UndersTanding leadership
Takes undersTanding
Taking the lead also entails dealing with complexity – especially in middle management.
As the cogs and wheels turn faster and faster, ambiguity tolerance is no longer a nice-to-have but a must-have. And as the pressure rises, so do people’s pulses. As the need to get things right intensifies.
Has it always been this way? Leadership has never been a walk in the park, as we all know, but the expectations managers face these days are becoming increasingly demanding. At the same time, they vary.
I always keep this in mind when I’m helping organisations adopt a new or different approach to leadership. Thanks to a long track record of carefully helping management adjust the direction of travel – involving a whole host of leadership scenarios, spanning an equally diverse number of industries, company sizes and organisational cultures – I genuinely work with my clients in a partnership of equals.
In keeping with this, I don’t look down on issues or approach them from the side. I stand in the middle and embrace everything that drives leaders on a daily basis.
Nobody’s perfecT.
And ThaT’s perfecTly all righT.
Whether they work in management or not, people are still people, with all of their personal issues.
It’s quite natural for problems in the here and now to clash with expectations, desires or sensitivities – some of which
will have been simmering under the surface for some time.
When you run into these issues, it’s always challenging – and sometimes even harrowing – but problems are
also deeply insightful when it comes to pinpointing what lies beneath.
Uncertain situations are often fast-moving, so my approach is to remain open-minded and focused at the same time.
My posiTion on your posiTion
Whatever issues you face in management, I come at each problem objectively, with an open mind. Drawing on a foundation of leadership know-how, I adopt a highly individual approach to each person and the position they occupy (or what’s occupying them).
