Lets strip back some of the traditional views of leadership, strategy, power & responsibility, to enable us to quickly get to the heart of modern leadership.
Put simply, leadership is the ability to influence & manipulate people & the factors under your control to create the outcome you want – this needs to be done in a considered manner.
At its most basic level there are three core elements to leadership. They can be described as:
– Strategy – this is what you or your organisation & your recipients/community want. Be clear on the problem you’re trying to solve. What is the long-term view of your business & the goals you have for growth, sustainability & value creation – social equity & financial wealth to allow you to do what you decide.
– Power – the ability to make others do what you would have them do – exercised with care.
– Responsibility – being answerable & accountable for the things you decide to do and the impact they have. We own it.
Why these things? Well, put simply they are all elements of leadership and are characteristics of good leaders. Conversely, they are generally absent when there are poor leaders operating within organisations.
A New Definition – PURPOSEFUL EXCELLENCE AND DELIBERATE CHOICE
Clarity of purpose is becoming more important as the foundation stone during times of change & values become the yardstick by which we measure decisions and future business models. And the yardstick by which we are measured by others.
Its easy to pay lip service to organisational values when things are going well – have you noticed though how inconvenient values are when they’re tested in real-life situations? While some folks might not agree with you as a leader, if you are able to use those agreed principles as a cornerstone of your communication, changes & overall approach, they will generally accept your rationale & foundation. Of course there will be those that simply don’t, won’t or can’t. They then test the values of your organisation & its appropriate for you to support them to make decisions that result in them finding another path.
Collective Efficacy (the ability to produce a desired or intended result) is embedded in this concept, as is active engagement – leaders need to recognise that we operate in a much more dynamic two-way relationship with customers and the market than ever before.
So how does that look?
