There is a great deal written about how to lead, styles of leadership and a kind of pseudo theoretical delivery of effective leadership but all of these boil down to a regurgitation of everything that has been said before making new ideas pale into significance against a background of identified rhetoric which falls into the same as always and buffers against new and innovative ideas. Tested practical suggestions are always great to see but few and far between. Our eight qualities come from working with clients at all levels and often appear when we work with teams constructed of those in senior positions, from the shop floor and those engaged in tactical operations, across the full spread of job roles across the organisation. These comprise:
• An effective leader is someone who can converse with all levels of an organisation in an honest and uncritical manner without having to push tier authority in any engagement.
• An effective leader does not pay lip service to empathy. They are able to touch and feel the emotions of others
and respond in a way that is meaningful.
• An effective leader is someone who can go off plan and change direction at any point to ensure that the best delivery of a project plan or strategy is realised in the most collegiate way.
• An effective leader is someone that responds to ideas from other disciplines to ensure an appropriate interdisciplinary approach to challenges.
• An effective leader can see the operational, tactical and strategic picture in a snapshot of the organisation and is able to use this to create the most appropriate outcome to a challenge.
• An effective leader is someone that learns more than they teach in any given situation and plays this back to the team.
• An effective leader is someone that is a multi-tasking reflector constantly updating practice in light of the
lessons learned.
• An effective leader uses learning in the round to gauge the effectiveness of their decisions and the decisions of others.
But most of all an effective leader is someone that is not frightened to be questioned, thrives on partnership working and can sit back and watch others lead with relish.
Professor Chris Kemp is CEO of Mind over Matter Consultancy and works with world leaders in their fields running Extreme Corporate Away Days for leaders and managers, as well as Executive Education and Team Development programmes.
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