LEADERSHIP ASSUMPTIONS – HUMANS ARE ‘RATIONAL’. . .PART I

For more than sixty years now many theories of management and leadership have been rooted in three different assumptions about human rationality. During the past five to ten years more and more research has indicated that we humans are primarily emotionally and intuitively rooted (i.e. we ‘lead’ with these) and that more often than not we use our rational capacities to justify or ‘rationalize’ our decisions and actions (after the fact). Even so it appears as if the rational-based theories are still quite popular. Here are three of them that you, gentle reader, have probably heard about, if not subscribed to yourself.

Humans are Rational. We humans think and act in ways that are consistent with our goals and our self-interest. If we are ‘rewarded’ for this we will repeat what was rewarded. In order to have we humans behave in a certain way then make the desired behavior clear to us and make it worth our while to engage in the desired behavior.

Humans are Limited in Their Rationality. We humans can only make sense of a small piece of the/our world at a time. Given this, we strive to act reasonably in relation to the extent that we grasp the ‘facts’ and the ‘options.’ We will, more or less, be open to change if we are actively involved in problem solving; we are less likely to be open to change if you simply tell us what to do.

Humans are Rational when Acting Together. As individuals, our ability to reason is limited. Our ability to reason increases, dramatically at times, when the wisdom of the collective is honored. We humans are more likely open to change if we are truly ‘in it together’ – we become interdependent and we tap into the wisdom of the collective (this ‘wisdom’ is rooted in diversity).

The first assumption, ‘Humans are Rational,’ is rooted in the industrial/mechanical metaphor. It served the ‘assembly line’ well. Each of the other two strive to move away from this assumption. The third assumption, often called ‘teamwork,’ is still over-shadowed by the first two in our culture (for example, even though a team is created the rewards/incentives are still rooted in the individual-focused model; we love our individual ‘stars’).

Consider that ‘rationality’ is achieved when people are able to ‘make sense’ of their/our world. The more we are able to make sense the more rational we seem to become (the more our emotive and intuitive responses will be in alignment with our rational responses). It seems that one way our sense of things increases is to have us, together, define the issue (the problem, the polarity, the paradox and/or the dilemma) and then to think about it together and then to emerge, again together, ways of engaging it. Not only does our ‘sense of it’ increase we are more likely to emotionally ‘own’ it (emotional ownership is more powerful than ‘buy-in’).

One charge of the designated leader is to help those who choose to follow to develop their capacities so they can move from the traditional independent ‘I’ to an interdependent ‘we.’ Among other things, this requires deep trust between and among all.