SME's need Balanced Leadership

Balanced leadership in SME Businesses

Leadership is one of the most written-about topics in business. There are literally tens of thousands of books, blogs, videos, training courses. It would be impossible to consume all the worlds knowledge about this subject.

Over the course of my own career, it is certainly the subject of most of my inquisitiveness. I’m also in the fortunate position that over the course of my career, and my education, I’’ve worked with, for and alongside many leaders, successful or otherwise. My first experience of leadership was at school, leading our house rugby team. It immediately got me interested in how leaders create something called ‘esprit de corps’.

But what is leadership? And how can you be a successful leader?

What is a leader?

The most often asked questions I’ve been asked, or heard be asked are:

• What is a leader?
• How can I be a better leader?
• How can I be a successful leader?
• What leadership skills do I need?

So, let’s start at the beginning. What defines a leader? There are many different opinions on this. Is it a task-based role, is it based on your qualifications, is it seniority?

Most of the body of work on leadership that I’ve read concludes that it is a complex cocktail of qualities – but essentially someone who has a burning passion to achieve a goal, and sets out on that path.

What do we mean by a “goal”?

We probably all remember the goal set by President Kennedy, who stood before the US Congress on May 25, 1961, and proposed that the US "should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. " The last seven words completely changing the nature of the goal!

In SME businesses, the goal is often:

• A product or service
• A means of earning a living
• A response to a trauma (we probably remember the goal set by President Macron, who pledged “We will rebuild Notre Dame, more beautiful than before – and I want it done in the next five years. We can do it.”

Goals can be one-off events (like the Kennedy and Macron goals) or they can be on ongoing activity like The Glastonbury Festival whose stated goal is “to encourage and stimulate youth culture from around the world in all its forms, including pop music, dance music, jazz, folk music, fringe theatre, drama, mime, circus, cinema, poetry and all the creative forms of art and design, including painting, sculpture and textile art”.

What is the role of a leader?

Again, there is much diversity of opinion on this, but when stripped back to its core, the common conclusion is that the role of a leader is to provide direction, passion and energy. I can definitely relate to this. Successful leaders I have worked with or for have these qualities in abundance, with the caveat that “energy” is interpreted as tenacity, drive, attention to detail, emotional energy etc, rather than physical energy. To me, direction is the fundamental element of leadership.

Delving a bit deeper into this, by “direction”, It is not necessarily the case that leadership is about providing clear directions, like a blue-print. It is more likely that it is setting the ‘direction of travel’, and an ability to maintain the pursuit of the goal in the face of obstacles to achieving it.

The passion and the energy inherent in a leader provides a basis for others to follow or support the leader, who should enthuse and inspire. A good example being Queen Elizabeth 2 or Robert Baden-Powell.

Are people born leaders, or can we learn to be a leader?

For decades, people have been trying to figure out whether great leaders are born with innate leadership skills or if you can develop people into leaders. Recent scientific studies suggest that leadership is 30% genetic and 70% learned. My contribution to this is a view that leadership is more effective when learned “on the job”, rather than through textbooks. This however requires careful management.

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How can I be a successful leader?

This is probably the most interesting aspect of leadership as it is about the quality of leadership. Most authors on the subject conclude that leadership is a combination of knowledge, skill and experience – all of which can be learned to a significant extent. There is a plethora of advice on how to become a great, or a better leader and this will lead people to books, blogs, videos, courses, qualifications, certificates, Google (and now AI) in various aspects of leadership. Whether that’s 10 steps, 8 qualities, 7 core skills, 6 keys, 5 points. At Tinderbox , we have our own suite of online learning programmes, many of which are leadership oriented.

But what always strikes me is that all the successful leaders I’ve worked with and for, have a unique “quality” that transcends the skill, knowledge and experience. They tend to have an individuality, charisma, passion, energy, addiction that is fundamental their success. Leaders can learn how to

• understand their individual strengths and weaknesses, and how to employ methods of dealing with these.
• organise the pursuit of the goal into strategies, programmes, tasks, and resource those
• build support infrastructure – both people and property
• communicate the goal and their passion for achieving it.

…..but it’s the unique “quality” that sets them apart.

Most successful leaders will have followers and supporters, many of whom are attracted by the inspiration emanating from the leader. I rarely see successful businesses which are just based on tasks, and passive tools (like job descriptions, programme charts, task lists review processes, systems and processes).

In that sense, successful leadership is personal. It is about inspiration, passion, energy, tenacity, determination. But (and it is a big but), all those potentially positive traits, can also be potentially negative traits. We probably all know leaders who are so demanding, so obsessive that they can turn off the goodwill that we see in successful businesses.

So ultimately, leadership is about achieving a unique balance of these ingredients. It’s a bit like brewing a great beer!

Cheers!?

Tinderbox works alongside SME's, helping business owners be more successful!

How?

By undertaking a thorough analysis of the business and its people, we develop an implementable action plan that enables the owner to lead their team to make the business successful, or more successful.