Leadership Development
Effective leaders build an environment that enables others to get better at what they do on an on-going basis.
* It's about assisting people to think about problems; how to reflect and learn from experience, how to engage others.
* It's about setting up small experiments and not being afraid of failure, about learning from what went wrong.
* It's about trying new things, helping people to ask good questions and to become more efficient at learning from experience, to develop concepts that tie experience together in a coherent fashion.
*It's about learning not to know all the answers but rather understand what questions to ask to get people to think productively about the crucial issues they face, to seek information that guides quality decisions and solutions that they themselves own.
All this has implications for the skills, behaviours and attitudes we seek in leaders. Instead of people who command attention, operate from positional power and act as though they know everything, we need people who act on the basis of their present knowledge and who have what Plato called the 'attitude of wisdom.' Charismatic warriors may have a place but the real issues today are around creating teams where individuals can express their talents to the full. Team design is critical to ensure the 'right' dynamic, behavioural balance and overall talent management. It's not just about attracting the best individuals; it's about creating the appropriate structures, the right culture and values fit to enable talent to flourish. It sum, it's not just about the individual leaders - they do not automatically generate effective teams, business units or organizations - for the simple reason that in today's complex connected world, people very rarely work alone.
- Leadership Explored Conversations (PDF)
- Leadership and Motivation (PDF)
- Leadership Circles (PDF)