I’ve been struck recently by the amount of times I come across organisations whose vocabulary is full of great terms like “leadership”, “engagement” and “change”. And at the same time I’m struck by how many of those same organisations are not really doing any of those (despite believing that they are). If they truly had stong leadership (and I don’t mean just the CEO but at all levels) then change would happen, employees would engage, customers would get the best products and service and business results would be strong.
All great leaders lead by example, modelling the way for their people and organisations, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, enabling others to act and encouraging the heart (ref: Kouzes and Posner). Making great speeches about leadership, having a whizzy powerpoint deck or some great posters doesn’t produce a great company.
Join in with this conversation. I’d love to hear your views on this topic and to hear your own examples of both great and not so great leadership.
It’s a great point James. I was with yet another client yesterday where people in leadership positions have been thrust there, without any development due to a restructure. Some are relishing the challenge, many are scared stiff. The lack of skill is leading to a lack of will and I think that’s mirrored in many organisations.
Another challenge comes from understanding of some of the words that you mention. I’ve started tracking down speakers at conferences who talk about strategy, engagement or leadership and ask them for their definition. Many actually don’t have their own understanding of what they are talking about.
I would be interested in hearing other readers definitions of those.
basically a leader needs to understand his audience and come down to the level of understanding of the participants.It would be better to give simple and useful examples,and talk in easy langauge to give inspiration to one and all.There is no point in expressing the beauty of a rose flower to a blind man.PVS