In your career you will no doubt remember the time when a senior business leader got up and spoke and it all just made sense. No doubt you felt motivated and energised and wanted to go out there and just do it – what ever ‘it’ was at the time.
I guarantee the leader you are thinking about now will not have lead from the Ivory Tower, they will have inspired and excited many more people like you to push the boundaries and achieve amazing things.
Why is it then that despite us constantly being told that today’s leaders are more in touch that they remain so invisible? Do they not realise that writing in the annual report that people are the life blood of the business and the most important asset does not equate to the same positive impact as truly ‘leading from the front’.
Business leaders cannot afford to hide in the Ivory Tower if they want to deliver the best return for the salary the organisation pays them. I am being kind suggesting that perhaps they do not fully understand or appreciate what others want, need and expect from them as their leader, this maybe is because they are behind closed doors in their tower?
Nothing that has not been said before I hear you saying, however if we don’t give them some well needed feedback how are we going to remove the Ivory Tower and their invisibility?
Effective leader should be made aware that others need ‘them’ to…
- Set the strategy and direction – what we are doing and why
- Lead future change, not wait for others to do so, change needs to come one person at a time, starting with them
- Align people to the vision, being first to role model to others the way things are done
- Inspire – impossible from behind a closed door!
- Collaborate both inside and outside the organisation
- Remain customer focussed at all times
- Listen – to what others want, need and expect if not how will they know
They also need to surround themselves with a team of Managers who will translate their strategy and vision into day to day actions, making things happen using robust processes. Mobilising the right people to the right places, doing the right things, making ‘it’ happen. Working in tandem to them, aligned in all they do.
Is it time to knock down some of the leadership Ivory Towers in your organisation by giving overdue feedback?