Tomorrow's Leaders

By Jill Garrett Speaking to an audience of Local Government leaders at a national conference, Jill Garrett identified seven key requirements for highly effective leaders in 21 st century local government. Although aimed within the context of local government these key requirements are applicable to leadership in complex organisations across the sectors.

1. Be authentic, be the leader you are: Extensive research on leadership by Kouzes and Posner, Alimo Metcalfe. Goleman, Clifton et al, shows that people need to speak "in their own voices". Self awareness is key - so that leaders lead in the style that best suits them - not a poor impersonation of someone else. Know your strengths and your limitations - what you can and can't change. Pull people around you to both complement your strengths and plug gaps for you.
   
2. Lead and communicate from the balcony and the pogo stick: As change quickens and organisations become more complex leaders need time to reflect and prioritise - to gain perspective. This has to be done without losing touch with the day to day. Local government is driven by operational requirements - leaders need enough "balcony time" to ensure councils do not just become reactive in their activities but are proactively able to bring in sustained change.
   
3. Get the right people and excellent management: The war for talent is intensifying . By 2015 there will be more people over retirement age than in the working population in the UK ; talented workers will become an even scarcer resource. Local government needs strategies today to meet the leadership needs for tomorrow. Where they spot young talent they need to nuture it . With the shortage of talent intensifying, diversity needs to be taken much more seriously (by 2010 only 11% of the working population will be white, male and over 45).Strategies have to be developed to ensure there are senior leaders from across the whole community to attract and develop a diverse and representative workforce. This should be supported by programmes to encourage all staff to fulfil their potential. Too often we train turkeys to climb trees when it's more sensible to find squirrels and let the turkeys get on with what they do best. Leaders should have a good eye for talent spotting. Future leaders need to primarily be held responsible for the performance they get from their teams
   
4. Ensure the processes and disciplines are in place to deliver: Leaders need to deliver as well as to dream and plan. To earn trust from colleagues and members, leaders will be judged not just by their honesty and character but also by their ability to implement plans and to meet standards. They must ensure that the constant change agenda is not just delivering new tasks and extra workload but is also leading to the end of old tasks and finding more efficient ways of doing things.
   
5. Build open relationships: Extensive research over 20 years shows that integrity, competence, good processes and systems and relationships all contribute strongly to whether individuals trust their leader.* Indeed where there is high staff turnover it is likely that this trust has broken down. Relationships drive communication - with staff, the public and partnerships. Poor relationships lead to murmurings and discontent, increased sense of blame, turf "warfare" and a "victim mentality" leading to helplessness and lack of empowerment.
   
6. Leaders sustain the organisation: Jim Collins in his seminal piece on successful leadership identified level five leaders.# These are people who are not driven by their egos (like some higher profile but less successful people). They want their successor to succeed so they choose highly competent and capable people who they want to work with. They keep requiring superb results even when this means short term unpredictability. They take responsibility for poor results and errors and give credit to others for success Leaders inspire - they give people a "moral purpose". To "sustain your people - give them a purpose centred around the impact their work has on the lives of the people they serve." Collins and Poras.~. Leaders ensure this stated purpose is not just fancy words on a wall but are the values that drive performance and give focus to strategy and planning.
   
7. Leaders need to look after and energise themselves There are four key areas that leaders need to allocate time to
   
1. Achievement - giving time and focus at work, personally, with family and the community to achieve things.
   
2. Significance - gain significance through actions and reputation at work, home, community and personally
   
3. Happiness - find time to do things that make you happy and fulfilled - without this leadership looses its edge
   
4. Legacy - what do you leave behind - who do you leave behind and how did you inspire and impact them? How big is your legacy?
   (source: HBR 2/04)

Leaders make a huge difference - research shows a leader can impact someone's performance by c 30% - this turns them from being a liability to the organisation to an asset. In that sense tomorrows leaders are asset managers - getting the very best from people (and partners) to deliver high levels of service.

*Kouzes and Posner - the Leadership Challenge, #Jim Collins "From Good to Great . ~ Collins and Poras "Built to Last"

Jill Garrett, a Director of Caret, is an international speaker on leadership issues and has many years experience of consulting to leaders and senior managers globally across many business sectors.  She has a passion for enabling others to recognise and realise more of their potential.

For any enquiry please send us an email at enquires@caret.co.uk

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