Moving Organisational Leadership from Good to Great

27th Nov 2009

Our quick and effective tips to move you and your organisation from good to GREAT!

Level 5 Leadership

Hire people who are better than you – and develop them so they’ll continue your work even better when you move on to greater things.
Be prepared to look in the mirror and take the blame if things go wrong. Look outside when things go well, giving the credit to others for the success.
Stay quiet: encourage your people to think by asking questions more often than giving your own view.

First who, then what

Having the wrong people around you holds you and your organisation back. People are not your greatest asset: the right people are.

Start now to make sure you get the right people on your bus, in the right places.
Recruit slowly: when in doubt, don’t hire – keep looking.

Confront the Brutal Facts

Make sure you create an environment where your people can talk openly about what’s really going on, the bad and the good news, without anyone shooting the messenger.
Get back to the floor regularly: make sure you and your team understand what’s really going on at the customer-facing levels in your organisation, and where you need to roadblock-bust to improve things.
Make sure you’re discussing the right things in your team meetings: free up your meeting agenda from time to time to ask “What’s the most important thing we need to be discussing?”

Hedgehog Strategy

Surround yourself with people who are passionate about what you’re all doing.
Work with them to agree what you can be best in your world at, and what you can’t.
Work out the single most important measure of your success, and focus on improving your scores.

Culture of Discipline

Stop-doing lists are more important than to-do lists: keep asking yourself what you and your team need to stop doing, to make sure everyone has time to focus on your hedgehog strategy.
Agree the key areas where things and processes are non-negotiable, because they support your hedgehog strategy. Then ensure people act with discipline to stick to the non-negotiables.
Create a culture where everyone wants to do things better, faster and/or cheaper, to achieve your hedgehog strategy.

Jennifer Shipside

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