The Business Exchange Bath & Somerset Issue 4: Summer 2017 | Page 13
PERSONAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
What makes a world-class leader, in
world-class Bath and beyond?
by business psychologist, Jan de Jonge
There are mountains of books and articles about what makes for
great, effective leadership. Most of us agree that effective leadership
is crucial to how well a company, or organisation, is achieving its
goals - now and in the future.
It’s not the whole story, of course,
employees, followers, the context and the
environment play a big role too.
For any leadership team to work well,
we must stop trying to be the perfect
leader. In our experience of having assessed
and being involved in developing many
hundreds of experienced and successful
senior leaders, the perfect leader seems not
to exist.
Complete leadership - a team effort
Rarely is one single leader an ace in each
area of leadership; most leaders are
incomplete, imperfect. Completeness is
found in teams of leaders that complement
each other’s strengths.
We must aim for complementarity of
leadership within leadership teams, where
some leaders excel at the strategic domain
of their leadership work (e.g. setting
strategy, creating alignment), some are
more attuned to building and sustaining
relationships (e.g. working with teams,
building trust), and some leaders gravitate
towards delivering results (performance,
getting the job done).
Successful leaders gain an acute
awareness of where their strengths are,
which leadership areas can be developed
and which are better ‘outsourced’ to
others.
How do you find out how to develop
your leadership skill?
Understanding where (and to what
extent) one’s personality is compatible
with developing competence in specific
leadership tasks is a step towards
professional growth. This will highlight
your leadership style: what does your (inter)
personal energy look like, what is your style
of relating to other people, how do you
process information, what is your approach
to making things happen, and what is
your pattern of emotions. These are key
questions.
Like the city of Bath, that has its
strengths and its areas for development,
leaders, too, will thrive, individually and
collectively as a diverse team, when they
capitalise on complementary capability.
Only then will leaders excel at inspiring and
focusing people, enabling to them to excel
and play to their strengths.
02034 783 253
For more info:
www.peoplebusinesspsychology.com
@peepbizpsych
Nicola McHale is Vistage chair for the South West, a private
advisory group for business leaders. Nicola gives her thoughts
on building a personal brand.
CONTINUOUS LEARNING IS
THE KEY TO SUCCESS
Summer is here – Are you green and growing? Are you a
continuous learner? Are you a smart leader? What would
your people say if I asked them? Just because you are the
CEO, founder or owner it does not mean that you should
stop learning. Quite the opposite in fact.
Change is fast– how will you keep up?
Greg Bustin, one of our US Vistage keynote Speakers
says research from the University of Southern California
estimates the average person produces the equivalent of
6 newspaper pages per day of information, compared
with a third that amount 24 years ago! Where will it be in
another 10 years?
Be on the alert Greg says for attitudes inside your
organisation – listen for the ‘we’ve always done it this
way’ or ‘that won’t work we’ve tried that before’. Don’t
let anyone in your business strangle performance. Don’t
underestimate the impact of any potential threat, turn
information into insight and take action.
Be ready with fresh thinking, remain alert to any
changes that could impact your business. Act early
do not wait. I am glad I did as I reflect to the financial
crash of 2007. One of my American clients warned me
‘unofficially’ of big trouble ahead for the US. He said all
training would be stopped and to act now to secure other
clients out of the financial markets. It was just a passing
comment – thank goodness, I heard it, listened and acted.
We have monumental times ahead here in the UK, look
beyond your four walls, what could impact your business
– Brexit, the election, regulatory, cultural, technological
and financially?
Now look internally, what changes do you need to
make to your processes, programs and people? If you
cannot change the people, CHANGE the people. You
need the right people to ride the waves.
What are your blind spots? Get a SWAT TEAM
organised of people NOT in your business to assess your
business, what’s working and what is not? That’s what
we do in my Vistage Group. We talk to your people,
we ask questions, take notes, compare notes and make
recommendations to you the CEO.
Don’t kid yourself, sometimes what you think is great is
not. People do not always tell you the truth!
My Vistage Group members will and so will I.
If you want to be considered for membership then
contact me and we can explore if Vistage would work for
you and if you would work well in my group.
Nicola McHale
Vistage Chair and
VI International Master Coach
[email protected]
Mobile - 07887 616606
UK.linkedin.com/nicolamchale
THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2017
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