Untitled - Hospitality Maldives

While the leadership function is “big picture” the
management function on the other hand, has a
narrower focus. Leavitt described leadership, as “path
finding” while management was “path minding”.
• A shared understanding of the environment.
• A shared vision of where we are going.
• A shared set of organisational values.
• A shared feeling of power.
Whereas many other (quite legitimate) management
360 tools focus on the management
function. Managers who aspire to be leaders
therefore need more than the feedback
they might get from a normal 360 managerial
profile.
3. If you are a manager, what does
this mean for you?
Anyone in the organisation can become a
“leader” irrespective of their formal organisational
position. Just because you have
a formal title of “manager” does not mean
you are a leader. So for example when a fire
breaks out in the building and the brand new
young employee who has just completed induction
training, and who instructs people to
follow the evacuation procedures impeccably,
shows as much leadership as the CEO who
has just announced the new corporate strategy
for everyone to follow.
Here’s a quick test to gain some indication
on your status as a leader. Once you have
been in your current role for say, 9 to 12
months, ask yourself “Would my people do
the things I now ask them to do even if I
were not their manager?” If you can truthfully
answer “Yes”, then you are well on the
path to becoming a leader. I suspect, that
many of you will probably answer this with
a “Maybe” – try not to be concerned at this,
as the road to leadership is a long one, but
a truly rewarding one. If you are concerned
that it seems to be taking you “forever” to
develop as a leader, keep in mind the experience
of one of the greatest leaders of our
time, Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years in
prison waiting to show how he could lead his
country!
4. How to develop yourself as a leader
Our research indicates that leaders become
leaders because they do four things (at least)
for us:
• They help us understand and make
sense of our environment. So for example,
when things aren’t working out
or are unclear for us, they are able to
explain what is happening in practical
terms that we can understand.
• They help give us a sense of direction.
They are able to paint a picture of a
brighter future and help us believe that
we can achieve the things we want to
achieve.
• They give us a belief in the values that
are important to us. In doing so, they
make us feel part of a team of people
that share these values and have the
same aims.
• They are able to make us feel powerful
by allowing us the freedom to make
decisions about our life, work and the
future.
If you are looking to develop yourself as a
leader, then I would suggest working with
your team to put in place some strategies to
achieve the four leadership outputs we have
described here.
Bob Selden is the Managing Director of the National Learning Institute. He has been an HRD consultant for over 30 years, prior to which he was a line manager
in a financial organisation. He is an Australian currently living in Switzerland and is a part time member of faculty at the International Management Development
Institute in Lausanne and the Australian Graduate School of Management in Sydney . You can contact Bob at http://www.nationallearning.com.au/