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Leadership Development A Discussion Paper Contents Introduction Context and Trends Leadership Leadership Development Leadership Development Program Integration Leadership What Is Leadership Universally leadership has three elements: defining what needs to be done, determining how to do it, and getting people to do it. A large part of leadership is about shaping and influencing people's behaviour to encourage the outcomes that meet the purpose of the organisation. The global workplace and trends increases the complexity of how leaders achieve this. Therefore one of the biggest challenges for leaders is managing the uncertainty, complexity and rate of change these trends present (change resilience and capability). In understanding leadership we need also to take into account the typical leadership style of Australian managers. Culturally, Australians are highly "people sensitive", giving everyone a fair go: yet there is a facade of toughness to hide our sensitivity. In Australia we are also suspicious of people in authority. The leadership style of our culture is one of the challenges that we face in developing effective and fair leadership within our organisations. To thrive in this environment leaders and their organisations need to pro-actively drive their ongoing professional and personal development (continuous learning). Research The 1995 Karpin Report on leadership and management in Australia emphasised the need to deal with behavioural and interpersonal aspects of strategy. These issues were put forward as pivotal to the development of world-class leadership in Australia. This view is further confirmed in the Hay/McBer CEO Leadership Study (Mastering Global Leadership) conducted in 1997 to identify the qualities of superior CEOs. The findings of this cross-cultural study concluded that multinational executives are in a much stronger position to respond proactively to international challenges when they align business strategies, policies, and behaviours with cultural requirements. As the best leaders make complex choices about the future, they identify and use culturally driven competencies critical for success in a global market. The framework for making these choices relies on a manager's ability to adapt their leadership style along three key dimensions. Success Drivers The Hay/McBer study also shows that Success Drivers are a key component in global leadership, i.e. The need to achieve: measuring ones own performance against professional and personal goals and challenges Initiating action: taking persistent and consistent action to take advantage of opportunities and prevent problems Self confidence: decision making, pursuit of goals, merits of a course of action Social responsibility: strong values, influencing for the benefit of the larger group, broad role beyond the organisation, social themes, environment, cultural diversity. Universal Competencies Supporting the key dimensions are the universal competencies that leaders need to develop. Universal Competencies Sharpening the Focus Broad scanning Searching for knowledge Analytical thinking Conceptual thinking Decisive insight Global awareness/mindset Technological understanding Systemic thinking Options development   (innovation/intuition) Rapid decision making Customer focus Achievement orientation Building Commitment Organisation know-how People judgement Gaining co-operation and   commitment Influence and impact People development   (including mentoring) Cross cultural influencing   and negotiation skills Emotional resilience and   understanding Change resilience and   capability Matching style to situation Achievement environment Success Drivers Need to achieve Self-confidence Social responsibility Initiating action   Continuous learning Personal balance   and management Applying ethics and   values Move on to next section of this article Leadership Development.

       

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