I want to share with us on something that I believe is going to help our leadership. It is something that we don't often talk about but it is sometimes important and necessary that we talk about it because it's something that is subtle and it's something that many leaders often overlook. So, what are we talking about? We want to look at The Ineffectiveness of Coercive Leadership.

 

Now, what exactly is coercive leadership? You see, when we talk about coercive leadership, we are talking about a leadership style that employs the use of force, that employs the use of threats and other forms of coercion to stimulate an outcome. This is what coercive leadership actually talks about. It talks about the use of force in the process of leadership, the use of threat and every form of coercion in order to arrive at an outcome or stimulate an outcome that is suitable to the leader. Now, it is true that a coercive leader might be able to get a few things done, because he or she is coercive, there is no lie about the fact that when a leader employs coercion in stimulating an outcome, such a leader might be able to get a few things done or a few things accomplished.

 

But the absolute truth of the matter is that a coercive leader might not be able to get everything done even though he or she is able to get certain things done, he or she might not be able to achieve everything that is set out in that leadership. And the reason is because at the root of coerciveness is what I call distrust and the inability to be accountable in leadership. Now, look at it. When you see a coercive leader, there are two things that is always present with a coercive leader. Number one is distrust. And number two is lack of accountability. Now, the reason why a leader is going to employ force or threats to get an outcome is simply because he or she does not want to be accountable, and he or she cannot be trusted or he or she does not want to be trusted.

 

So, at the root cause of coercion in leadership is distrust and the inability of the leader to be accountable. Now, let me show us an example in the Bible because most of the times when we are talking about these terminologies in leadership, there are always one or two examples from the Bible that we usually employ to drive home the point. And the example I want to show us today is in 1 Samuel chapter 8 and we're going to read from verse 10-18. You see, that passage gave us a few glimpses of what and how coercive leadership looks like from the account of Saul. See what the Bible says:

 

“So, Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who asked him for a king. ¹¹ And he said, “This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. ¹² He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. ¹³ He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. ¹⁴ And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. ¹⁵ He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. ¹⁶ And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. ¹⁷ He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. ¹⁸ And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.”

 

Now, from that story we can see from there how coercive leadership actually works, we can see the mode of operation of a selfish and a coercive leader. Now the first thing you're going to notice from those verses is the fact that there is no accountability, there is no reason for the actions of a coercive leader. You can hear certain phrases like “he will”, without any cost to accountability, without any cause to the reasons as to why such an action is being taken. Now, the reason why coercive leaders behave that way is simply because they have an outcome in mind, they have a selfish ambition in mind which they aim to achieve. And they know that they cannot achieve it through a legitimate means or legitimate process. And so, they resort to coercion.

 

So, at the root cause of coercive leadership is selfishness. It is not really about the interest of the people or the interest of the organization, because those interests actually don't matter to a coercive leader. Now, if you discover an organizational leader, for example, that employs coercion in his or her style of leadership, it is because there is something selfish that he or she wants to get from that organization. And he or she knows that he can get it by a legitimate means, and so they employ coercion. So, coercive leadership is about personal selfish interest and ambition of the leader. And also, when you look at it carefully, when it comes to leadership matters, you see are the root of selfishness of every selfish leader is ineffectiveness.

 

When you see a leader who is selfish, then you are also going to see a leader that is not going to be effective, because such a leader is selfish. So, any leader that is selfish will not get to the promised land. If you are a leader who is selfish, or if you are a leader who does not have the interest of the organization at heart or the interest of the people that you are leading at heart and you are coercive in the process, I have discovered that such a leader will not get to his promised land, such a leader will not get to the peak of his leadership. So, any leader who is selfish, will not be effective. Any leader who is selfish, who is coerced, or who is employing a coercive leadership style will not be able to arrive at the destination of his leadership.

 

Now, let me show us two things why I believe that coercive leadership don't work. Two reasons why coercive leadership don't work all of the time, because many times it may look as if coercive leadership is getting results, that is always in the short term. But if you look at it critically, in the long run, you will discover that coercive leadership actually don't work. It usually leads to ineffectiveness and a truncation of the leadership.

 

Number one, coercive leadership always lacks legitimacy. And it is because it does not enjoy a widespread support. When you look at a coercive leader anywhere in the world. When you look at a coercive leader, either in organization or sitting over government of any nation, you will discover that one of the things you will see is that such leadership is going to lack legitimacy. Now, it may appear or seem like such leadership is making some progress through coercion. Now, I believe it does not negate the fact that coercive leadership does not enjoy widespread legitimacy that it demands. Once leadership lacks legitimacy, it simply means that such leadership is floating. If you are a leader that lacks legitimacy, it's only a matter of time, your leadership is going to come down like a pack of cards simply because it does not have a foundation, it does not have basis upon which it stands. It is simply floating. Why? Because it lacks legitimacy.

 

Now if you look at 1 Samuel 18, let's just look at another example in the leadership of Saul, talking about leadership lacking legitimacy. The Bible says:

So, David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved wisely. And Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants. So, David was accepted, which also means that David’s leadership had legitimacy. When a leadership has legitimacy, it simply means that such leadership is accepted by all and by sundry. So, everyone accepted David. Now look at verse 6.

 

⁶ Now it had happened as they were coming home, when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women had come out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments. ⁷ So the women sang as they danced, and said: “Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands.” ⁸ Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?” ⁹ So Saul eyed David from that day forward.

 

So, from that story, now, it got to a point that Saul's illegitimate leadership began to reflect and that was the beginning of the end of Saul’s leadership reign in Israel. So coercive leadership don't work all of the time because it lacks legitimacy. Now, it may appear that it is walking, it may appear that it is making progress in the short run. But in the long run, it usually collapses because it lacks that legitimacy. So coercive leadership don't work most of the time simply because it lacks legitimacy. If you are a coercive leader, not everyone will love you. Not everyone will support your leadership. Not everyone will follow your leadership. Not everyone we believe in you because you are not a man or a woman to be trusted in leadership, and you are also not a man or a woman that is given to accountability. And that is why you choose coercion as your form of leadership style. So, it will lack legitimacy.

 

Now, let me show us the second one. In coercive leadership, the leader and those who are being led are always at loggerheads. In coercive leadership, there is every room for the leader and those that are being led to always be at loggerheads. For example, in political leadership style. If you are an illegitimate leader, there will always be a time where you and the people that you are leading, the followers, we always be at loggerheads, there will always be seasons and times where you will struggle in leadership, because you are coercive, because your leadership is not legitimate. If you're an organizational leader, for example, you see the leader practices coercive leadership among the team and it becomes something difficult for the team to be able to follow simply because they don't have room to be able to express their ideas, they don't have room to be able to contribute in the leadership. They are given to following rules and regulation.

 

One of the features of coercive leadership is that people are given to rules and regulations. People don't have room for them to express their ideas, to express their opinions, they are simply given to following rules and regulations. And most of the times when this is the case in leadership, either in a nation or in an organization, it usually pitches the leader and the followers or the leader and the team against themselves. There will always be room for tension and anxiety within such leadership environment simply because the leader and the led are always at loggerheads. So, in coercive leadership, the leader and those that are being led are always in constant battle, in constant loggerheads because the leader is coercive, the leader is not given room for ideas, he is not giving room for people to give expression to share their ideas in the leadership environment.

 

Now let's conclude this way because of time. So, even though coercive leadership may have some advantages here and there, it is actually not the best leadership practice, because in the long run, it renders the leadership ineffective. So, as leaders, it is not a good thing for us to practice coercive leadership, it does not lead anywhere, coercive leadership may produce results in the short term, but in the long run, it does not produce any results, the leader is ineffective, the leadership crumbles, and the goal and aspiration of that leadership becomes futile, it is not achievable. And I believe that from what we've shared with ourselves today, you have seen the reasons why as a leader, you should give room to ideas, you should give room for people under you to express their desire.

 

Don't force anybody to do what they're supposed to do. Don't use coercion as a leader to achieve your selfish outcome, or your selfish interest. Allow leadership processes to take place within an organization, within a nation, and this is how you can become effective in your leadership as a leader. Thank you for the gift of your time. My name remains Abiola Obayomi. Please don't forget to share this podcast, like it, and also drop some comments in the comment section so that we can get to interact on the things we've shared with ourselves today. Till next time on Leaderview, God bless you.

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Obayomi Abiola Benjamin!

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