A lesson in leadership from the teenagers!

The pressure is mounting on those fast approaching GCSEs, with almost daily revision classes and schools running catch up sessions filling every available evening and even weekends. The expectation of many adults is to want their offspring to excel, achieve their very best, exceed their expected results and generally do better than others - understandably. Applications for tertiary education have been submitted, bearing likely grades, and the wheels on the selection machine are already turning. Yet against this backdrop of busyness many are struggling with motivation and desire to achieve. What is missing for these soon to be adults, who really shouldn’t have too much to be concerned about? Asking the question of a small group of Year 11 boys, and managing to get beyond the typically grunted response of “whatever”, was a lesson in leadership.

Asking the boys what would help encourage them to put in the effort now to get better results in the summer was enlightening. The consensus opinion was simple – it’s cash! If teachers and parents were prepared to pay a substantial hourly rate for study time, paid in cash and paid at the end of each hour then they would happily put in the time. When challenged about the quality of the output that would be generated by this payment the counter-challenge was that parents could pay extra for quality! How amusing to think that many businesses invest in management development, up-skilling them to negotiate and yet it’s an innate skill for these boys when the output is meaningful for them.

Thinking it can’t be all about money inspired further questions to try to discover what is missing for these boys, who incidentally are all of above average ability. What is missing is an understanding of the purpose for the incremental busyness they are experiencing. Yes, they know the exams are now only a few months away. Yes, they know they are expected to achieve their very best. And, yes, they are astute enough to know that the school league table of results for next year is depending on their efforts! But still the piece that is missing for them is a purpose that they can relate to. Even those with determination and a clear ambition for a future career are questioning why they have to memorise facts and learn knowledge now, that they can see no application of in their own futures. The piece that these boys want to understand is how what they are learning now will be of use to them in the future. They are lacking a vision and a purpose to align to, which means something now and longer term. So it’s not just about incentives but it’s also being able to see the value of what they are being asked to do.

How many employees are in the same position? They are driven by targets set by their business leaders, they are given resources and training and the tools to be more effective. Some are even encouraged and praised and rewarded for achievement by their leaders. But just like the GCSE students if they cannot see a purpose or a reason for the busyness that is meaningful to them, will they truly be motivated and give their best to the company or are they just thinking “whatever”?!

Exceeding Expectation: the principles of outstanding leadership

This month saw The Work Foundation publish the results of a two-year qualitative study of outstanding leadership. The researchers conducted over 250 interviews with leaders, their managers and their direct reports in six UK organisations. The research has uncovered clear differences between good and outstanding leadership resulting in the presentation of evidence to support a systemic, people centred approach to high performance leadership. Emerging from the analysis are nine themes and three principles which characterise outstanding leaders:

1. They think and act systemically
2. They see people as the route to performance
3. They are self-confident without being arrogant

So, can these nine themes and three principles be learnt? Yes, undoubtedly they can – the 77 leaders interviewed were not cloned, neither did they have equal measures of skill or ability. One of the common factors for the 77 is their individual recognition that they continue to learn, develop and evolve as leaders.

One of the most thought provoking points in the report executive summary is the implication in this sentence: “Some of the outstanding leaders featured in the research did not originally have a people-focused approach, but realised the impact they were having on people and therefore adjusted their style accordingly.”

Think about your own leadership approach and think about your organisation and its policies and procedures, especially performance management linked processes. Do they allow for up and coming leaders to examine their own impact, realise implications (either individually or supported by coaching) and make adjustments and re-invent themselves as outstanding future leaders?

Or in the current economic environment is this just not possible and is the zero tolerance approach to mistakes adopted by many organisations the way forward?

We are interested in your experiences and your views.....

Leaders – are they born or made? A viewpoint from Potential2Achieve.

It’s a question that has been debated by some of the greatest experts on Leadership for many years, often resulting in polarised opinion. Let’s start by quoting Dr Brent Smith, Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School who, when asked the question by MBA students and members of the press seeking learned opinion, will reply with “well, it’s a little difficult to make a leader unless he or she has been born!” Of course, Brent will then follow that statement with the output of his analytical research and sage advice.

Here at Potential2Achieve we too have an opinion on this topic. At the heart of Potential2Achieve values we believe that there is untapped wisdom and capability within everyone that is waiting to be discovered and applied. So, in that context, of course leaders are made. It is very tempting to say at this point “but it all depends” because in reality there is a dependency on the organisation that the leader is a part of to have defined what makes a leader.

In our experience organisations are generally very good at setting the expectations of their leaders in terms of their managerial output. For example, Performance Management process completed on time and in alignment with a set distribution curve, Employee Engagement survey results to improve x% year on year. However, rarely do organisations define what they require in behavioural terms from their leaders and it is rarer still that organisations align those behaviours to their external brand.

At Potential2Achieve when working with organisations to assist the process of developing leaders we start with understanding the external brand. What are the beliefs and values that underpin that brand? How do leaders, at all levels in the organisation need to behave to be role-models of that brand? Do the policies, practices and procedures of the organisation support and contribute to the value of the brand? Do the people within the organisation have the skills, capability and knowledge to bring the brand to life? Once the leader can understand the leadership “system” they are working within, they can then evaluate for themselves if they wish to be a leader. If there is a match between the core values of the organisation and the core values of the leader then the making of the leader is a much simpler matter.

Tell us about your experiences of leadership systems and your views on whether leaders are born or made.