3 Key Aspects of Organisational Leadership

‘In 2017, US organisations spent nearly $31 billion dollars on leadership programmes yet 84 percent of organizations still anticipate a shortage of leaders in the next five years’

This knowledge alone epitomizes the importance of leadership and the impact it has on an organisations long term results, yet at the same time I also believe it is something that isn’t addressed enough.

We live in a world of immense technology and AI, but we are slowly forgetting our ability to be connected human beings. We are forgetting about our own greatness.

Over the past 8 years in training, coaching and speaking, I have worked with close to 5000 people in both personal and professional environments, which has enabled me to determine many aspects of leadership and their effectiveness within a corporate environment.

The reason for this article is to share some of the key aspects of that knowledge gained, so you as a leader that can implement this information and ultimately take yourself and the team forward.

But before we get into that, I think it’s very important to identify what poor,out of date leadership is costing yourself and the organisation as a whole.

First let’s start with you, as I believe everything does start there!

Without the development of your own leadership ability, you will always be the individual left behind.

You will find yourself constantly trying to breakdown the communication barriers, which will leave you feeling very undervalued due lack of the mutual respect in your office environment.

You will find yourself ridiculously stressed, due to the feeling of not being seen or heard in the appropriate manner. This will cause you to be triggered easily, as you start to run out of options in creating the rapport for optimum performance all round.

You will have no idea what moves the people around you, which will result in relationships being a difficult process. You desire to create that ‘open door’ environment which encourages communication, but you still find yourself wondering where to start in making that happen. It is a long and draining process for you.

If that is you?... please let me know and don’t be afraid to admit it!

So that’s the impact on you out the way, but what about your team and the people around you?... (In my eyes your most important asset overall)

People ey?.... They are absolutely brilliant, they never fail to surprise you!

So how is your undeveloped leadership ability impacting your most important business asset?....

Well here’s how.

The people in your team rely on the old school ‘Chinese whisper” method in communicating what they want.

They attempt to speak their mind through the a perceived superior, which turns into an ugly cycle of demotivation whilst most of the staff suffer in silence.

Huge grey areas, poor communication, poor productivity and unhappy people.

In truth, the people simply want to be treated as human beings.

They are not just the part of the engine that spins the financial wheel, when given chance they are actually more powerful and innovative than you could ever realise.

It’s just that most of the time they are feeling suppressed - and that leads me onto my next point.

Suppression - a corporate world culture that is killing all potential and not changing anytime soon.

In short, your lack of leadership and poor emotional intelligence is metaphorically stamping out every ounce of potential that your team holds within them. They want to be able to speak their mind, but they are living fear in the workplace environment. They feel they can’t be themselves.

The culture of suppression is creating robots and you have the power to change that.

To do this you could potentially use these 3 key aspects below....

3 Key Aspects of Organisational Leadership

Value

Value - probably my favourite word in my whole journey of development so far. So very simple but mightily effective, yet we simply get so busy in our own heads, we overlook every part of it.

Value is absolutely everything.

Now if your reading this and you currently lead a team of individuals, there’s a very high chance that every single one of them people will be completely different, but we continue to treat them all in the same way.

We create expectations and fantasies in our mind of how we believe our team should be, which ultimately destroys any chance to genuinely connect with these people on a decent level.

You have to acknowledge that everyone is different, and you have to support them to feel valued simply for being the individuals they are. 

Without that, you are not a leader. Without that you are simply widening the grey areas and underestimating the people around you.

Do what it takes to help them feel valued. Start to get to know who they are and why they do what they do. Maybe find out what’s important to them versus thinking about numbers most of the time?..

This is not necessarily about money. Some people just want to be spoken to correctly. Some people may just want to talk about or celebrate themselves and who they are.

At the end of the day, if someone is going to spend 8/12 hours a day trading their time for your money, it is up to you to get to know these people as a whole.

‘A simple question or conversation may pay you for the rest of your life’

Take responsibility.

"You have to value yourself before you value the people around you - remember, everything starts with you"

‘Be a master at creating a sense of belonging ‘

Climate 

Don’t worry, I’m not talking about office room temperatures here, I’m considering the working environment that YOU create as a whole.

I have split the elements of ‘climate’ into 5 ‘easy to digest’ sections.

1.   Clarity - Does yourself and the team have a clear understanding of the organisations mission as a whole?...

No matter who you are, one thing that you do need in life is purpose. You and your people have to have a good idea of the direction you are going.

The truth?...

Most people don’t have a scooby doo! They are simply robotic zombies settling for an average life, and you have the ability to shift that.

Happier people = increased productivity and purpose = improved profitability and turnover....

Sounds great doesn’t it?....

2.   Commitment - Have you married the teams highest values with a commitment to themselves and the organisation?..

What are your team and staff members committed to? Do you have any idea at all?... 

Most teams don’t.

Amazing things can start to take place when a group is committed to a common goal, and it’s up to you to make this important.

3.   Flexibility - No, I’m not talking about integrating yoga in the office on a daily basis.

I’m talking about, how free does the team feel to be able to innovate and express themselves?..

Is the working climate serving them to use their own initiative?

or is it currently a ‘do as I say’ policy which tends to always result in breakdown and mass firefighting?...

I’ll let you decide that one. Maybe this is where the value comes in? Maybe this where you can admit that you might be wrong?..

4.   Responsibility

How much responsibility is given within your current climate? This is especially a challenge for the leaders who are always finding themselves putting out of fires.

Boundaries and trust create responsibility.

This is can be very difficult for the perfectionist that wants to be in 12 places at once! But at the same, if you aren’t encouraging responsibility and ownership, you will never create sustainable results.

5.   Standards and feedback

. What are the current standards of your overall feedback process in relation to performance?....

Basically, most leaders are rubbish with feedback due to the lack of rapport and understanding with the people around them.

How can you ever provide great feedback on performance if you don’t understand the team members in the first place?....

A second thing to consider here, is your ability to provide apt rewards and incentives.

Again this isn’t always financial. This comes down to getting to know what drives your team both on a conscious and unconscious level.

Once that is understood, you will provide the best feedback possible for them as individuals, which in turn will vastly improve performance as a whole.

 AND FINALLY!......

Develop Yourself

Put simply, the minute you stop learning and believe you are done, is the minute you become lazy and lose the rapport that allows everything to move.

Realise that the people around you are always desiring to be unconsciously led.

Realise that they are looking for you to believe in them, before they even believe in themselves.

It’s very easy to forget how testing life can be at times, especially when most people have never been given the tools to live the life they desire.

As leader reading this I would like to think that you also understand that.

Continuously develop yourself both on a personal and professional basis, and do whatever it takes to pass that same gift on to your team.

The team are looking at you to inspire, they are looking for you to influence and shine belief throughout.

Consistently step up and make that happen.

You may just be surprised.

As you can imagine there is tons of aspects in this very broad subject which I could write about and dissect until the end of the time.

However, my wish for you is to not try and understand everything at once,but to implement some of the key points in the information shared above.

If there is any questions or feedback you have regarding this article, please contact myself directly.

Please also share with anyone of whom it may add value to.

To your success as a leader,

Josh Cheetham