Everywhere we turn we hear organisations lamenting about leadership, it’s one of the most researched, written about, presented, and spoken about subject in the business world – globally.

 

Where the role of the Manager is very clear, and we have courses on this subject from high school to university, the subject of leadership is very nebulous.  Many have tried to create the ‘to do’ list of prescriptive leadership must dos.  We are constantly presented with examples of leadership from Martin Luther King to Julius Caesar, or we are sent to seminars which talk about the multiple characteristics of leadership. Trouble is, they vary so much from leader to leader as to become non-sensical, making it impossible to apply those characteristics to ourselves in our context.

Let’s face it, leadership may have broad characteristics, but the delivery is as unique as each one of us.  What works for one doesn’t always work for the other, not only that, a change in context can also create a change in results.  Organisations, however, play a part in creating the Leadership gap.

 

5 things organisations can do to develop sustainable leadership:

 

  1. Take the time to define what leadership looks like in ‘this organisation’ and hold people to account. Leadership is more than just the Vision statement on the wall.
  2. Review the structure and push down responsibility, the idea being to free up leaders ‘hands-on delivery’ responsibilities at all levels of management and get them back to managing and leading. Leadership is about relationships; people must make the time to develop relationships to be effective leaders.
  3. Refocus on leadership; it’s not just a ‘nice to have’ especially when the pressure to deliver is on. We inherently focus on outcomes and delivery (financial results), but the best results come from teams with excellent leaders.
  4. Hire and promote for behavioural/people skills as well as technical skills, continue to develop those behavioural/people skills with those likely to be promoted in the organisation. Ensure when your people are promoted, they are ready for the role.
  5. Recognise that agility and flexibility are essential in today’s leaders as well and their ability to work as a close coherent team. Change is constantly occurring and great leaders deliver successful change, over and over.

 

At Career Life Transitions, our premise is that Leadership is based on understanding of self, understanding others, and building meaningful relationships. To help your organisation develop your leaders contact us on info@careerlife.net.au or (08) 6336 8620