goal of developing
followers into leaders. A transformational leader focuses on “transforming”
others to help each other, to look out for each other, to be encouraging and
harmonious, and to look out for the organization as a whole.
With this leadership, the leader enhances the motivation, morale and
performance of his followers through a variety of mechanisms. These include
connecting the follower’s sense of identity and self to the mission and the
collective identity of the organization; being a role model for followers that
inspires them; challenging followers to take greater ownership for their work,
and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of followers, so the leader can
align followers with tasks that optimizes their performance.
This is in contrast with pseudo-transformational leadership, where, for
example, in-group/out-group
‘us and them’ games are used to bond followers to the leader.
CHANGE AGENTS: Research on champions or change agents typically examines the
behaviors, attributes, and motivations of the individual leading the
organizational change. As such, “championing” is understood as a near heroic
venture by those with a near innate ability and expressed interest in such
work. However, change leaders generally rely on the support of a team of
employees and consultants.
The experience of the members of change teams is less well understood
despite their role in introducing, legitimating, and managing change among the
rank and file of the organization. Interviews with full-time members of change
teams reveal that they do not begin as skilled, motivated agents of change but
rather they undergo extensive training and, in many cases, describe themselves
as having experienced a personal transformation during their intense
involvement in the change activities. The findings suggest that organizations,
in the pursuit of change, produce change agents and that these change agents
seek opportunities in the labor market that allow them to continue this work –
initiating, championing, and implementing business process management – in
other organizations.
