Developing Strategic Leadership

Leadership of major corporations is no longer within the capability of the heroic leader - if it ever was.  Today collective leadership is essential if large organisations are to be successful in their mission.  Such collective leadership requires sophistication in terms of collective identity, alignment, adaptivity and communication heretofore not required in the traditional hierarchical structure. 

Collective Leadership requires a kind of post conventional (see resources section) leadership where responsibility and power are shared differently, where dominating figures blend in alignment behind corporate vision, where vision is co-created and owned rather than "sold" and leadership is a fluid function of the team rather than being locked in to hierarchical position.

Self-interest fades behind collective commitment to mission and values and to enhancing each others contribution. Members of such leadership teams don't talk about who gets the credit for what.  They remember the camaraderie, the joy, the excitement of pushing back the boundaries and collaboratively doing something worthwhile and well.

We help strategic leadership teams to reframe their concepts of leadership and definitions of the leadership challenge. We help leadership teams:

We believe the challenge lies in attending appropriately to all four and appreciate their interrelationship.

To achieve this we co-create a process with our client which will help focus and deliver the results they require.  We work with our clients as partners rather than offer a ready-made programme. Joint responsibility and building a shared vision establishes both a basis for working together and room for flexibility.  This process is built into the fabric of the everyday life of the organisation and leadership activity and so cannot be offered as a pre-designed programme.  The following outline of the Next Step Process is indicative of what the process might look like.

The Next Step Process

We will usually meet with some key members of the team to discuss their developmental needs, see if there is a match with what we can offer and raise awareness of some of the likely benefits and pitfalls.  A follow on meeting is then held with the whole team to clarify and explore the collective leadership proposition in order to determine readiness and contract the process. 

Next there will usually be a discovery phase in which the current capability and performance of the leadership team is explored with a view to identifying both achievement and developmental goals.  This phase can entail the use of 360 degree feedback, interviews, and use of psychometric instruments as required. It will include a review of existing mission, vision, strategy operations and outcomes.

Following this stage we are ready to co-create the implementation process and contract the details of the developmental process to be used based an agreed definition of the priority leadership challenge and both achievement and developmental goals.  Public commitment to these goals will form the basis for stakeholder engagement and motivation to deliver.

Contracting will include specific plans for implementation, progress reviews, and generation of feedback and success criteria for evaluation purposes.  Implementation will include building responsibility for both achievement and developmental goals, action inquiry disciplines to deliver results and build capability, and dialogue to enhance communication and alignment.  The work will include coaching to extend individual as well as collective leadership capacity.