1. The ACL Model is task-oriented. The leadership concept is action-centred - the TASK circle is always drawn as the top circle in the three circle model.
This is not an ‘anti-people’ aspect in ACL; it is a strongly pro-people insight. ACL has long adopted MacGregors motivational ‘theory Y’, namely, that people love work. ACL understands that motivated individuals and self-directed teams are strongly supportive of efforts to achieve the TASK. Such people will give priority to TASK above their own legitimate interests, when this is needed by the organization.
ACL understands that team members do this out of the ‘goodwill’ that they have for the organization that has given them the opportunity to work on meaningful tasks. There is a limit to that store of goodwill, and the best leadership will gather the greatest store of goodwill from team members. Only leaders who accept the core responsibility for TASK will attract the ‘followship’ of self-directed teams and motivated individuals.
2. ACL (or ‘Functional Leadership’ as it is also termed) is a total management concept. By this is meant that the ACL model incorporates all aspects of the field of management. ACL does not have to be augmented by any other management concept in organizing individuals or organizations to meet all their management responsibilities. This is because the ACL concept constructs management as a part of leadership (rather than define leadership as just the personnel management part of management). Leadership, under the ACL construct, becomes the umbrella concept, under which all other management concepts are subordinate. Under ACL, any management body of knowledge is organised for the contribution that it makes to one or more of three core leadership responsibilities:
• To achieve the task
• To build and maintain the team, and,
• To develop and motivate the individual,
or, for the guidance that any management body of knowledge gives to the leader in carrying out the functions of leadership when implementing actions to meet these responsibilities, namely,
• Planning an action,
• Initiating an action,
• Controlling an action
• Supporting an action
• Informing about an action, and
• Evaluating an action.
In particular, the Focus on Needs that the ACL model advocates facilitates an integration of the leader’s internal responsibilities (that is, to meet task, team and individual needs) with their external responsibilities (to meet stakeholder needs, to meet customer needs and the customer’s customer needs). The unifying concept across the boundary between the internal and external spheres of influence for each leader is ‘needs’ – thus the wisdom that:
"Needs are the seeds to strategy."
3. The ACL concept thus facilitates, for teams, for organizations and conglomerates, a ‘leadership language’ for the individuals in leader roles within any group – a set of simple, universal concepts about leadership responsibilities and leader action that maximizes the effectiveness of communications and depth of understanding between managers at all levels and across all managers at any level. The language, if adopted and supported officially within an organization, contributes significantly to vision-sharing, alignment, innovation, coordination, integration, self-direction and other group processes that are dependent upon effective communications and mutual understanding.
4. The ACL Leadership concept inherently adopts leadership of any group as being a Shared Activity amongst the group, even if it is the leader’s Sole Responsibility. The concept has adopted ideas on decision-making that provide clear thinking about consultative and participative processes, ideas on motivation that promote delegation and initiative, and ideas on teamwork that encourage self-direction. The ACL leadership culture readily acknowledges that members of the group will be making the primary leadership contributions in many or most instances, and it rewards the leader for leadership contributions made by members of the leaders group. The leader, by keeping in contact with the needs of the group, maintains a healthy relationship and dialogue with any informal leaders within the group. The ACL culture is particularly supportive of multi-disciplinary team situations, such as with project teams, where the profile of informal leadership and technical leadership is very strong within the leadership group.
5. The ACL approach requires the leader to identify what must be done, and how it should be done, as well as by whom, when, and where. The leader does this by analyzing the situation of the group that the leader is leading. ACL is a ‘first principles’ or ‘door-knocking’ model for leadership – ideas are derived from the situation now in front of the leader at hand. This is in contrast to ‘empirical’ or ‘wisdom’ models of leadership, which have gathered their wisdom (qualities, styles, habits, maxims, principles, values) from a multitude of other leaders from past situations.
6. ACL is inclusive of other ideas rather than competitive. The ACL approach readily incorporates the wisdom available from wisdom models on leadership. The wisdom models are based on experience of capable leaders, and all experience is legitimate material upon which to decide future leader action. The ‘first principles’ perspective, however, assists in selecting from the wisdom available for application to the immediate situation, by the primary reference that ACL gives to the analysis of the current situation. Student assignments at the University of Queensland have demonstrated that ACL concepts explain why particular qualities or styles or habits or values have impact in particular leader situations, through the types of needs that the qualities, styles, habits and values meet. The Evaluation function of ACL is the ACL mechanism for gathering wisdom about past use of the ACL approach. Wisdom, from ACL, from use of other ‘first principles’ leadership concepts, and from ‘wisdom’ models, is readily applicable to the leader’s analysis of the needs of the immediate situation, and of the options available for action to meet the priority needs of that situation. In doing this, however, the leader has already ‘knocked on the door’ of the situation before the leader, and is seeking to achieve the priority needs. In this way, the leader's total approach, inclusive of all bodies of wisdom and bodies of knowledge, is occurring within the ACL paradigm.
7. ACL is focused on the choices made by the leader for actions, rather than on the psychology or internal motivation of the leader. ACL, in its fundamentals, is concerned with normal people behaving normally in leadership roles. The approach is not judgmental about the person, but is, instead, analytical about the match of action to the need. The development of leadership capacities is seen as a matter for training and coaching rather than therapy and counseling. Therapy and counseling may arise in the ACL paradigm, as needs of an individual or group or organisation, but the fundamental philosophy of ACL is about coaching and training normal people behaving normally.
8. Commercially, ACL offers a useful package of training that organizations can use without copyright fee, if the organization registers with ALAust in Australia or with the nominated organization in other parts of the world. ALAust is a needs oriented philosophy, and would only use the registration details for communication with the registered organization consistent with that organisation’s needs, and with only a check by ALAust, without fee, that the ACL concepts are being correctly ‘taught and caught’ in the organisation’s program.
9. Quality wise, ALAust can provide training, coaching and consultations from persons who have been accredited as practitioners in the ACL concepts. Such accreditation can be gained, at a fee, by in-house trainers of an organization, or by consultants used by an organization to conduct in-house or customized leadership development programs. Leadership programs can also be reviewed by accredited ACL practitioners. Mis-statements of the ACL concept have occurred in well-credentialed training schools (for example, drawing the three circles with the team circle on top). ACL accredited practitioners can remind other trainers and designers of the original ACL model, and ask that any local modifications be explained to participants as modifications. This assists consistency in understanding and application of the ACL model, while allowing useful customizations to be developed to meet the particular needs of the trainees and their organization – meeting needs is core to the ACL concept and to the ALAust business model
10. ACL is very open to customisation, even to the extent of modifying the three circles diagram. Dr John Adair has deliberately kept the three circles as a simple concept, for ease of its introduction in training young leaders. The use of the three circles as a part of more elaborate models by particular organizations, to best serve the needs of their full range of managers and executives, is supported by Dr Adair and by ALAust. ACL accredited professionals can bring, to any consideration of customisation, the ideas that other organizations have used to meet their needs for a leadership model
11. The Global reach of ACL training is increasing. While originating in Europe, accredited professionals are operating in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, China and Hong Kong within the South East Asia / Asia region.
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