I most usually start leadership development training by asking delegates “what is leadership?” or “define leadership” and I record their responses on a flipchart. My aims being to obtain some understanding of delegates’ pre training perspective whilst getting them to begin thinking about the subject matter. The recorded responses become integral to the training as they are referred to at different stages. If you have time and are so inclined try the exercise yourself; recording your responses on a blank piece of paper. On completion of recording the responses I invite delegates to note their responses fall into three broad categories; namely, behaviours, personal attributes and job related skills / knowledge. I then record ‘b’, ‘a’ or ‘s’ beside each response, as appropriate, and often these are not mutually exclusive, especially behaviours and attributes. Without exception to date the majority responses are behaviours with some attributes and an occasional skill or knowledge related response. Similar results are obtained by asking delegates to describe ‘a good leader’. So how does such a list correlate to any text book definitions of leadership? Try the exercise and find out for yourself.

We define leadership simply as the ability to influence and motivate others to perform successfully. ‘Measured’ against this definition the significance and importance of behaviour and personal attributes is immediately apparent, especially when considering leadership at all levels, including peer group and self leadership. This is also a definition of leadership which makes no presumption of authority to lead and acknowledges people are not necessarily motivated best by the application of authority. To understand this more fully I ask you to think about the best leader you have personal experience of in getting the most from you in terms of fulfilling your potential. Then reflect on how he or she achieved this. My guess is it was achieved by more ‘carrot’ less ‘stick’ and a good deal of ‘lead by example’ than anything to do with application of authority. Should you choose to do so, it is likely you will find the converse to be true; that is, your worst leadership experience was most likely very authoritarian and fraught with poor behaviour and bad examples.

Leadership without authority – the ability to influence and motivate others to perform successfully is dependent upon balancing behaviour underpinned by personal attributes with some skills and knowledge. Interestingly, skills and knowledge are rarely raised as significant when considering leadership. The leadership conundrum being we as a society tend to promote our leaders on the basis of having proven their skills and knowledge but their relative success will depend upon their behaviour and attributes. The leadership challenge is the difficulty of dealing with and changing behaviour and behaviour related issues; especially ones own.

One final ‘exercise’ to demonstrate my point. Consider all the high profile ‘bad leadership’ stories in the media at present; what are the common denominators, behaviours, personal attributes or professional skills and knowledge?

Europe’s dead, the world is going into a double dip recession, businesses are going into receivership, and banks aren’t lending money; how come this nation’s businesses function at all. If you believed all you read in the newspapers or hear on the radio or TV you would be feeling pretty depressed as you enter a brave new year. How would those negative feelings assist you in challenging business times, how would they boost your confidence, how would they inspire those you lead to greater feats and happiness?

The natural inclination to focus on the negative underpinned by a natural instinct designed to assist self preservation also comes with a severe negative influence that is extremely unhealthy as the world of capitalism mutates into something new and unknown. Positivity is the only way forward but positivity requires perspective,

Key attributes that are needed in organisations to allow businesses to survive and develop in this new economic climate are vision, flexibility, courage, determination, teamwork and a positive disposition. None of them are new, few of them are developed and sustained deliberately in times of plenty and yet they are the ones most needed when times become more difficult.  What is missing in the short term approach to business is perspective. Its missing when things are healthy as it is not required but the evidence of its absence is stark when things get tougher. Perspective is vital within business leadership. Perspective is a view or prospect; it is also a particular way of regarding something. However for me the best description in a business context is an understanding of the relative importance of things.

The most important consideration in today’s business perspective is that the world has changed and it will not return to the heady days of 2008 prior to the banking crisis. But disaster is not as imminent as the media would have us believe.  Business is changing form as pace, risk, economics and environment impact upon it. It is only those business that have true perspective and apply themselves in a positive way using vision, flexibility, courage, determination that will endure whilst those without perspective who hanker after days gone by will soon become a part of history as they are the ones that lack the necessary qualities.

Well we are in the doldrums economically; however we are not going to remain there as the human requirement to drive forward to seek better times begins to take effect. Quite simply when you are the bottom of a well you have two choices drown or start climbing and I believe that we are now beginning our ascent. So as we emerge into a brave new world that will be very different from all that has gone before how are we preparing for it?

Most businesses are anchored in the world of current balance sheets, reducing overheads and expenses, laying off staff and acquiring investment. All of which can have a severe negative impact on a business and its ethos,   few have had the sense to take stock of their position strategically and seize the moment. A former Prime minister who lived through harder times once said:

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”. – Winston Churchill

So how do we seize the current moment for sure the economic recovery will be slow and for sure the competition will be tough and getting tougher and better. So how do you stand out as an organisation that gives added value?

People buy from people, people do business with people so the answer is there: Develop your people in preparation for the new world, develop your people to take your organisation forward, develop your people to show that you care and are prepared to invest in their futures as well as your own. Customers not bosses are the ones who ultimately pay wages unless you are fortunate enough to have found a generous benefactor.

I am constantly amazed at the lack of preparedness of UK companies to train their staff to gain competitive advantage. UK companies normally train to conform to legislation. A bout 80% of training is paid for by government subsidies and the popular belief is that government funds training. Unfortunately most of this training is below NVQ level 3.  Companies don’t train when they are busy- because there isn’t the time and don’t train when they are slack – because there isn’t the money. Yet if an organisation wants to recover or better its market position in the face of improving competition now is the time to train. Now is the time to give staff the tool set and the culture to provide an organisation with the competitive advantage. Particularly in a future world that is quickly looking very different from the one that took us to the current recession. We have to do something positive to seize the opportunity.

As that same Prime Minister said:

“For myself I am an optimist- it does not seem to be much use being anything else” Winston Churchill

The question is posed in the context of the current economic situation and your business’ approach to ‘dealing’ with this. If your answer is “survive” I would suggest you are likely to be undermining your chances of success by adopting a limiting perspective and attitude. It is possible your thinking will be constraining your business options by the inflexibility of your view of the current situation. My view is success is all about achieving what you set out to do and avoiding failure is something very different. An approach Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb, articulated well in his quote, “If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward…”

Beware of the power of ‘spin’ and guard against it! It was widely reported last week the UK achieved a third quarter growth of 0.5%; furthermore, the global economy grew by about 4.5% during the same period. Yet our economic news was still dominated by a ‘doom and gloom’ perspective. The reality is growth is neither recession nor regression and ‘good news’ does not make good news copy. As an aside, I know of one CEO of a regional chamber of commerce who was unable to get his good news publically aired last week. Given these growth figures and that we enjoy unprecedented access (and support) to the global market place, areas of opportunity must exist to explore and exploit.

‘Niche’ is not always nice and can be a barrier to flexibility. The business ‘We Only Press Green Shirts’ is going to suffer if there are insufficient people who want their green shirts pressing. The skills, assets and resources required to press green shirts are the same as those required to press shirts of all colours, not to mention a vast array of other garments. Overly simple perhaps but my point is clear; if your client base or market share is reducing what is it you do which can be applied in another way to make a profit?

Perception really matters when assessing the future of a business. If the diminishing client base of “We Only Press Green Shirts” is seen as being due to the real term reduction in disposable income available for a discretionary spend service, I suspect conventional thinking would most likely lead to assuming the business is destined to fail. However, if we consider the client base from a different perspective it may be possible to see an opportunity. For example, those who are working in the UK are tending to continue to work long hours and most working families are reported to be struggling to allocate the time needed for domestic work.

So, are you struggling to survive or trying to thrive? Do you possess the flexibility of perspective to recognise opportunity where others see only threat? Do you have the strength of mind and determination to succeed? What is your strategy for succeeding in the current economic situation and will it be sufficiently flexible to meet the needs of a dynamic market place?

How many team building days are no more than what can be at best described as a corporate day out? What is the tangible value or benefit of such events balanced against the corporate price tag and does it really matter anyway? Perhaps strange questions to ask given I have a vested interest in businesses and organisations continuing to invest in team building activities. Or perhaps not, may be just raising awareness of the difference and posing the questions in the context of the current economic situation.

Times are tough commercially and there has seldom been a time where getting as much performance as possible from all elements of a business has been so critical. We are in a time where efficiency and effectiveness are paramount to survival, let alone thriving. Without doubt, a cohesive team working together to achieve collective optimum performance yields the best possible results for an organisation; no matter the business sector or team concerned. Such levels of teamwork and organisational cohesion do not come without considered development and attention – it doesn’t happen by accident it happens by design.

Pat Lencioni’s ‘Five Dysfunctions of a Team’, namely; absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability and inattention to results, are a good place to start in assessing an activity in terms of team building or corporate day out. If the planned activity does not address the dysfunctions in some way it is unlikely to be truly a team building activity. That is to say, teambuilding activities should build trust, facilitate challenging dialogue and encourage commitment and accountability whilst being focused on achieving results. All eminently possible through practical team activities involving objective appraisal and constructive feedback delivered which can be fun and delivered in an unusual environment. Arguably, it would be extremely difficult to address the dysfunctions without using interactive methods and more or less practical activities.

Quad biking, karting, a day at the races, clay pigeon shooting, etc. all fun, practical activities which teams can participate; however, team building? I don’t think so. Committing to participate in a CSR team activity, team challenge day, team competition, team ‘survival skills’ exercise, etc. all generally ‘hit the spot’ in terms of team building. Interestingly enough, both sets of activities are all probably pretty much in the same ‘ball park’ in terms of cost. When all is said and done, it is just a question of what is the real aim of the ‘activity day’. After all, enjoying social, fun activities together brings benefits to the team too, but let’s not call them team building.

There are several levels of leadership required within an organisation and certain levels are better undertaken by particular types of people. This means that the characteristics that best suit one level of leadership may not be so useful in another. Yet most organisations drive their leaders through the various tiers without acknowledging the different attributes and skills required.

Early leadership is generally measured on results. So a successful leader is one who achieves results. They tend to be task oriented and hard taskmasters who drive their teams forward. Great in a sales environment great when measured against targets and within results oriented organisations.

Yet as these leaders move away from the front line or coal face their attributes may become less applicable. Driving a small team in a tactical environment is very different from the people skills required to motivate and influence larger teams perhaps through their own team leaders rather than directly. Leading from a greater distance away is far more challenging and people oriented. No longer are the close in results the only requirement but getting teams to stay motivated and to contribute over the longer term becomes an issue.  Vision and strategy need to be developed and bought into People in these roles have to have developed their comprehension of social identity and leadership styles in order to be fully effective. They are divorced from quick results and move into a position where they have to lead people to generate long term results.

The ability to see and understand the big picture is often rare in leaders as they are too close in and results oriented. Organisations need to identify strategic high performers and nurture them in order to sustain and enhance their market position.

It is this sort of talent management that marks out the companies with genuine longevity.

Sometimes leaders just don’t understand what the true consequences of their decisions and actions are. Self sabotage by leaders comes about through ignorance, over confidence,  omnipotent self belief and delusion. One only has to look at the musings of dictators as they come to the end of their terms in power to draw examples I rest my case with the current furore around FIFA. The problem is that rarely is an autocratic leader told the truth by subordinates. The confidence required to reach power can quickly become the confidence that ensures the fall from power.

Leaders need to have a trusted sounding board somewhere in their team such as  Josh Bolten, George W Bush’s chief of staff,  who always tried to encourage others to be frank in front of the president.”I took it as my role as chief of staff where an issue was truly presidential to insist that the disagreement be aired in front of the president in full glory. So I found myself needling cabinet officers and senior advisers and prodding them into taking the extreme form of disagreement that I knew existed outside the room to give the president a real chance to make a decision, and for the boss that I served.” The role of trusted adviser becomes essential when in a crisis.

However that  sounding board has to remain enlightened and cannot become like the leader dizzy and deluded on power.  True “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” and yet when one truly reflects on the great transformational leaders of our time they are some of the most humble: Mother Theresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela. All possessed self awareness  and all possessed a deep understanding of humanity. Humble, yet their legacy is far more powerful and omnipotent than many of the organisational leaders made in our modern capitalist society.

I believe that self awareness in a leader is a rare talent. As people reach the upper echelons of power they begin to believe in their omnipotence they are constantly worshipped by their teams of obsequious followers who in themselves are dependent upon the leader to preserve their own social status. A study done by Coopers and Lybrand a few years ago indicated that when asked CEO’s indicated that only ll% of their employees believed they were taking risks to deliver any bad news up the chain. However, the middle managers felt differently. 33% said bad news in their company (Fortune 500) was a career limiting risk and 50% of lower level employees agreed with the middle managers

A leader who reflects on personal actions and decisions, one who rejoices in their teams achievements and not their own; a leader who empowers their people without pomp and ceremony;  one who recognises the fragility and weaknesses of being human in themselves and all those around them is the real thing. For it is to them and only them that the true trust  of followership is given.

Self awareness whether self-induced or externally initiated is key to keeping a leader straight and true for self-sabotage can easily slip into a leaders repertoire without it. And when it does there will inevitably be a fall as the leader arrogantly chooses the wrong path.

A common fallacy is that leadership starts from the top. Leadership can start from anywhere and we have all been in organisations where one well led department succeeds far more than others. Great when you are part of that success but not so if you are without it.  The leaders at the top of the organisation will shape the culture of the organisation and inevitably those leaders that reflect the bosses behavioural traits will succeed. But results cannot be ignored. Great leaders get great results and get noticed. Great results in the middle can cause an organisation to improve as a whole by it replicating and adopting those leadership practices throughout the organisation.

You most certainly can be an excellent leader within a mediocre organisation and get on providing you don’t become too much of a threat to the hierarchy. It is therefore a balancing act keeping the bosses sweet whilst maximising the effect of the team. Now really clever bosses will exploit good leadership to the benefit of the whole organisation and will endeavour to maintain the services of such leaders. Bosses who feel inadequate and threatened will sabotage such leaders. Walt Disney was a fine example of someone who truly valued good people and someone who enjoyed employing people who were better than him. Ronald Reagan built a fantastic team around him during his time as US President. Both shaped teams but both had great leaders below them.

Leadership doesn’t have to start at the top and that tardy excuse that I can’t be a leader in the middle of an organisation holds no truth. Leadership occurs wherever someone is responsible for inspiring and motivating others. The choice of that individual is how they do it? Well or badly; but the real ability of the successful leader is to balance the needs of superiors with those of the team whilst achieving outstanding results.

As a leader how well do you do? Easy ask your workforce and generally if you, the leader, ask they will tell you the good bits that you do well. But how often do people tell their bosses their weaknesses? It is not generally a career enhancing move and if it does happen it happens because of high emotion or alcohol when it is delivered in its least effective way.

So how can a leader measure their effectiveness? Leadership cannot  be easily quantified as there are so many variables that need to be brought into the equation and as leadership is about motivating and inspiring many of the calls are qualitative rather than quantifiable in their measurement.

As leaders generally have some form of control over those they lead few people are rarely honest about their boss. I think David Ogilvy’s quote on market research is never more true than when asking about someone’s boss.

“The trouble ………….is that people don’t think how they feel, they don’t say what they think and they don’t do what they say.”

People seem to develop an allegiance to their leader and this allegiance is often achieved in the early days of a leadership relationship when a group accepts a leader. However, once the leader is established the group begins to follow the leader unquestioningly and that is why so many strong and good intentioned leaders so often inadvertently stray from the path of righteousness.

Leaders need challenge if they are to be at the peak of their game and that challenge has to test their mettle.  The problem is most of us find challenge uncomfortable and we normally rid ourselves of those who challenge us for fear of being usurped.

So leaders have difficulty with challenge from within the team; therefore perhaps self challenge is the answer? Well it is if you are able to keep it up, but we all know from our physical training that we are generally much more effective when we are encouraged and cajoled to greater effort. So perhaps a challenging mentor is the answer, but a mentor can be expensive and some are better than others. They also need to really understand the issues if they are to challenge effectively.

Leaders need to be able to be challenged and the safest challenge is an inanimate challenge that can be achieved through an effective means of measuring leadership efficacy.  A measurement that includes objective and subjective data and one that assesses a leader and their effect.

We at Sampson Hall have developed such a tool that is non-judgemental, a tool that identifies opportunities within an organisation, a tool that measures and tracks progress, a tool that enables the diagnoses of the causes of a situation rather that just treating the symptoms that manifest themselves.

We live in a target rich environment. Targets for this and targets for that but what do targets do to people? Targets are the domain of managers they assist in policing productivity whilst vision through inspiration is the domain of leaders. So why is that and why do businesses remain focused on targets when other motivators can be so much more effective?

Change your thoughts and you change your world. – Norman Vincent Peale

A target is set and predictable it is a way of motivating people to perform and monitoring performance. A target unless regularly reviewed is a glimpse from the past into a predicted future; so how accurate can it be? Now what happens to the individual owner of that target if the target is achieved and even more importantly what happens when the target is not achieved? It becomes a de-motivator as the subject relaxes as they reach it or become disillusioned when they don’t. So it can cut both ways.

Targets belong in a world where trust does not exist and they can be very useful when used in particular scenarios but there are other more effective and liberating ways.

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. – Peter F. Drucker

Life is about continuous improvement, striving to be better just look at the continuous progress made by athletes as world records are broken. Look at organisations and businesses that free up their people and optimise their people’s power to deliver constant improvement. Free from targets they can exploit things further they can truly achieve and go beyond the expected.

Great moments are born from great opportunities. Herb Brooks

……..and not great targets.