A Range of Roles and Types of Leadership

Conventional wisdom suggests that good, effective leadership is core to any successful change. However it is also true that there are a multitude of theories on leadership and on the variety of roles of leadership. With such little literature available on sponsorship, there are few models or theories that relate closely to the role of executive sponsor. Nadler and Tushman ^[4] devised an excellent model considering the core capabilities of a leader, which svit that of the executive sponsor. Their model defined three forms of leadership:

• visioning;

• institutionalizing;

• developing.

The typical view is that the CEO is the 'visionary leader', and people selected for executive sponsor positions are seen more as the implementers, doers or 'institutionalizers' to use Nadler and Tushman's phrase. Nadler and Tushman define this role as comprising three main components:

• leveraging the senior team;

• broadening senior management;

• developing leadership in the organization.

Of course the other view is that sponsors are chosen primarily because of their credibility with 'the business', and their leadership skills, and possibly for their political 'noses' for getting things done. The core of this chapter is the role of the executive sponsor in driving and managing the change.