The Discretionary Leadership Model
Leadership is listed as one of the “top 10 skills for 2025” based on the world economic forum “The Future of Jobs Report 2020”. Effective leaders are able to drive organizations towards their strategic goals by continuously innovating and adapting. As we move up in the leadership hierarchy, time becomes a major constrain as there are too many different aspects, products, people and companies to manage. Harvard Business Review published a case study at the end of 2020 on “How Apple is organized for Innovation” which talks about a “discretionary leadership model” which is used by Apples VPs and Directors.
The Model
Leaders need to exercise greater discretion regarding where and how they spend their time and efforts. The Discretionary leadership model followed by Apple helps segregate the workload of a leader based on the his/her level of expertise in the particular area and the level of involvement in the details. By segregating the work based on these two factors, the leader can decide how to allocate his/her time. This will allow the leader to understand the amount of attention each of the areas of their work requires. Through this, leaders can decide what to own, learn, teach and delegate. For example; below is an application of the model to a leader in my organization. The blue boxes represent the amount of time (%) spent on each quadrant.
Benefits of applying the model
I believe this model is simple to use and can be applied to any leader to understand where his/her time is spent. It could also help understand the type of leadership approach the leader follows. For example; some leaders may be great owners while others are effective at delegating. The model can also be applied not just to segregate the SBUs under a leaders responsibility but also the type of key tasks that a leader is required to carry out. By using the model, leaders will be able to better understand where they stand and what they can move into different quadrants. For example; if a leader is inundated with work in the ownership quadrant, he/she can plan to transition some of that into the teaching quadrant in a way in which the quality of work is not affected.
Challenges
In reality, many leaders who are highly skilled may still prefer to delegate their tasks if they are the type of people who are capable of getting the most out of their team. Therefore division of work would depend on the personality of the leader. Expertise and attention to detail are two characteristics required by ‘Apple’ however different organizations may have different requirements for their leaders and time will have to be allocated accordingly. For example; time allocation could be based on revenue potential and company priority in a different organization.
In conclusion, I think the discretionary leadership model is an interesting way for leaders to look at where they spend their time and attention. The model can be adjusted to look at what characteristics are important in your organization. It can also be used by investors to manage their portfolio more effectively.
What are your thoughts? Do you see applicability of this model to yourself?
