Leadership is a team sport

Think back, through the many wandering paths that make up your entire working life… picture each and every manager, supervisor or Leader you’ve had, over the years. Since the first job you took, right through to the leadership team that supports you where you are now.

My own first jobs seem unrelated to what I do now; teenaged positions, waiting tables, learning silver service, dodging chefs in crowded kitchens. Cleaning in the school where I took my A Levels, to earn the money I needed to run my little moped. Retail work, as soon as I was legally old enough to sell alcohol – and then bar work. All quite typical ‘first job’ roles, and all came with different models of Leadership – and very different personalities, with different approaches to management.

Think about your own earliest bosses: how do you remember them? Were they supportive? Did they teach you? Guide you? Annoy you? Think about the ones you were pleased to see the back of (whether it was you or them who moved on!) and those who still inspire you to this day.

I had good and bad bosses, in those early years. Some were instinctively good at putting the right people in the right places; they balanced their teams, so the work was done efficiently, and we all knew where our strengths could shine. People were happy in their work – even the less glamorous aspects of it – because we all felt respected, trusted and valued. Other managers were…less talented, let’s say…more interested in being in charge than in leading. Micromanaging, with little trust in our ability to do our jobs; bossy, unkind, and they tended to crack the metaphorical whip, pushing people around and doing everything they could to make sure we knew they were above us, not recognising the negative impact their behaviour had on us – on our happiness, or our performance. Guess which of these environments saw the highest staff turnover?

When you think back to the people in charge, in those early stages of your own career, you can probably remember similar characters – some horrible managers, and some fantastic ones. Can you remember what made the good ones good? Think of three words that you’d use, if someone asked you what kind of leader they were…

Now, if you are already in a leadership position (or if you’re aiming for one in the near future) what kind of Leader do you think your team say you are? 

What traits do you want to embody, in that leadership role? What culture do want for your people? What three words do the people you lead to use, to describe you?

Great Leaders inspire positivity.

Leaders can be so many things. Some are too hard on their people. They’re controlling, and so anxious to be seen to be in charge that they can’t remember how to actually connect with their teams. Others take it too far the other way – wanting so much to be liked, and to be popular with their team that they forget how to…well, lead!

The world is always evolving, and will always do so – and that’s as true of our working life as it is of the wider world we inhabit. This means that Leadership – no matter what industry you’re in, or how big your team gets – must also evolve, and that Leaders have to evolve to keep achieving their goals…

The way we lead might change – but the traits that made the best leaders are, apparently, unshakable.

Confidence, intelligence, industry awareness and drive of course count – but these, without the balance of traits like humility, charm and compassion, could make a leader come across arrogant, rather than successful. 

We know that we are great at what we do – that our programmes bring better impact than others, our interventions shaping real, lasting change for the people we help. We are proud of the expertise, the talent, the experience and brilliance of our Consultants, the psychologists and associates who shape our programmes, the people behind the scenes who make sure everything runs smoothly and that everybody is where they need to be, with everything they need. We take huge pride in the standard of our work – and always strive for excellence.

Though this attitude towards our work might have been outlined by our own Leaders, the most important message – the ethos and values that shape every part of our work – is recognising that every success we achieve is because of the whole team.

There are no stars, in a successful business – because nobody can achieve greatness without the support and hard work of everybody around them. No Leader can claim to be brilliant if their people aren’t thriving, and no success is ever the achievement of one person alone.

We rely on, trust, and support each other – and the same is true of any successful organisation. No business could thrive purely because of the actions of one person. It takes everyone to reach the pinnacle – nobody gets to the top of their game alone, and any leader who wants others to believe that they did, and lord their unique brilliance over their workforce, won’t last long!

Leaders aren’t there to be adored – or to command. They are there to lead by example, to set the pace, guide their people, bring the entire team forward as a cohesive, collaborative whole, and drive their successes. In order to do that well, they must have the support and respect of their team – but getting those means giving those first.