An organisation is a shadow of its leaders: Leadership behaviours are crucial and need to reflect the organisation’s values.

When we talk about leadership, we are talking about leaders at every level of an organisation from the executive down. The business can have purpose and clarity at the top, but this can fall apart in translation to team leaders charged with implementing the strategy. We all know people who have strong functional competence, and have been promoted to a leadership position without the toolkit to set them up for success as a leader. People do not innately know how to be good leaders; they need to be coached. Many people have traits which will help them to lead, but also so-called “development areas” which need to be worked on if they are to be effective in a leadership position.

So, what defines great leadership?
  • Deep understanding of internal and external environments and the ability to create winning strategies based on this.
  • The ability to communicate strategy and purpose clearly and with impact to their teams.
  • Role modelling leadership behaviours: trust, fairness, ability to listen, open-mindedness, flexibility and adaptability, decisiveness (in a timely way), ability to “get things done”, high EQ, ability to create fruitful and resonant relationships, deep integrity, broad-mindedness in the face of a diversity of people and opinion, ability to motivate others. Quite some list, but the best leaders, who are able to create the highest performing teams, have learnt to do all of these with some considerable effort.
  • When they have communicated the purpose, leaders need to be able to empower their people to deliver.
  • They need to have integrity above all else. Increasingly savvy customers will only stay loyal to organisations who demonstrate integrity, and the same is true for employees. Word gets around!

Great leadership, high-performing cultures, and a high level of employee engagement are of course inextricably linked. All of these need to be developed and sustained, and the result is accelerated business performance.

To view an excerpt from our session on leadership at the CIPD annual conference, click here.

We deliver this through:
  • Executive teams – Agreeing strategic focus; aligning the senior team; enhancing individual contribution; defining and role-modelling chosen leadership behaviours
  • Leaders – Working with individual senior leaders to build and target their impact; focussing on critical opportunities i.e. Product launches, Conferences, Events, Site visits
  • Leadership Development Programmes – Enhancing your leadership capability to ensure strength in depth.

Insights into Leadership

Why Authentic Leaders are Winning

“Authentic leaders” are believed to get better results and have more engaged, productive staff. What traits lead to commercial success?

Leadership, Diversity & High-Performing Teams

We examine to what extent the quality of leadership and level of diversity determines team performance.

Business Culture Awards Leadership Case Studies

Leaders who set out to inspire trust, collaboration, inclusivity and a sense of purpose have the ability to engage and retain the best talent. Find award-winning approaches here.

To discuss your organisational needs and to find out more about our approach, please contact us.