Styles & Substance

The recent departures of Australian Rugby League Commission CEO David Gallop and Boral CEO Mark Selway were attributed to the organisations involved needing a different leadership style to take them forward.

After 10 successful years as the head of rugby league’s national body, the NRL, Gallop was appointed CEO of the Australian Rugby League Commission following its formation in February. Four months into his four-year contract, the board says it came to mutual agreement with Gallop “that the game needs a different style of leadership detached from the past for the next stage of its development”.

In the Boral situation, by all accounts (including the Board’s), during his two years in the job Selway successfully restructured and re-energised the business and applied the Lean management philosophy to its manufacturing processes. However, the company says it is now seeking a CEO “with a leadership style suited to harmonising the changes that have occurred over the last two years”.

To me, these situations reflect the delicate balance between CEO style and substance.

After 14 years as an executive coach and mentor, I see leaders as people who can:
– Articulate a vision and inspire others to participate;
– Work cooperatively with their team and take an interest in their development;
– Take command when the going gets tough;
– Manage ambiguity to sustain morale and productivity during times of change;
– Make decisions; and
– Achieve results.

Since leadership is all about influencing, enabling and energising a business, people skills should be equally as important as financial performance – if not more – when it comes to evaluating a CEO’s performance or suitability for a role.

Boards should hire and evaluate CEOs based on a range of criteria including leadership competencies, business acumen and performance. While it is true that some CEOs prefer or are more suited to transformation, turnaround or high-growth situations, a CEO’s leadership style should never be a surprise to a board that has done its due diligence and recruited for both people skills and financial and operational management skills.

CEOs and their boards often come unstuck when there is a lack of alignment between a strategy presented by management and the views of the board. The board is then faced with a decision to either ask for the strategy to be revised – which can be a challenge – or replace the CEO if they believe the CEO is unable or unwilling to deliver the strategy required.

If this lack of alignment comes as a shock to the board, it brings into serious question the very nature of the relationship between the board and CEO up to that point.
 
When it comes to deciding what leadership style is right for an organisation, I would say that a leader’s primary job is to lead others to a destination. The critical success factor, therefore, is whether others will follow.