In the March 2016 edition of Harvard Business Review (HBR), a lab experiment was cited, whereby students were divided into teams to work on scenarios. Half of the teams were not instructed to choose a leader while the remaining half was. The results? Teams instructed to choose a leader and those that had the most capable leaders performed best. Next were teams not instructed to choose a leader. Surprisingly, teams that performed worst were teams instructed to choose a leader but had leaders who appeared authoritative.
A simple conclusion from the experiment was that teams could still function without a leader, but teams that had leaders had outcomes on extreme ends of the scale. They either performed very well or very badly. All else being equal, it would seem that choosing the right leader matters.
In the HBR article, it was cited that “those who see themselves as experts and project the most confidence may be the people whose expertise we should question most”. This would contradict what most students are taught in school to be confident and appear confident, regardless of their level of capability.
Stanford Professor Lindred Greer advised in the HBR article “don’t get snowed by persuasiveness or the appearance of authority. Some of those things can be useful, but competence comes first.”
In today’s world, be it in schools or in organizations, people learn that those who project authority, and are good with words very often enjoy the spotlight and the rewards that come with being able to project authority, competency notwithstanding.
Despite Professor Greer’s advice, people will still continue to be snowed by persuasiveness or the appearance of authority. These are typically the first encounter that people have of others, and first impression counts. Competency however, usually cannot be encountered during initial contacts.
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