“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, become more, you are a leader” – John Quincy Adams.
SUCCESS THROUGH PEOPLE SERIES
GREG MITCHCELL
In this series of articles, Greg Mitchell (Principal of HR Success) highlights their exclusive 8 Elements to Success through People© Model, designed to create and sustain engaging, productive workplaces that drive business success.
Today, we take a look at one of the two “Do not pass go, do not collect $200” elements of the model – Effective Leadership (the other “Do not pass go….” element is Clear Vision and Strategy, which we covered in an earlier edition of WSBA).
The simple fact is that the best, most sustainable businesses have great leadership. Leaders need to be effective from both task and people perspectives: they need to be achievement-focused, technically-capable, able to align the activity of others to strategy, self-aware, authentic and relatable, consultative and consistent.
While each individual leader needs to be effective, they also need to be collectively effective, particularly as the business grows.
They need to be “on the same page” in terms of vision and values for example, and they need to work effectively together to determine and achieve the right strategy for success.
To get some idea as to how your business is presently positioned in relation to Effective Leadership, rate each of the following items on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being “not at all”, and 5 being “to a great extent”.
To what extent….
- Do you/your managers have the necessary skills and experience to effectively lead the team?
- Do those individuals leading others in your business act as a cohesive group?
- Do individual managers make decisions based on the overall benefit to the business (as distinct from their own areas of responsibility)?
- Do you/individual managers demonstrate the desired behaviours and values of the business?
- Do you/your managers have an appropriate balance between “getting stuff done” and effectively managing and developing others?
Total your responses to calculate your score out of a potential maximum of 25. The lower your score the more opportunities there are to improve your business!
Consider these Tips:
- Provide opportunities for leaders to get individual feedback and coaching on their management/ leadership styles and plan for improvement (diagnostics such as Everything DiSC® and Human-Synergistics LSI can be valuable).
- Consider/evaluate the collective effectiveness of the management team and identify development or other opportunities to improve.
- Place leadership on the agenda as an item for discussion at the next management meeting. Gather views regarding current individual and collective effectiveness, discuss what “good” leadership look like within your business, and what can/should be done differently?
- Develop a simple matrix of core capabilities (knowledge, skills and personal attributes) required of managers, assess current incumbents and provide support to fill identified gaps.
Note: If you’re “flying solo” as a leader in your business, reflect on the effectiveness of your own leadership style by considering the attributes of the most and least effective leaders you’ve come across. Then ask yourself; what type of leader do you want to be? If you’re not quite there yet, what actions can you take today/next week/next month to get there?
Curious as to how your business or team is performing in terms of the other 7 elements of the model? Check out our free, confidential diagnostic today – www.hrsuccess.com.au/diagnostic.
