Having conducted well-being audits in more than 70 organisations, we know that in almost every case Leadership emerges as one of the key factors that determines the well-being levels of staff. This is because Leaders, as senior people in the organisation with power, have a major impact on the climate of the organisation – in the words of the management guru Max De Pree:
The first responsibility of leaders is to define reality…..
For example, if the leadership group in an organisation have a ‘command and control’ style (as is typical in the military and the Police Service) the effects of this cascade down and determine the overall climate and feel of the organisation. Equally, if the top team are all about pace, results and challenge, as is more typical in the private sector, these become characteristics of the organisation and what it feels like to work there. In this sense, leaders ‘model’ behaviour in organisations and staff lower down either imitate it or are assimilated into the prevailing culture.
Very often, because of their seniority, leaders can become disconnected from the impact that their natural style has on the organisation at large and it takes a structured intervention such as a leadership development or a coaching programme to bring this to their attention. However, most interventions of this sort focus on the personality and skills of the leader themselves and do not provide a mechanism for connecting them with the kind of workplace environment they are creating for the workforce.
Because Robertson Cooper’s well-being survey tool ASSET looks at the elements of the workplace situation that block or enable well-being and performance, we are ideally placed to provide this missing piece of the jigsaw. By using insights from ASSET to inform the production of our new leadership development tool, Leadership Impact, we are able to start with the situation, as perceived by the workforce, and work back to the leader’s natural style. The tool provides straight-forward feedback on how the ‘space’ around leaders feels for those around him/her. For example, does it feel supportive? Is it results driven? Is everything about pace? Does the leader inspire confidence in his/her workgroup?
The report goes on to further connect the leader to six key elements of the workplace situation (e.g. balanced workload, autonomy, good working relationships). It examines the extent to which the leader’s style presents strengths or risks in relation to these areas and also looks at the dangers of overusing established strengths.
Leadership Impact is a unique approach to leadership development because of its ability to reconnect leaders with the reality of the workplace. It is being used at the highest levels in the UK Government and in industry.