Leadership

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Whether we feel we are leaders or not - we are all called to lead at some point or another.

Here are some attributes of "good leadership" - all of which can be drawn upon at anytime, as you live out your leadership roles:

“The 7 habits of highly successful people” 

Steven Covey's bestselling book can be summarised as:

1. Be proactive (don’t just think it – do it!)

2. Be end focussed (have a clear goal / vision)

3. First things first (get your priorities sorted out)

4. Win-win (look for mutual benefits not “I win you lose”)

5. Seek to understand the other person first (be a good listener)

6. Synergise (build on each other’s strengths)

7. Stay sharp (take time out to re-charge)

Servant Leadership can be summarised as having a leadership style that embraces 5 characteristics:

Leader as Servant - focussing on the needs of your organisations stakeholders which include all beneficiaries, staff, customers, investors etc

Leaders as Shepherd – caring for the different pastoral / wellbeing needs of the people you lead

Leader as Steward – taking care to manage resources well such as money, buildings, investments

Leader as Seer – the old word for visionary – have a long-term strategic vision

Leaders as Sage – again the old word for being a source of wisdom when difficult situations arise

A STORY - "Gut feel versus head" 

"While at college, I turned on the radio, flicked through the channels and landed on Radio 4 and had to listen to the interviewer who had just asked:

"What 's the biggest mistake you've ever made?" 

The answer was...

'The decision I made with my head - which I should have made with my heart'

It was given by the Chief Executive of a huge global company. The programme was 'In the psychiatrists chair', where different people were interviewed each week. 

"My reaction was that I couldn't believe it! I thought everything had to be logical and analytical in business leadership...?

Later, as my career developed, I learned that people are strange things - they have feelings - and need to feel appreciated and valued in order to work at their best - especially when being asked to do things differently - i.e. change!" 

The golden rules of change management 

1.  People need to accept there is a need for change.

2. They need to see clearly what the new reality will look like after the changes are made.

3. They need to understand the steps to get from where we are now - to where we want to be.

4. And most importantly they need to know their own individual roles in the change process.

If the people you are trying to influence do not understand these four basic aspects - they will not follow you.

You may well have a great idea which is actually right to implement - BUT - if the culture you are working in cannot “see it” – or there are political motives at work – or the paradigm needs to shift (see below) – then “wall banging head against” will be experienced! 

Facilitation and leadership

Facilitation is leadership, and can be described as follows:

• Being present and available to consult while others work their way through a situation
• Coaching - asking the key questions that help others to find the answers for themselves.
• Creating structure and direction to the team and either or both of the above.

So, whether you have just been given the project manager role, or suddenly find you have to step-up and lead in a sudden situation, or you are the Director or manager in charge - you will need to contribute to in one of the above ways.

THE "PARADIGM SHIFT"

A paradigm is “the way we do things round here”. Paradigms shape the way we think at all levels – from a small team, to an organisation, an industry, a nation. 

For example – when the Swiss watch industry was shown the first example of a digital watch - they turned it down (even though their own industry research body invented it!) 

“That’s not the way we make watches – it will never sell”. 

Heard of Casio? For over a decade the Swiss watch making industry lost 90% of its sales.  People bought digital watches instead. That’s a “Paradigm shift”.

The golden rule of the “Paradigm shift” is:

“When a paradigm shifts, everyone goes back to zero – your past success guarantees you nothing when the rules change” (Noel Barker, The Business of Paradigms).

LEADERSHIP AND "STICKABILITY" - 2 STORIES

STORY 1:

"The task was to create and implement a new project management process within a multi-million-pound global charity.  

Staff were under pressure to deliver multiple projects. Priorities would be changed making them feel stressed and unvalued. There were feelings that anything the directors did was against their personal interests and wellbeing. It was not a happy place to work.

It was another tough assignment. There was relentless staff resistance to overcome even at senior level. But by the end of the eleven-month contract, thankfully all was well. 

On the day I left, with good wishes and friendly gestures, one of the managers summed it all up. She simply said ‘I understood perfectly what you were trying to do in my head - but in my heart - I just didn’t want to do it – but now I do! 

Sometimes you just have to stick at it - putting one foot in front of the other and keeping your purpose and vision firm. As it is said - vision is a deep dissatisfaction with what is - and a clear picture of what can be!"

STORY 2:

"I was brought in by the Chief Executive as the interim leader of a social enterprise needing to improve its performance.

The business had four full time staff and six 'clients' who were on a six-month paid placement to gain work experience skills after being long term unemployed or ex-offenders. Monthly turnover was up to £12,000, so not insignificant by any means.

In order to turn around the print business we needed to address the many customer complaints for mistakes and delays. 

I had created a new management process to ensure work was carried out in a logical and pragmatic way. This was a huge change and one that did not sit well with my colleague, the sales manager. He would often ask that I 'slip in' new work ahead of the others we had planned to do that day. 

My steadfast refusal to deviate from the daily work programme caused a massive reaction and many weeks of having to deal with a whispering campaign that he created, and which painted me in a very bad light. 

Fortunately, the Chief Executive understood what I was trying to do and in the end my persistence was producing results and no more customer complaints. 

It was a tough battle, but the blessings were that the team did a very good job and customer complaints dropped to zero".

IN CONCLUSION

If you are confident in your plan, you need to persist and persevere through thick and thin - and maintain a very tough skin in the process!".

"Any enterprise is built by wise planning, becomes strong through common sense, and profits wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts" (Proverbs 24:3 TLB)