The Heart of Leadership

NASES – Management Residential

My Leadership Peak

Describe a time when you feel you were at your peak as a leader.
What were the circumstances that made it a challenge?
What did you do that made this a defining moment?
What characteristics of effective leadership did you demonstrate?
What have you learned from this experience?

As you progess in your journey to become a more effective leader, keep in mind your responses to this exercise. You can develop your leadership ability in any group or team, even when you are not the person with formal authority. Bearing in mind the sort of activities that give you the greatest pleasure and help you to be productive and effective as a leader will help you develop your effective leadership skills.


Leaders versus Managers

Leaders / Managers
Do right things / Do things right
Interested in effectiveness / Interested in efficiency
Innovate / Administer
Develop / Maintain
Focus on people / Focus on systems and structure
Rely on trust / Rely on control
Align people with direction / Organise and staff
Emphasise philosophy, core values and shared goals / Emphasise tactics, structure and systems
Have a long term view / Have a short term view
Ask what and why / Ask how and when
Challenge the status quo / Accept the status quo
Focus on the future / Focus on the present
Have their eyes on the horizon / Have their eyes on the bottom line
Develop visions and strategies / Develop detailed steps and timetables
Seek change / Seek predictability and order
Take risks / Avoid risks
Inspire people to change / Motivate people to comply with standards
Use personal influence / Use position to influence
Inspire others to follow / Require others to comply
Work to influence organisational rules, regulations, policies and procedures / Operate within organisational rules, regulations, policies and procedures
Take initiative to lead / Given a position
Use inspiration to get work done / Use instruction to get work done
Communication characterised by simplicity / Communication characterised by complexity
Decision making based on intuition / Decision making based on logic

Developed by Margie Jarvis, Management Development Officer, Oxfordshire County Council

Sources: Writings of Warren Bennis, Burt Nanus, Robert Townsend, John P Kotter, Manfred Kets de Vries, Warren Blank, Jon R Katzenbach and others.

The Heart of Leadership

NASES – Managing Human and Financial Resources

My Leadership Profile and Aspirations

Think about your current level of leadership effectiveness on each of the dimensions. You might like to look back at ‘My Leadership Peak’. Mark yourself out of 10 against each of the questions. When considering your performance, try to think of specific examples of how and what you have done. Do the same for your aspirations – how effective would you like to be? Then plot your average scores on the radar chart.

Vision
Current / Aspiration / Example
Regularly develop novel ideas, grounded in facts
Express ideas ‘indelibly’, creating meaning for others
Have the courage to express a ‘draft’ vision of change
Incorporate others’ ideas into the vision
Identify the impact of your ideas on the organisation’s skills
Ask others to test the practicality of the vision

TOTALS then divide by 10 Current Aspiration

Inspiration
Convey passion and conviction in presenting ideas
Personally live the values implicit in the proposed way forward
Draw on a broad repertoire of styles in engaging others
Unite opposing factions, when needed
Use multiple forums for reinforcing your message
Include and embrace others – not exclude, nor alienate
TOTALS then divide by 10 Current Aspiration
Momentum
Redefine crucial accountabilities, when needed
See the ‘critical path’ for implementation, and levers to pull
Aim for ‘early wins’, and publicise them
Enshrine proven innovations into the modus operandi, fast
See and remove the main obstacles to others’ progress
Convince others of genuine urgency – but celebrate too
TOTALS then divide by 10 Current Aspiration

From ‘The Tools of Leadership’ by Max Landsberg Page 3

The Heart of Leadership

NASES – Managing Human and Financial Resources

Now think about all the teams and groups you are involved in. Identify opportunities to try out new leadership techniques and build your skills. Be as specific as you can about what you can actually do.

Team or Group / What you are currently doing / What you can try / Support or Learning Needed

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