Leadership Development 

Forbes is pretty scathing about the leadership development provision currently on offer, stating that our definition of leadership is too narrow.  I concur because our definition of leadership IS way too narrow and thus we miss such potential.

Do you believe everyone has leadership potential? I do. Forbes says that a leader is anyone who has followers. Do you have followers? On social media? On professional networks? In life? In that case, you are leading, in however large or small a way.

“If management equals complexity then leadership equals change”

And I love that definition. Leaders lead people through change. Leaders lead change through people. Why is this essential? Because everything changes all of the time. Life is not static. Organisations and business cannot remain static precisely because their markets are not static.
Markets are not static because, whilst we assume they are finance-driven, they are actually driven by human needs and desires. One thing a human is guaranteed to do is change. Change their wants, their needs, their minds, their cars, their diets…

So leadership is about enabling responsiveness and agility. If a process or a business is entirely static, it will be left behind. If a business is resilient and responsive to the feedback from its customers, then it can grow and learn and move to accommodate change.

Real Leadership Development

So it would seem that leaders lead change? I think instead good leaders are responsive to the need for change. I think good leadership development needs to recognise that change is lead by humans: Change is implemented by humans and it is humans that benefit. Good leadership needs to be secure enough to be able to hear and respond to suggestions from all directions, not just company directors.

I have heard it said that if you really want to know what is happening in an organisation, then ask the cleaner. This perspective is usually way more informed than any lofty CEO who hasn’t spoken with a customer in a decade.

Empower the cleaner to action the change that is needed and who knows how much more agile and indeed profitable your business could be. Honour those contributions from all levels of your organisation and this generosity will be gifted over and above.

Engagement is real leadership development. Engagement, rewarded at all levels of your business, will bring a wealth of holistic perspectives. There is nothing more valuable than that.

You can find Rebecca here at the Daemon Career Coach