NEWS

Refreshing Leadership: Edinburgh 15th May 2008

A sunny Thursday morning, and 31 guests from 22 Organisations packed into a function room at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society in Edinburgh for a morning hosted by Sheppard Moscow entitled Refreshing Leadership.

Opening the proceedings, Robert Davison of Sheppard Moscow, highlighted that now more than ever, leaders in all walks of life lived in the spotlight of intense scrutiny and the clamour for instant results. Since humans lived in communities, leadership has been a feature of life and today, we are still searching for the answer to questions like “What makes a good leader?” and “How can Leaders be developed?” The morning was designed to allow time to explore these kinds of questions.

The first speaker, Mike Haffenden founder of the Corporate Research Forum, reminded us of the $60 billion spent on Leadership Development in 2005 and warned against approaches to Leadership Development that were “all packaging and no product”. Exceptional leaders, he believed, took time to reflect, which was often the birthplace of new insights and awareness. In today’s world, time to reflect often felt like a luxury rather than a necessity. He went on to highlighted that in order to get a return on Leadership development, it was often as important to work on the organisational context as it was to develop Leaders. He told of his experience in one company who employed some of the best graduates in the land, but who’s organisational culture squashed innovation and talent. Leadership development on its own was a waste in this situation. It is also important, he stated, telling the story of a difficult Finance Director, to recognise that not all senior people can be developed into rounded Leaders. Mike also raised an interesting question about the value of Leaders who can’t Manage. Many people, he said, see Leadership is the vogue just now and Management seems like the poor relation. The skills of Management being undervalued at present. In closing he advised realism in Leadership development, saying that success is making 10% of your people perform 10% better.

Andy Warrender, Global Leader of the Fabrics Division of WL Gore and Associates (makers of Gore-tex® Fabric) was next to speak about the realities of leading in an International organisation. He began by describing Gore’s unique culture founded on 4 principles and their preference for leaders to emerge naturally rather than be appointed. Leaders in Gore have a central task of upholding and exemplifying Gore’s organisational culture. In a very personal talk, Andy recounted some of the leadership challenges he had faced and some of the ways he had responded and reacted. He highlighted the importance of authenticity and its place in developing trust and also how critical it was for Leaders to be able to deliver honest and tough feedback to people when required, underpinned by an orientation of support. Andy has found that he works at his best as a leader when he partners with others who have complementary strengths (he mentioned a leadership trio he belonged to where the shorthand for their individual unique talents became “the brains, the mouth and the hands”! ). He also, memorably described the leaders job as essentially lonely. There are a few times each year when you have to make a call…. back your judgement…. make a crucial decision. Its probably at those moments, he reflected, that most leaders earn their salary.

After a noisy coffee break Lucy Hatchell and Robert Davison picked up the Leadership theme with some of Sheppard Moscow’s perspectives and experience of Leadership Development.. Drawing from a variety of sources, they described Leadership as “being prepared to act on what matters” and went on to describe the 3 domains of Thinking, Doing and Being which act as a template for Sheppard Moscow’s work on Leadership development. Highlighting a number of propositions about leadership, Lucy and Robert underlined the importance of authenticity and relationships together with a leader’s capacity to work creatively with the tension between the present and the desired future. They also spoke about the importance of a leader being able to help people around them make meaning of complex and ambiguous situations. They rounded off their talk by describing an example of a global leadership development programme which Sheppard Moscow had been associated with for 5 years and where they were now the sole provider. The key message in Leadership development, they affirmed, is the context : there must be a clear line of sight between the Development itself and the organisation’s strategic priorities. With that connection, carefully designed Leadership Development can make a substantial contribution to organisational success.

For the remainder of the morning people had an opportunity explore particular issues in smaller groups before a short plenary session brought the morning to a close. Many people took the opportunity to stay and continue their conversations over lunch.

People seemed to appreciate the opportunity to refresh their thinking about leadership and to meet new people from other organisations. Feedback on the morning included the following comments:

Very useful … the mixture and well managed time was particularly energising.

Thought provoking …. and well balanced.

Great food for thought.

And we were given some good suggestions for topics for future events. Watch this space.

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