Effective Organisational Leadership: The Key to Succeeding & Growing in a Dynamic & Competitive Environment

In Dubai this week, Lydia Hirst delivered an enjoyable and informative course to further develop the leadership skills of Operational Managers. Building on the concept of Action Logics, the way leaders perceive the world, we explored the leadership styles need at strategic, operational and tactical levels.

Comparing tactical managers to the Olympic Gold medal winners for rowing, we considered how first line managers can motivate and influence their people to successfully meet deadlines and deliver their tasks. How do we encourage people to be ‘hungry’ to achieve? How do we get them to ‘flick the switch’: focus to deliver results?

Operational leaders sit in the middle of the organisation. Consequently, they need a combination of technical, inter personal and cognitive skills – more than either tactical or strategic leaders. To be effective, they must understand the organisation’s aims and objectives and translate these into language their subordinates and teams can understand. They must therefore be fantastic communicators – using all the tools and techniques at their disposal. In this digital world, the number of channels has grown but not all are effective. How to choose?

Finally, strategic leaders – those responsible for the organisation’s Vision, Mission, Corporate Objectives and the selection of strategies to best deliver. How do they work together? How do they engage the staff to build commitment and the hunger to deliver excellent results? Are they willing to adapt and change? Can they transform the organisation to meet ever changing external factors?

Examples of topics addressed include:

• The Seven Action Logics
• Leaders are made, not born
• Strategies tactical leaders can use to motivate staff
• Coaching models and how to apply them
• Cross departmental collaboration
• Managing staff performance, giving feedback, pay
• Leadership Competency: Power & Traits
• Developing and communicating Vision and Mission
• What strategy is and what it isn’t
• Employee Engagement

There is no one perfect leader nor a recommended leadership style. Rather, every manager who is also a leader of people, must develop their own toolkit and apply it to get the best out of every employee. A challenge! This Effective Organisational Leadership course helps you understand what’s involved, where your strengths lie and provides you with ideas to improve your practice for the future.

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