A new approach
It
looked like a storm was coming as I was driving home last week. On one side was
a set of paddocks, within which was a numebr of sheep being herded by two men into
a smaller pen for the night. As the sheep shuffled forward, a flock of birds
flew overhead. They were in a sharp v-formation, each bird perfectly spaced,
battling the increasing wind currents. The two groups of animals could not be more dissimilar,
one blindly following, the other’s collective direction determined only by the
actions of every single bird. Could this natural behaviour be indicative of the
future of leadership?
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| The herding pattern of sheep http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/pb-110128-frayer-da-04.photoblog900.jpg |
Traditional leadership
I'm
sure the sight is familiar, a charismatic leader standing behind a lectern,
crowds of people hysterically applauding his powerful and decisive address.
Throughout history, the collective consciousness – a term first coined by
French sociologist Émile Durkheim – or the shared beliefs and moral attitudes
within society, have been influenced by dynamic individuals. From Winston
Churchill to Martin Luther-King Jnr to JFK, different cliques within society
have been unified behind singular figureheads; effectively a shepherd leading
different breeds of sheep into the same pen.
Winston Churchill's famous "Now we are the masters of our fate" speech from 1942
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOQwa73KXbs
Herd mentality explained
There
are a variety of reasons why this behavioural phenomena exists, yet the most
compelling arises when the work of two behavioural psychologists, Floyd Allport
and the partnership of Ralph Turner/ Lewis Killian, is condensed. Allport developed Convergence theory, in
which the very act of being part of a collective may induce atypical behaviour
or thoughts/beliefs. Tunre/Killian conceived the Emergent-Norm theory, in which
individuals of widely different backgrounds may be unified by a single action
or figure. If these two theories are considered in partnership , the
possibility of a wide variety of people being united behind one figure appears supremely logical.
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| A typical crowd situation http://www.thetablebellingham.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/woman-peering-over-crowd-001.jpg |
Relevance?
But
is this form of leadership applicable, or even relevant, to today's society?
Technology has had a profound impact upon society. In the past one had to rely
upon another source to deliver information in a set way, an author or a teacher
for example. Yet with the exponentially growing influence of the internet, an
individual can dictate the flow of information based upon their own desires and
requirements. This change in the information delivery paradigm is leading to a shift in the amount and scope of personal opinions for
an ever increasing number of topics, based upon the the amount of information
available for them. Members of society are much less likely to subscribe to the
ideology of a single person, rather, they prefer to be presented with the
information and decide for themselves.
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| The internet's affect on information http://futurechallenges.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Globe-86244_640.jpg |
Reaching personal conclusions
To extend my farmyard metaphor, I'm sure you’re familiar with the phrase ‘you can lead a horse to water but you can’t
make it drink’; to an increasing extent this is becoming an anecdote for leadership.
Within groups of people, charisma is not sufficient to persuade any more, every
group member has a different view. But what if the ‘leader’ of the group didn't
try to simply drag the others towards his perspective? What if the leader
simply presented the information that lead him to form his opinion, allowing
them to reach it themselves? This sort of approach could be applied to a much
larger scale using the same method, increasing overall investment and
connection to the topic.
Granted, due to differences in individual characters,
the leaders exact perception will not be reached by all. It will however,
result in the entire collective ‘flying’ in the same direction, rather than being herded forward. Their individual
actions alter the flight path yet the leader flys at the point of the v,
still maintaining the groups bearing.
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| Bird flock in flight http://helpingpsychology.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/iStock_000007561511Small.jpg |
References
- The Division of Labor in Society (1893). 2014. The Division of Labor in Society (1893). Available at:http://durkheim.uchicago.edu/Summaries/dl.html. [Accessed 03 June 2014]
- Crowd Behavior & Psychology | thoughts and resources on understanding and modeling the crowd. 2014. Crowd Behavior & Psychology | thoughts and resources on understanding and modeling the crowd. Available at:http://crowdbehavior.org/. [Accessed 03 June 2014].
- The effects of the internet: Fast forward | The Economist. 2014. The effects of the internet: Fast forward | The Economist. Available at:http://www.economist.com/node/16423330. [Accessed 05 June 2014].
