Leadership Shouldn’t be Left to Executives!
Global adventurer Alison Levine had some interesting thoughts to share on the nature of leadership recently. She said “… I think it’s a mistake to rely on executives for leadership or people that have certain titles or a certain amount of tenure.” She went on to say “I think people realise everyone’s in a leadership position. And leadership shouldn’t be left to an executive staff or board of directors or heads of department.”
If we take these words to heart – then our jobs as CEO’s, Executive Directors and Vice-Presidents, is to cultivate the leader within each employee. There isn’t a magic formula to achieve this, but we can start by assessing our own behaviour and attitude to work and seeing how our style of management or leadership influences the styles of the people around us. Moving beyond ourselves, how does the culture of the organisation in which we work, affect the emergence of leadership behaviours as the norm, rather than the exception. And what of the power structures within the workplace? What impact would a workplace of leaders have on the exercise of authority, autonomy and consistency in decision-making?
Perhaps the answer lies in creating a culture that enables different people to emerge as leaders as and when the need arises. As circumstances and situations differ, the individuals taking on leadership roles also differ. Hence, the person best placed to fill the leadership role does so, rather than the person whose job title denotes leadership authority in the situation. Managers and supervisors can be trained to exhibit leadership behaviour and to cultivate leadership behaviours in their colleagues and direct reports. CramdenTECH’s two-day programme “Leadership Skills for Supervisors and Managers“, is designed to help participants to develop their own leadership potential and that of the people they work with. You can learn more about the programme at https://cramdentech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Learn-with-CramdenTECH-Spring-2014-Workshops-and-Seminars.pdf.
And if you would like to learn more about Alison Levine’s thoughts on leadership, you can watch her appearance on CBS http://www.cbsnews.com/news/on-the-edge-an-adventurers-guide-to-leadership/ as she promotes her new book, “On the Edge: The Art of High-Impact Leadership.”