How effective leadership can transform organisational performance

We are all generally aware of the positive impact that effective leadership has on employee engagement and ultimately, organisational success. Nevertheless, too many organisations still waste thousands, and in some case, millions, of pounds every year by appointing the wrong people into leadership positions, or by not developing them to become effective leaders. Too often it is assumed that an employee performing well in their job will make an effective manager; this is not always the case as the skills required to be a great leader are very separate from an employee’s day-to-day job capabilities.

Today’s business environment is more complex than ever before; continuous changes in the political, economic, social and legal environments of organisations- combined with increased competitive activity- means that organisations are having to rely on the commitment, motivation and performance of their employees, not only as a source of strategic advantage, but to survive. Without engaged employees, organisations will undoubtedly fail. Importantly, according to research carried out by CIPD in 2015; leadership and line-management are the biggest influencers on employee engagement levels in the UK. 

Leaders and managers are responsible for the recruitment and selection of employees and generally oversee their training and development, manage their performance and provide them with feedback, reward and recognition of their performance; all of which are critical contributors to employee engagement and ultimately, employee performance. Under the right leadership, employees form high performing work teams and organisations operate within a culture whereby individuals are happy to go ‘above and beyond’ in pursuit of organisational success. 

The Educ8 Group is a case in point of the importance of leadership as over the last 5 years we’ve made a concerted effort to develop excellent leaders across the business. As a values-driven organisation we have recruited managers who live and breathe by our organisational values of Respect, Positivity, Honesty and Integrity and we’ve implemented an organisation-specific management development programme for all first-line managers, middle and senior managers across the business. All managers are encouraged to engage in ILM training at a relevant level and we facilitate 360-degree feedback from employees to consistently challenge the impact that leaders have on employees. Over the last two years we’ve almost doubled in size whilst at the same time retaining Investors in People Gold status and achieving Best Companies 3-star status which indicates ‘extraordinary’ levels of engagement with our employees. The pinnacle of our success, however, was ranking 6th in the Sunday Times Top 100 Small Companies to Work For in February 2017.

‘Developing outstanding leaders for this organisation has been a top priority for me over the last 5 years and I’m really proud of the team we have in place. Our leaders and managers emanate the core values which are absolutely crucial to our business and they act as real role models for the rest of our employees. Estyn, Best Companies and Investors in People all identified strong leadership as one of our key strengths. As we’ve recently developed a new suite of Leadership and Management training and development programmes it’s important that we are seen to be practising what we preach and hopefully it will instil a sense of confidence and trust amongst clients and potential clients who are considering engaging with us for this type of training.’ Colin Tucker, CEO of the Educ8 Group.

Contact us today to find out how Educ8 could support you to develop world-class leaders for your organisation. Tel: 01443 749011 Web: www.educ8training.co.uk