Narrative and Implicit Leadership Theory

People are narrative beings. We express this in a number of ways but one that is poignant is how we make sense of activity and thought. The human way, our way, is to do so by the story line of past and immediate experience and the greater story of permissions and identity that culture provides. This makes the derivation of meaning and the experience that grounds it contextual. The necessity then is that if we are to derive meaning from stimuli it must have some comparable in experience.

This makes it essential that the leader have understanding of the stories that give shape to the lives of those s/he purports to lead. It also requires that the narrative undertaking be entered into aware that leadership will mean something different to each member. There is acknowledgement of this possibility in Implicit Leadership Theory where members determine the effectiveness of leadership by comparing the leader’s effort against their own internal model of what an effective leader is. Keller (1999) held that such models of leadership likely arise in the family unit where as a child we observe the first instances of leading and following.

The stories of our life do produce memories but also templates by which we know and understand. Learning them before attempting change, while slowing our effort to “get there,” helps make the transition a more humane affair.
William Salyards Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved.

Keller, T. (1999). Images of the familiar: Individual differences and implicit leadership theories. Leadership Quarterly, 10(4), 590-607.