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 13