Action-centered leadership defines leadership in the context of three interlocking areas of responsibility and concern. This framework is used by leaders in the management of teams, groups, and organizations.
Developed in the 1960s and first published in 1973, action-centered leadership was revolutionary for its time because it believed leaders could learn the skills they needed to manage others effectively.
Adair believed that effective leadership was exemplified by three overlapping circles (responsibilities): achieve the task, build and maintain the team, and develop the individual.
Understanding action-centered leadership
Action-centered leadership defines leadership in the context of three interlocking areas of responsibility and concern. This framework is used by leaders in the management of teams, groups, and organizations.
Action-centered leadership is the brainchild of John Adair, a British leadership theorist and author who has released more than 40 books on leadership in business, the military, and various other contexts.
Developed in the 1960s and first published in 1973, action-centered leadership was revolutionary for its time.
Unlike other theories, Adair based his on the belief that effective leadership was not simply a trait one was born with.
Instead, certain qualities could be learned by anyone via specific, actionable steps and best practices.
Action-centered leadership remains popular today because its ideas are practical and relevant to all leaders irrespective of their job title or industry.
The model is also simple to use and has positive effects on productivity, morale, and company culture.
The three circle model of action-centered leadership
Adair considered that leadership occurred in the context of three circles:
Achieve the task.
Build and maintain the team/group, and
Develop the individual.
Each circle represents a key responsibility and individuals must have a good grasp of all three to be effective leaders.
Note that the three circles overlap. Some aspects of achieving tasks will overlap with building the team, while elements of developing the individual will also overlap with achieving tasks, and so on.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at each circle below.
Achieve the task
Tasks are activities that require strategic guidance and a collaborative effort from team members.
Some of the steps that clarify how strategic guidance are listed below:
Determine the vision, aims, purpose, and direction of the team for each task. Then, identify key people, tools, processes, and resources.
Devise and implement a plan to achieve the task with deliverables, timelines, and strategies that are concise and measurable.
Define time and quality standards for deliverables and reporting parameters. Threats to these parameters should also be controlled or prevented.
Build and maintain the team
To sustain team performance, leaders must be able to promote values that encourage cohesiveness or unity. Adair noted that this leadership ability depended on an awareness of the motivations of individuals.
Some steps to build and maintain the team include:
Establish standards for team behavior and performance.
Clarify a team’s culture and style.
Anticipate and resolve conflict.
Implement and maintain standards of effective group communication.
Monitor the balance of team composition and adjust if necessary, and
Promote maturity and enhance capabilities to increase a collective sense of autonomy.
Develop the individual
Individual development can only occur when their physical and psychological needs are met.
Physical needs may include an attractive salary or facilitative workspace, while psychological needs relate to purpose, meaning, and recognition.
Adair recommended that individual development could be performed with the following initiatives:
Recognize and appreciate the diversity of individual team member personalities, aspirations, concerns, and strong points.
Encourage and support individuals in their professional development. Where appropriate, individuals should be offered more responsibility or career advancement opportunities.
Celebrate and praise desirable behaviors whilst offering constructive feedback for less-than-desirable behaviors.
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Transformational leadership is a style of leadership that motivates, encourages, and inspires employees to contribute to company growth. Leadership expert James McGregor Burns first described the concept of transformational leadership in a 1978 book entitled Leadership. Although Burns’ research was focused on political leaders, the term is also applicable for businesses and organizational psychology.
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Fielder’s contingency model argues no style of leadership is superior to the rest evaluated against three measures of situational control, including leader-member relations, task structure, and leader power level. In Fiedler’s contingency model, task-oriented leaders perform best in highly favorable and unfavorable circumstances. Relationship-oriented leaders perform best in situations that are moderately favorable but can improve their position by using superior interpersonal skills.
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Action-centered leadership defines leadership in the context of three interlocking areas of responsibility and concern. This framework is used by leaders in the management of teams, groups, and organizations.
Developed in the 1960s and first published in 1973, action-centered leadership was revolutionary for its time because it believed leaders could learn the skills they needed to manage others effectively.
Adair believed that effective leadership was exemplified by three overlapping circles (responsibilities): achieve the task, build and maintain the team, and develop the individual.
High-performance coaches work with individuals in personal and professional contexts to enable them to reach their full potential. While these sorts of coaches are commonly associated with sports, it should be noted that the act of coaching is a specific type of behavior that is also useful in business and leadership.
When most people are asked to define power, they think about the power a leader possesses as a function of their responsibility for subordinates. Others may think that power comes from the title or position this individual holds.
Tipping Point Leadership is a low-cost means of achieving a strategic shift in an organization by focusing on extremes. Here, the extremes may refer to small groups of people, acts, and activities that exert a disproportionate influence over business performance.
The Vroom-Yetton decision model is a decision-making process based on situational leadership. According to this model, there are five decision-making styles guides group-based decision-making according to the situation at hand and the level of involvement of subordinates: Autocratic Type 1 (AI), Autocratic Type 2 (AII), Consultative Type 1 (CI), Consultative Type 2 (CII), Group-based Type 2 (GII).
Likert’s management systems were developed by American social psychologist Rensis Likert. Likert’s management systems are a series of leadership theories based on the study of various organizational dynamics and characteristics. Likert proposed four systems of management, which can also be thought of as leadership styles: Exploitative authoritative, Benevolent authoritative, Consultative, Participative.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
