Over the years there has been great controversy and discussion on what leadership means and how best to do it, or even be it.  Thousands of books have been written about it and many interpretations, views, definitions and distinctions have been made.

So what can we offer that is succinct, worthy of reading and taking note of? This was our challenge recently, when a coaching client asked me for a core understand that they could use as their steer and lodestone for a new role they were about to take on, as leader at the top of their organisation.

For my response I went to the work done by Marcus Buckingham
in his book ‘The One Thing You Need to Know’ which provides some interesting views on the one thing you need to know for sustained personal success, great management and great leadership.

My take from his work is that the role of great leaders is defined in our times by the insecurity thrown up by the speed of change and by the uncertainty of how to respond to the unknown nature inherent in our future.

Because of this context, great leadership can be defined as that which provides employees, suppliers and customers with clarity of purpose, direction and vision of what is to come and what part the organisation will play within that. So great leadership could be seen as that which allays fears, addresses anxieties and promotes surety of direction, provides a vision of what is to come and confidence to assure that the organisation will be ready to execute as needed.

Good leadership also clarifies which customers the organisation serves, the style and manner in which they will be served and the very raison d’être of the business itself. This should help employees be clear on what they empowered to do to progress that reason of being. Such clarity, he says, allows everyone in the organisation from the very lowest to the highest to go about their own role in the business with a sense of purpose, focus and context.

Ultimately, I would suggest that a great leader provides everyone employed in the organisation with a sense of connectedness to the vision and purposes of the organisation in which they serve, today and in the future.

So for my client, who got this response, it represented a big challenge in his transition of how to acquire the great clarity of vision, direction and purpose of his organisation as a first thing; not a woolly sense or abstract idea of a vision.  Then, to put that into words, so it could be communicated powerfully and confidently to rally people to that vision, to build surety and security for himself and others, being able to work to achieve that future.

At this point we began the coaching work…

© Penny Sophocleous