Welcome to Part 8 of the Discovery Series. In this blog I’m going to talk about:
• Strategic level disconnect and decision making
• Innate leadership ability and learning from others’ experiences
STRATEGIC LEVEL DISCONNECT: People felt a clear detachment between themselves and those working at the strategic level. They told me that they felt there was a gap between strategic decision making and operational implementation.
INCLUSIVE DECISION MAKING: One way to bridge the disconnect was to involve people in decision making. This wasn’t about being consulted on the decisions that had already been made, but being involved in working up the options and being a part of making the final decision.
INNATE LEADERSHIP: People suggested that training could only go so far in making someone a leader. Individuals needed to have some innate ability to really get them to a point of effective leadership. Experiential learning through career profession was seen as key to effective leadership.
OTHERS’ EXPERIENCES: Hearing about the experiences of successful leaders was felt to be helpful. Telling the story of your own journey through leadership was a way of moving from academic/theoretical learning to understanding the real-life challenges of becoming and being an effective leader