“In the continuing Masterclass series Philip Atkinson examines the importance of Leadership in driving business results.”

The two most important factors in shaping organisational culture are; to what Leaders pay most attention, and how Leaders respond to critical incidents. Likewise, how Leaders respond to issues requiring prompt attention communicates what is important and what is not! Yet people in senior positions often forget that all eyes are upon them. Everybody is a boss watcher, translating the actions and behaviours of others as performance standards to be followed by all.

Leadership is a critical issue for many organisations today. Leadership cannot exist by default or evolve by accident. Leadership is the single most important factor in shaping the future of any business and yet few organisations grasp the Leadership challenge. For instance, how well does the average organisation shape the behaviour of people in Leadership positions? Do organisations differentiate between managerial and leadership behaviour and do they know the difference? The traditional view is that Leadership is about being a good manager, focusing upon achieving results in their field of expertise, task completion and managing people and processes. However it is more than this.

Leadership is about transforming the business. It is about challenging the way things are done, and doing them faster and better. It is about inspiring others to break out of their comfort zones and experimenting with new behaviours. Leadership is about enabling others in the team to achieve all they can as well as managing day-to-day issues. Real Leaders motivate and drive performance by modelling the way and praising and rewarding people for a job well done.

How does the average organisation score against the ‘Transformational Leader? Many need to radically shift the behaviour of their managers away from the ‘transactional’ to the ‘transformational’ model of Leadership and they can start straight away by asking some simple questions.

• Who are the key people who should be key Leaders in shaping the future of the business?

• What are the costs in business terms of failing to have positive and focused Leadership at every level?

• To what actions must we commit to firstly design, shape, support and reward Leadership behaviour?

• What specific behaviours do we want managers to display to drive performance?

• Equally, what behaviours do we want to discourage because they inhibit increased performance?

• How can we establish clear links between the demonstration of Leadership behaviour and advancement?

• What clear signs can we now give to demonstrate that Leadership will separate us from our competitors?