Leadership
The last time I Googled “what is leadership?” I got 713 million results in 0.48 seconds.
There isn’t an answer to the question of what great leadership is other than the one we work out for ourselves in the context of the expectations of our organisation. In fact there are probably as many definitions of leadership as there are people who have attempted to define it.
I have a preferred definition. It comes from Bill O’Brien, former President of Hanover Insurance. According to him the fundamental task of a leaders is:
“To provide the enabling conditions for people to lead the most enriching lives they can.”
This gets to the heart of the responsibility that leaders have for the lives of the people who may spend more time around them than they do with anyone else.
Leadership development programmes
Check out our open leadership programme:
"Thriving Leadership"
Register your interest
I will also work with you to design and deliver a leadership development programme to prepare people for their first leadership position or sharpen the skills and competencies of those who are already leaders in your organisation. My programmes have helped people to:
- Become more self-aware through, for example, the considered use of psychometrics;
- Build more effective and productive interpersonal relationships;
- Plan and organise effectively and efficiently;
- Influence and persuade stakeholders
- Build effective teams; and
- Think strategically about purpose and values
- Build resilience
- Become more effective learners
Action Learning
Many of my programmes have included opportunities for action learning. Action learning sets give people the opportunity to come together in small groups with a facilitator to work on organisational tasks, opportunities or issues about which they want to do something. They are a great way for colleagues to learn from each other and use the resources of the action learning set to come up with ideas and approaches to implement in the workplace.
They help participants to hone their skills as presenters, to listen more intentionally, to question more powerfully and to practice giving and receiving feedback. They bring learning and action together in away envisaged by Reg Revans founder of the idea:
“there is no learning without action and no (sober and deliberate) action without learning”
Participants in action learning sets have often described these as the most powerful part of their leadership development programme.