One of the topics I have often written about is leadership. There are a couple of reasons for this. One is that much of the skill set within NLP is essential for effective leadership. And the other is that today, in my opinion, the world is bereft of good leadership, and I want to do something to change that. Over the next few months, intermingled with other posts, I will publish a short series of blogs specifically on leadership.
Most large organisations run leadership courses. Literature on leadership tends to focus on knowledge, skills, and behaviours. These can be taught and learned, though sometimes only on the job. The other widely recognised requirement for good leaders is character. This is easy enough to discuss and to illustrate with good and bad examples, but it is hard to teach. To some degree you either have this or you don’t. Also, when it comes to character, my ideas about what are good and bad examples, might not match with your own views. This then raises the question; Who should lead whom to do what?
One of the models of leadership that I like is from the work of Warren Bennis. His ideas grew from studying 90 leaders from all walks of life. I break down what he says into these four categories –
- Context
- Vision
- Followers
- The Leader
The context of human life is incredibly varied. This is one of the reasons why there are so many different leadership modalities. Every leader needs to understand the context within which they are leading. If you are leading a sales team in a travel business, your context includes the management structure and systems around you. This includes the technology you use, the customers, the suppliers, and your team members. How experienced is your team, what training have they had, what other resources do they need. You probably won’t need to pay much attention to the geopolitical or economic environment, or the needs of the company’s shareholders, but if you were the CEO of this business, you would. Winston Churchill’s early leadership during World War II was crucial to ultimate Allied victory. He understood the geopolitical context of the world in the mid 20th Century better than anyone else. He knew that for democracy to flourish, the only viable policy in the face of fascism was, implacable opposition.
By understanding the context, the leader can then articulate their vision. This vision encapsulates their ideas for the direction in which the organisation must travel to thrive. It will likely set out what needs to change, what should remain the same, and what contribution must be made by the followers. It may include timeframes, milestones and objectives. The vision needs to be articulated in a manner that all stakeholders will understand. Churchill made a series of speeches during the Battle of France between May and June 1940. The most famous of which is the, “We shall fight them on the beaches” speech. This was delivered just as the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force and elements of the French First Army from Dunkirk was wrapping up. He needed to prepare the British people for a possible invasion, and encourage the French, whilst never wavering in his confidence of ultimate victory. He had only been Prime Minister for under a month.
If you have no followers, you are leading no one but yourself. People will follow you because they can tell that your vision is right for the times and is right for them. Your followers want to do a good job and to be associated with success. Followers can manage for a time without the resources, processes, and management that they need, but not over the long term. Part of the role of a leader is to provide these things. All too often followers get swept along with a charismatic leader. One that looks the part and sounds good but cannot deliver anything more than inspirational speeches. But real charisma comes from being an effective leader, it’s not the other way round.
The final category of leadership is all about the leader themselves. This is where the knowledge, skills, behaviours, and character come into play. Some of which is learnable, and some is to a degree innate. An effective leader is someone who can turn intention into reality. There are a whole host of traits of effective leadership, but if you focus on these three you will be off to a good start.
- This should be visible in work and outside of it. Integrity is about having principles which guide your behaviour. It is about honouring your commitments and promises, and it is about connecting with something bigger than you.
- One grows into a leadership role. Being a good leader is about being yourself, and growing into more of who you are. This process requires that you learn. It will mean that you take risks and learn from your mistakes.
- As a leader you must be passionate about your vision, the journey that you are embarking on. If you are, it will help you to take others with you.
“Leadership seems to be the marshalling of skills possessed by a majority but used by a minority.” Warren Bennis & Burt Nanus
