I
expect you’ve all been deeply shocked by the gas attacks in Syria . But if we were to take a poll I doubt we’d
all agree about what we, as a country, should do in response.
Parliament’s
defeat of the vote for military action has caused some repercussions. Commentators seem fixated on the question of
whether David Cameron/the conservative party/the country/the ‘special
relationship’ has been damaged by this apparent back track.
All
of which started me thinking about what makes for strong leadership and whether
a change of mind is a sign of strength or weakness.
Running
your own business or managing a company needs leadership AND management
skills. The two are quite
different. Good managers are not always
good leaders and vice versa. So what
makes for strong leadership and how come it’s such a rare commodity?
Please
don’t think I’m claiming to be a strong leader myself. I am old enough and wise enough to know that leadership
is not my forte! However, I’ve worked
with a few impressive leaders and have watched how they operate. The best are visionaries. They tend to be single minded when it comes
to achieving objectives and although they are aware of challenges, they have a
‘terrier’ trait that keeps them hanging on.
So does that mean they never waver or have a change of heart?
In
my experience, true leaders share some characteristic ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’.
They
don’t
- jump to conclusions
- threaten or bully
- sway between allegiances or causes
- either over-simplify or over-complicate their
message
- get bogged down with irrelevancies
They
do:
- their homework
- enlist champions, who believe in their cause
and act as advocates
- communicate their vision to everyone
involved, and I mean everyone!
- motivate their people and trust them to get
on with the job
- have their finger on the pulse.
And
perhaps that last point is the most pertinent.
True leaders know what’s going on.
What may have been right six days/weeks/months ago may not be now. Sometimes environment changes mean that objectives
need to change too. That’s what
flexibility and responsiveness is all about.
Sticking to a goal that has been superseded or has become outdated is
nothing more than dogma.
Surely
a strong leader is one with the strength of character to stand up and say “we
need to do this differently” rather than plough on regardless of the fallout.
Have
you worked with someone who had leadership qualities? Why not share your thoughts here about what
made them so influential?
Ruth’s analogy between the awful situation in Syria & leadership are very thought-provoking. What makes good leadership she asks? Well many books have been written on this subject by well-known international luminaries. Well, I have a very simple approach to some key aspects of leadership. These revolve around how your staff deal with problems. I have always found the following process works well. When a member of staff tell me there is a problem with a customer’s site, I ask them what are the options available to solve it. I have always encouraged them to analyse the situation sufficiently to enable them to come up with a choice of solutions.
ReplyDeleteThen I would ask the simple question : “What would YOU do if I wasn’t here? When they tell me, if it seemed sound to me, I would simply say “Well go & do it then”. This is based upon the fact that no-one, not even the boss, should be indispensable & equally on the idea that all staff should be encouraged to own problems. In the event that their solution isn’t as successful as we all hoped, I would then personally contact the customer, reassure them I was aware of the situation, & that I had participated in / shared in the original decision. I then promised that everything was being done to remedy the situation as a matter of urgency.
Naturally, it is vital that promises are delivered upon. As far as leadership is concerned, this process makes staff feel appreciated, valued for their expertise, & respected for their efforts, & most importantly, feel empowered to make decisions on their own. Naturally, concomitant upon that is the need for the boss to mentor staff where necessary & also monitor decisions through normal reporting & feedback processes.
Comments & feedback welcome
Tony Friedlander
Friedlander Associates
Business & IT Brokers & Advisors
Thanks for your thoughts- very interesting!
ReplyDelete