From inflated uniqueness to huge egos and from the uneducated to the know-it alls

As a Leader making sure your team moves forward with a great culture is never easy. The environment around us changes and the societal impacts can have such a profound effect. For me that is today’s views on Leadership, but I have to say it was no different when I started out as a Leader back in Johannesburg in the mid to late 1990’s.

There were so many variables and concerns back then that it feels just like now. As a Leader I needed to become a trained trauma councillor to help handle the uglier aspects of society with bank robberies that affected almost all of our bank branches in the Johannesburg and Pretoria areas within one year. There were many other staff issues and cultural issues that have some parallels to today’s challenges.

I would say 100% I tried my best back then and I would definitely do some things differently today because I have learnt and developed and I still am learning and developing.

Having the right tools to do your Leadership role these days is so important. If you work for an organisation it doesn’t matter how big or small you are, you should think about 4 key aspects:

–          Why are we here and what do we want our impact to be? – PURPOSE

–          What will we be or look like at a predetermined point in the Future? – VISION

–          How do you do what you do? – MISSION

The fourth aspect which is often the one neglected from these conversations is around VALUES. Values helps the people in your teams understand the Purpose, Vision and Mission and bring it to life for them, so they understand what aspects of their role done well have a positive impact on the group or company or team and meet those guiding principles. So, once you know your Strategy, what you want your Organisational culture to be and the Business Model in which you want to work then Values are you next step.

When working with Leaders I always try to ensure that they can define these 4 aspects, sometimes in no particular order as business can choose to retain its core Values whilst changing the Purpose. Always, however, being flexible to new thinking and creativity.

Doing all these key and impactful practices can really help Leaders, new and old, understand the culture and how to handle the situations that arise.

Often the answer to the difficult challenges is cohesion at the right times, understanding the journey you are on together and bringing as much empathy to bear as is needed whilst ensuring balance in your Leadership style and emotional intelligence.