More Comments on Leadership (cont. 1)

Introduction

"...Organisations are getting more complex. In uncertain environments, leadership is more critical......leading is no longer leading just the people in front of you. It is how you lead a distributed workforce, how you lead in the digital age, across generations and an increasingly diverse workforce. The context is changing..."
Nick Wailes as quoted by Sally Patten et al, 2022

Change management is 1 of the 5 key leadership areas being studied at tertiary levels including at the University of South Australia. Other 4 areas include strategic planning, finance and management styles.

Some practical tips to improve your leadership

- increase focus on long-term goals (too often people are too operationally focused, ie concentrate on the daily management challenges. it is vital to allocate time to focus on the organisation's long-term goals for, perhaps, half a day a week.)

- increase collaboration (when formulating strategies, close collaboration with other key stakeholders to synthesise everyone's opinions before setting goals; linked with this is ranking stakeholders in terms of their importance to help execute strategy and frequency of communication is required.)
- use board meetings productively (minimise discussion on operational areas and maximise time on long-term goals and challenges that might arise in pursuing them.)

- be open & transparent with staff ("...recognise that everyone is different, as well as the need to understand people's view points and grievances and to avoid being defensive......it's easy sometimes to get offside with an individual......if you aren't open to the conversation and open to how they feel, what is happening and get the full picture..."
Sarah Kelly as quoted by Sally Patten et al, 2022

"...Everyone is different: no two people will ever see the same situation in the same way, and leaders must acknowledge this if they are to advance and progress. You always assume that everyone has the same context as you, which is never the case..."
Beny Furman as quoted by Sally Patten et al, 2022)

-  'I' vs 'You' (personalise things by using the 'I' statement  rather than 'you' to avoid making assumptions and putting words to other people's mouths.)

- starting conversations (
"...requires leaders begin by providing context - not with a question.......This is important because if leaders fail to provide context the other party can misinterpret the motivations behind their actions..."
Beny Furman as quoted by Sally Patten et al, 2022)

- 'in the service of' (this helps explain the why;
"...he's working 'in the service of' his organisation, his colleagues and himself..."
Joe Tran as quoted by Sally Patten et al, 2022 

- handling the uncertainty (use the Cynefin framework - see technique 2.97 modified cynefin)

- reflective leadership (use techniques such as

    i) journalling, ie at the end of the day record what has gone well, areas needing improvement, list key things you need to achieve the following days or weeks

    ii) imaginary balcony, ie look at the bigger picture, 'take a helicopter view')

- statements (the importance of staff understanding your organisation's purpose, vision, goals, strategies, etc to make everyone feel part of it
"...it is very important to have everyone on board and appreciate where you're going. You're going to have a lot more productive staff because they invest in that vision..."
Jake Bowry as quoted by Sally Patten et al, 2022

This can be more important, ie giving people direction to where the business is going, rather than just working hard and leading by example.)

- turning diversity conflict into an advantage (different personality traits sometimes are related to different cultural backgrounds.
"...Staff from different backgrounds communicate differently. It's about getting them to understand another's way of communicating and understanding that it's not a confrontation......it's just they have been brought up differently and communications is done in a different way in their cultures..."
Jake Bowry as quoted by Sally Patten et al, 2022

Need to improve the awareness of different ways of thinking and communicating)