Effective leadership: Substance or Style?

It’s not easy being an effective business leader in today’s fast paced and often pressurised and uncertain world.

Increased pace of change, greater global turbulence, Brexit, listless productivity levels are just a few of the challenges business leaders now face. Coupled with the need for an often relentless pursuit of efficiency gains and increasing customer and employee expectations, it can all add up to a major headache for those tasked with leading their teams to achieve success.

So what does ‘effective leadership’ mean and look like in business today?

In short effective leadership is not about who you are, it’s about what you do. Numerous studies have shown that it is a leader’s ‘behaviour’ that is the critical factor that enables them to achieve high performance in their teams. It is their day to day behaviour that has the greatest potential impact on getting the most out of people and increasing success, more than their personality or level of technical or professional knowledge or expertise.

The good news therefore is that if leaders are prepared to analyse and assess their own ‘behaviour’ and the impact of this on their team, then it becomes possible for them to be able to amend and develop their behaviours to maximise motivation and productivity in others.

So what are some of the behaviours that the most effective leaders exhibit?

-They provide clarity about not just what needs to be done but also why it is important to the business and they explain what doing a great job looks like and role model it themselves.

-They provide clear communication and importantly they encourage new ideas from others, are willing to listen, and they recognise and acknowledge individuals’ and team achievements.

-They are positive, resilient and inspiring to others, not necessarily through the force of their personality, but because of what they do day to day.

Business leaders who successfully rise to today’s business challenges are those whose behaviours create an environment that maximises the potential of the whole workforce. Their employees experience meaning in their work and understand how they contribute to achievement of the company’s overall vision and success.

So it’s worth taking the time to consider – how do the day to day behaviours of your leaders and managers impact on the motivation and performance of your team? Small changes can make a big difference and your role in developing this behaviour is very important.

Our Management Academy may kickstart your development.