The Total Leader? Newsletter - April 2023 The VISION Issue

Welcome to the April issue of The Total Leader? Newsletter from LMI UK, The VISION issue.

It’s the end of Q1, we are well into 2023 and there’s a fair chance that for many the energy and freshness of those new-year goals, set three months ago, has long since dissipated. The ongoing operational demands, staying on top of everyday crises and responding to the needs of staff, customers and other stakeholders easily consumes our focus. It takes real discipline and determination to keep the bigger picture in mind. It’s absolutely necessary that we pay attention to the detail of the tasks in hand but if we lose sight though of the purpose behind it all, we are in danger of drudgery and enslavement to triviality.

• What’s the point of all this?
• What outcomes are most important to us?
• What does success even look like?
• Where’s the excitement to be found it the future we are working towards?

We hope you find this newsletter interesting, inspiring and practically helpful in your own leadership journey.

Vision - bringing purpose to life

There’s a slightly clichéd story about stonecutters that you’ve probably heard before but which is nonetheless helpful when thinking about vision. It goes something like this:

A stranger passes by and asks the first stonecutter what they are doing.

“I’m cutting stones, isn’t that obvious.”

He asks the second.

“I’m building a wall.”

And the third.

“I’m building an amazing cathedral that will be marvelled at for its beauty and inspire countless generations to come.”

Same job. Totally different perspective.

There’s a saying that ‘Vision is the breakfast of champions’.?It’s what infuses each day with meaning and motivation. It’s what stirs our passion and fortifies our resolve in challenging times.

Creating vision is not just a matter of generating some arbitrary future projection. It is the process of taking the core of what we are about – purpose, values, mission – and turning that critical information into a vivid picture of what that would look like as we work to turn those dreams and aspirations into reality.

A vision energises. It motivates. A great vision will cause us, our teams, our organisations as a whole, to tackle the specific challenges at hand with our very best efforts.

Of course we need good plans and processes, goals, structure and strategy, but all of these work best when fuelled by compelling vision.

A crucial part of a leader’s role is to consistently and systematically spend time thinking about, clarifying and communicating vision to all interested parties, starting with themselves!

A vision is not just a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more." -?Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world." -?Joel Barker

Bite-size Total Leader?

Leaders are faced continually with multiple, diverse situations and developing in all four core leadership elements gives a distinct advantage - like an actor who can convey the whole range of emotions, or a golfer who is brilliant from the rough or a bunker as well as off the tee.

In this section you’ll find practical bite-size ideas across the four elements of the Total Leader??that can help sharpen your own leadership skills in line with the topic discussed in this edition of the newsletter.

1. Personal Productivity

Being effective on a day-to-day basis requires regular alignment checks. Is what I’m working on today helping get us where we want to go? Try a weekly review using more of / less of. What one thing should I do more of this week and what one thing should I do less of (or stop entirely) to move us tangibly forward in realisation of the vision?

2. Personal Leadership

Your own business or the organisation you work for may well have a vision statement. How about you for your own life? One of the most impactful activities for our clients is often the ‘Future Description’ in our Personal Leadership programme which involves writing out long-form what you hope your life will look like at some point in the future. Five years is a good starting point. Give it a go, describing in as much detail as possible all aspects of life as you hope it to be in five years.

3. Motivational Leadership

Good leadership is often about telling great stories that illustrate the organisation’s purpose, values and mission in action, connecting powerfully with people – staff, customers, the public etc.

Think about the stories you can share about your past successes that illustrate how the world is better, or people’s lives are enriched, by the work that you do. Continue this with illustrations of the future positive impact that will be made as your organisations continues to succeed. Connecting ‘big picture’ vision with stories of specific human impact is extremely effective.

4. Strategic Leadership

Effective leadership is being able to interpret the vision in such a way that it impacts upon current behaviour. “That means this.” Putting the right people in the right roles, creating processes that make sense, defining goals and KPIs should all be related back to the vision. Try using the words, “This is important because…” to relate operational requirements to the vision of the bright future you are seeking to create.

Leadership development is not a one-off event and leadership is not simply a role or title, rather it’s a way of thinking and behaving. The best leaders are Total Leaders? and the most successful organisations develop leaders throughout the entire organisation.

LMI Live – Practical Leadership

We had our first LMI Live event recently, streamed live Friday at 12pm to our LinkedIn page. You can watch this here:?LMI Live – 24.3.23

The next LMI Live is on Friday 21st?April, 12.00 BST, featuring conversations with LMI team, clients and partners about the practical application of important leadership principles.?Register here

Upcoming events

Foundations of Success Workshop

(2 hour online - goals / planning / time management / communication

21st April & 23rd?May

“Very worthwhile and time well-spent in which I had quite a few “aha” moments, not just in the workshop session but also during the days following” (Jan 2023 delegate)

FIRST TWO PLACES FREE FOR ANY UK ORG.

Effective Personal Productivity?kick off?(Online open programme)

6th?April & 24th?May 2023 - Total Leader? Part 1??

Life-changing productivity improvement for you and the team you lead.

LMI Live - Practical Leadership

21st April, 12.00 - 12.30pm

Conversations about the practical application of important leadership ideas.