Comparison Between a Narcissistic Leader and a Covenant Leader

The personality and traits of leaders have an impact on the performance of employees and
the organization at large. Leaders play an important role because employees look
up to the leaders for policy and behavioural guidelines. Employee behaviour alludes to the behaviour
adopted by employees with a view of achieving certain set goals of an organization. Employee
behavior plays a role in leadership decision-making. Both narcissistic and covenant leadership
styles and traits have different impacts on employee behaviour. Each style has its own set of
advantages as well as disadvantages. In comparing the two, one can get a better understanding of
how organizations are modelled. The effectiveness of leaders who adopt the two styles can also
be assessed. In law enforcement, leaders have a central role to play in the enhancement of service
delivery. A police organization can only achieve its mission and vision by having strong leaders
that affect service delivery.
Comparison Between a Narcistic Leader and a Covenant Leader
Narcissism is adopted from the word narcissus. The term narcissus has three meanings
that include an inflated self-concept, exploitation of other individuals, and the high demand for
tribute form others. Narcistic individuals have a huge sense of overconfidence and in many
instances have an exaggerated sense of self-importance. In addition, narcissistic individuals have
a huge sense of self-entitlement. A narcissistic leader is often characterized by egoistic motives.
Such a leader is keen on pursuing self-serving needs. Narcissistic leaders may also have
deceptive motives and are eager to get recognized by others. They fail to respond appropriately
to criticism and are likely to mobilize followers towards certain courses.
Covenant leadership is a style that aims to produce the highest level of performance for
leaders. It embraces various leadership ethics and principles that promote strong interpersonal
relationships. A covenant leader is willing to create an organization that is governed by certain

values. In such an organization, the emphasis is on constant learning. Covenant leaders engage
all employees in order to transform an organization. Covenant leadership is drawn from the term
covenant. A covenant is a treaty that is enforced through mutual oaths and promises. A covenant
must be witnessed by individuals drawn from a higher authority. A covenant is binding and aims
to facilitate joint action and obligations with a view of achieving clearly defined ends. Societies
are built on covenants. Covenants also bind organizations such as police departments.
Through covenants, the well-being of employees in law enforcement is emphasized. Covenants in
law enforcement also dictates employee behavior as well as expectations.
From the definitions of both covenant and narcissistic leadership styles, there are
differences between the two. Narcissistic leaders lack empathy for the employees. They are often
driven by selfish goals. The interests and opinions of the employees are not considered in the
implementation of the vision of the leader. In contrast, covenant leadership is driven by virtues.
The rights and opinions of the subjects matter a lot to the leader. The leader bases their actions
on virtues as opposed to selfish and egoistic motives. Ethics plays an important role in defining
the actions and behavior adopted by the leader. Unlike narcissistic leaders, covenant leaders are
willing to negotiate with all employees with a view of coming up with the best way forward.
Narcissistic leaders have a huge sense of entitlement. They express the increasing need to
be admired and are not willing to be criticized by their followers. They do not pay attention to
the opinions expressed by the followers. They are competitive in nature and are willing to go
beyond in order to win and make their organizations better than the rest. In addition, they are not
good mentors since the focus is on their individual goals. Covenant leaders are different and have
the qualities of being patient and tolerant. They are attentive to the needs of the employees and
take criticism positively. They are willing to constantly learn something new from their juniors.

They are not overly competitive and instead focus on ensuring that the organization achieves the
desired levels of success without factoring in what other organizations are doing.
Narcistic leaders are driven by fantasies of unlimited power and success. Their aim is to
have others admire them. Their grandiose sense of self-importance is manifested in high levels of
arrogance. They feel that their leadership qualities can only appreciated by individuals who are
exceptional. They can easily manipulate the people around them and are willing to reward people
who worship them and comply with their wishes. They lack the necessary awareness regading
the impact that their actions have on people around them. They are never willing to accept
personal responsibility for their failures and instead blame the failure on the actions of a third
party. Covenant leaders are fundamentally different and create relationships based on mutual
trust, respect, and values. They are willing to work closely with others for a common and ethical
purpose. They place more emphasis on the common goal as opposed to the personal glory and
recognition. They give credit to others and are always willing to accept responsibility for failure
(Moisan, 2004).
Organizational Impact of a Narcistic Leader and a Covenant Leader
The organizational impacts of narcistic leaders have been largely controversial. There are
both arguments advanced on the positive impacts as well as negative impacts or narcistic leaders
on an organization. A study undertaken on military cadets revealed that narcissism has a positive
impact on transformational leadership. In addition, narcissistic leaders are likely to have positive
attributes that may contribute to the success of the organization. Positive attributes of narcistic
leaders include self-confidence and ability to articulate their vision in organizations. However,
narcistic leaders have various adverse effects on organizational efficiency. Narcistic leaders have
high levels of psychopathy and Machiavellianism. They lack certain traits including

agreeableness and do not excel in social interactions. They are considered to be highly
manipulative and enjoy the thrill of seeking while generally lacking remorse. They are
increasingly willing to do everything it takes to obtain self-affirmation. While narcissists may not
intend to cause harm to others, they are oblivious to the well being of others. They are likely to
ignore the wellbeing of others for as long as they achieve external validation and self-
affirmation.
Narcistic leaders are likely to undermine relationships in organizations. Narcistic leaders
are likely to erode trust and in so doing contribute to low levels of employee motivation. There is
a misfit between the beliefs of the leaders and their abilities. They tend to overestimate their
leadership strengths. The actions of narcistic leaders have a negative impact on the emotions of
the followers. They encourage counterproductivity by failing to consider the needs and emotions
of the followers. The narcistic tendencies is a major obstacle towards team collaboration. Teams
led by narcistic leaders have feelings of upward revenge where they attempt to undertake actions
that are motivated by the negative environment created in the workplace. Narcistic leaders
engage in short term activities that are unsustainable. The aim is to ensure that they are
recognized in the workplace.
Covenant leadership is largely associated with positive impacts in the workplace.
Covenant leadership helps in creating a positive workplace environment that is founded on trust.
It also helps in guaranteeing the wellbeing of the employees. Covenant leadership fosters
teamwork and ensures that the team is guided by the organization’s mission and vision
statements. Covenant leadership raises the morale of the employees and ensures that employees
focus on the organization’s goals. Covenant leadership encourages employees to take
responsibility for their actions. It ensures the development of long-term commitment and

discourages employees from leaving the organization in pursuit of individual goals. Covenant
leadership helps in the creation of increased synergy while guaranteeing an increase in social
capital. The leader as well as the subordinates take responsibility for their success as well as their
failures.
Covenant Leadership Development Plan
Covenant leadership offers more advantages in a police organization where the emphasis
is on common goals as opposed to individual goals. In developing covenant relationship, one
needs to understand that the focus is on the development of an organizational environment that
focuses on shared values and is driven on constant learning. To this end, the first step is to ensure
that values such as honesty and teamwork are reinforced in the police organization. Police
officers need to take responsibility for both the failures as well as the successes of the police
organization. The focus should be to ensure that the previous system where the leader never
accepted any blame for mistakes made is eliminated and instead replaced with a system where
the leader is responsible for success and failure of the organization.
One of the major changes that needs to be undertaken is an improvement in the
communication systems within the organization. An implicit message needs to be communicated
that the organization is restructuring and the restructuring will be coupled by changes in the way
of doing things. In addition, the mission and the vision of the police organization needs to be
changed. Covenant leadership is driven by various ethical considerations. Covenant leadership is
aligned with the Biblical principles that are outlined in the Old Testament. Covenant leadership
includes the principles of a shared community as well as interconnected responsibilities. Every
individual needs to adopt an array of moral responsibilities. The responsibilities need to have a
short run and a long run focus. The organization needs to be respectful of human integrity as well

as a shared sense of identity. All police officers need to enforce a two-way promise between the
management as well as the employees in the organization. The management needs to take time to
learn the duties of employees. A constant learning environment needs to be created to enforce
high levels of governance. Both the management and the workforce need to ensure that their
conduct is aligned with the professed values. Both written and unwritten responsibilities need to
be honored in the execution of police related duties.
A covenant also includes the formulation of strong communal ties. The community and
the police department need to collaborate effectively. Common and compatible goals should
guide the formulation of the community. Community policing that includes the cooperation
between the community and the police department needs to be implemented. While the
replacement of the narcistic leader with the covenant leader will have various advantages, there
are certain problems that will come with this change. One major problem is the fact that change
is not easily adopted in an organization. Employees are always reluctant to adopt certain
changes. A police force that has a chain of command makes it difficult to implement holistic
changes. In addition, covenant leadership requires the building of relationships. The relationships
had been badly damaged by the narcissistic leadership. It will take time before the relationships
can be rebuilt. It is important to make personnel changes where possible and in so doing help
ensure that the organization is result-driven. The leader needs to ensure that all employees are
involved in the change process. Involving the employees will eliminate reluctance and will
ensure that the changes are implemented seamlessly.
Conclusion
Covenant leadership is fundamentally different from narcissistic leadership. Covenant
leadership focuses on relationship building and aims to empower all employees in an

organization. In contrast, narcissistic leadership’s main focus is on the selfish goals of the leader.
The leader is not empathetic to the needs of the followers. Changing the leadership of an
organization from a narcissistic leader to a covenant leader offers several advantages.