If you Google the word ‘leader’ or ‘leadership’, there are 487 million hits. That’s a lot of information which can only add to the confusion of what leadership really is. Leadership is not the sole responsibility for ‘people at the top’, everyone can learn to lead by tapping into the abilities that lie within each of us. Leadership differs from management in that it makes the followers want to achieve high goals, rather than simply bossing people around.

True leaders always go first; they set the tone, inspire, coach and above all, lead by example to gain commitment. To inspire your team into higher levels of teamwork, there are certain things you must be, know and do. These do not come naturally.

Leaders walk their talk – in true leaders, there are no gaps between what they say and their actions. Leaders think, act and behave in line with the value and behaviours of the organisation.

Aligning the organisation with its desired brand values is a continual and complex process. Yet, I’m amazed that all too often companies adopt a single focus approach around internal communications. It’s absolutely essential that any internal branding initiative is supported by internal communications but NOT in the absence of addressing the role of managers. Flooding the office corridors with brand posters, handing out glossy brand books and company merchandise will not alter employee behaviour. This has to be addressed by management behaviours. After all, the actions and behaviours from an employees direct manager influences what the employee does and how they act, not the poster behind the water cooler! Unfortunately, the so called ‘sexy’ side of internal branding seems to receive a lot more attention and resources than the critical elements of developing managers into brand leaders. Ask any employee who has attended a grand, Hollywood style internal brand launch, “what really changed the following day, month, year”? I would bet that in 9 out of 10 times the response would be “bugger all”.

Our approach to aligning brand with culture is to start with management, from executive management to middle management down to supervisory positions. This is where the communication blockage lies. Most, if not all managers lack the skills, competence and confidence to lead by example. It becomes even more complex and challenging when we throw in brand as well. So these people need to be developed and empowered to make a difference with their teams. Clearly, the CEO needs to set the tone, but it needs to be cascaded down throughout the organisation. One off leadership training days serve little purpose. What’s needed is a structured, continual learning and development program.

Current thinking is based on transformational leadership. Transformational leaders work towards a common goal with their team; putting team members first, trusting them and developing team to the next level. They inspire their team members to ‘live and breathe’ the company’s brand. Not because they have been asked to, but because it makes sense for the individual, the customer and for the organisation.

There are generally five characteristics of transformational leaders:

1. Model the way – people follow the person then the plan. It is the leader’s behaviour that wins respect.
2. Inspire a shared vision – enlist others in a common vision or objective by inspiring confidence to achieve extraordinary things.
3. Challenge the process – search for opportunities by seeking innovative and better ways to do things. Support good ideas and make things happen.
4. Enable others to act – foster collaboration by promoting cooperative goals and building trust. Engage the team.
5. Encourage the heart – recognise contributions by showing appreciation for excellence. Celebrate your success stories with the team.

By all means introduce an element of fun and enjoyment into your internal branding program. And use all available internal communication tools to keep the company brand front of mind across your organisation. Above all else, engage your management teams to take the message to the frontline through their individual behaviours and abilities to communicate brand to their teams. Ensure your managers are consistently displaying “on-brand” characteristics; walking the talk and integrating brand into daily decision making, setting of goals and priorities and actions.

Good managers are described as being people and task oriented, honest, open and importantly, fair (Shroers 2009).  Good managers are also managers that show initiative, responsibility, drive for achievement and are emotionally stable (Yukl 2006). Managers that show surgency, conscientiousness, flexibility and intellectance have positive correlations with managerial effectiveness.  A negative correlation has however been identified with managers that exhibit agreeableness and fairness with managerial effectiveness (Yukl 2006).  This is also supported in a recent Harvard study that revealed that ‘fair’ managers are perceived by peers as less in control, less powerful and having limited ability to appropriately reward and punish.  Yukl’s (2006) research also suggests that being agreeable and fair as a manager can result in a diversion from task orientation in favour of interpersonal and emotional focus in the workplace.

To demonstrate this phenomenon, two high-ranking managers from Pfizer were examined as part of a Harvard case study into what makes a manager successful.  Whilst both managers were high-performing, it was the manager with a reputation for “toughness” and exhibited often abrasive behaviour that received a tap on the shoulder for the newly-vacant position of CEO.  This contrasts with the second manager with a reputation for showing respect, fairness and in turn being respected by her team members.  This ‘tough’ and strong management style was not only considered necessary for a promotion to the company CEO, it was also strongly favoured across other industries examined  (Wiesenfeld et al 2011).  It is these perceptions and the reputations of how powerful managers are, that most influence their promotional chances, rather than perceptions of how fair they actually are.

This in some ways demystifies why some managers do not behave consistently fair.  Managers see respect and power as two mutually exclusive avenues to influence, and many choose the latter.  Companies that support bad management can face dire consequences.  Those loyal to fair managers may be opposed to the promotion of new managers showing rude and abrasive management styles.  In the Pfizer case, it was found that employees loyal to the ‘fair’ manager resigned upon the appointment of the ‘tough’ manager to the position of CEO.

All is not lost – the species of fair managers are not destined to become extinct. Rather, changes in organisational design and culture can support managers exhibiting ‘fair’ management styles. Organisations can show support for fair management behavior.  Some simple examples include using a measure of fairness in managerial performance reviews.  Managers that are viewed as fair can also gain views of power.  This is suggested that patience is needed, however returns are promised through managers persevering with showing a fair managerial style.

• Appreciate the strategic relevance of leadership
  • Operational success
  • Intangible value of the company
• Be more open to taking direct action to raise Leadership capability of the organisation
• Appreciate the importance of investing in leadership capability
• Be less risk averse to investing in leadership development.

Leadership – Adding to the value of your organisation

That’s right, this subject many people consider fluffy adds value to the capital value of your business. Don’t believe us? Try this… What is the share or sale value of your organisation today? Now add up the material assets of the organisation. Consider the value of any longer term contracts and proprietary systems to the organisation value. If the organisation value is more than this then you have the intangible value of your organisation. That intangible value can be attributed to the value of your brand and of your organisational culture. Effective leadership brings value to the tangible and intangible components. Superior leadership will separate your organisation from the others when it comes to the value of the intangibles. Leadership is therefore essential to maintaining and increasing the value of your organisation.

Taking it a step further, the organisation’s value will be further increased if it develops a ‘leadership brand’. Consider the change in the share price of companies’ as senior executives leave or are engaged. The proof of this is the effort our Public Relations specialists put into managing these events because they know they have to optimise the impact on the share price. While our Public Relations professionals can often do exemplary work, they can only create the desired impression for period of time unless there is some substance to the leadership calibre and depth of the organisation. An effective leadership brand therefore will:

• Add to company value (i.e. share price)
• Differentiates you leaders in the market
• Create value in the eyes of investors, employees and customers.

Here is the definition of Leadership,

The creation and maintenance of confidence and trust within the followers to effectively pursue a shared vision that delivers ongoing value to the organisations’ stakeholders.

Or put more simply,

A good leader is someone people trust to follow.

To position leadership as such a critical contributor to company value, makes it strategically straightforward that the ongoing acquisition and development of effective leadership capability is essential. Management of the leadership capability of your organisation deserves the same (or perhaps more) attention as the relevance and quality of your products, systems, physical assets, reputation and investor relations.

This is thought and evidence to convince or reaffirm with you, the importance of leadership and its development. Future blogs will discuss some of the strategic approaches to leadership development. Leaving you with a final, important question:

How much is your leadership adding to the value of your organisation?

Recent research from the National Institute of Labour Studies indicates that unlike previous recessions, the skills shortage of 18 months ago has influenced companies to hold onto staff, rather than hiring and training young workers to boast the skills pool.

Professor Kostas Mavromaras from the Institute, highlights that generally employers want to keep experienced staff and typically cut training when business is down. In doing so they set themselves up for future shortages of qualified people. In this recent financial crisis, we see companies avoiding laying off many of their older workers, which differs from previous times.

This is a bonus for the baby boomers, who have watched their retirement age increase as their superannuation decreases. However, it’s not so beneficial for the younger generation of workers who are going to be left with serious skill gaps in the future.

It is over a decade ago that McKinsey’s strategic paper on the impending “War for Talent” was released, spurring HR leaders to upscale their talent attraction and talent management strategies. A key driver identified was the threat of the aging workforce and the impact this will have on our business world in the future. Aptly coined, the world population ‘pyramid’ will transform into a population ‘coffin’ by 2045 due to the changing age distribution. This will impact labour force participation and potential economic growth.

For many companies, the impending skills shortage is just something they will have to deal with in the future. Right now the focus has been on reducing costs and training has been one of the cuts on the top of that list.

Research suggests that some companies have cut training to the bone, while others have only reduced what they have considered as ‘non-essential’ training.

Leadership training you would think would remain on the company training agenda as an essential item. After all the leaders of the company are the very people who are being looked on to help the organisation pull through the tough times, spot the opportunities for growth and accelerate the company out of the economic downturn.

In addition, leaders are being looked on to drive employee engagement and productivity. With over 21% of the current Australian workforce disengaged, company management certainly has a task ahead of them. There is also the emergence of a new ‘style’ of leadership requiring additional skills such as building resilience and leading in crisis, that leaders need as part of their armour for future success.

If you think developing employees can wait until the dust settles and the economic resurgence begins, think again. Not only does this send a clear message to the people whose talent is the most highly valued, it also leaves your organisation vulnerable to under-performance through skills shortages and you may find yourself left behind in the wake of your competitors when the market turns.