Is ‘Good to Great’ - ‘great’ enough for the 21st Century?
Steve Hurst
Leadership, Culture & Performance Consultant, Speaker, Trainer, Facilitator, Advisor, Coach and Author [Humanity Inc] with a proven track record in creating highly engaged and successful teams and businesses.
Like all of us I have been watching leadership unfold and express itself during this pandemic as well as the more recent troubles since the needlessly sad death of George Floyd. I have been inspired and saddened in equal measure at the times when leadership has clearly stepped up to the ‘new norm’ and where it has deliberately stepped back from it. While watching this unfold, I have been struck by how much we as humanity rely of leadership. Whether it is political, educational or commercial leadership, I think we can all agree, leadership matters.
Leadership and the development of organisational culture has been my work for the past 23 years, and I am beginning to think we need to revise the curriculum both now and for the future. I am currently researching and writing a book on leadership and what it should mean for us in the 21st Century. Thankfully I am working for a company (Sage) that has in many ways ‘stepped up’ and recognised the importance of securing jobs, keeping a focus on the short term whilst balancing the long term perspective and the importance of employee well-being. When we do go back to the new norm we all speak about, my hope is we go back to a world where we have more faith and confidence in leadership and the very institutions and businesses we work for are more able to respond to current and future crisis.
For me ‘great’ will not suffice. I think more businesses need to be iconic and lead the way in building their businesses so that not only are they great, they do good for their communities and societies they serve, and recognise the value of creating a place of work where their people are well and able to thrive.
I’d love for you to share your stories, observations and thoughts on the leadership you have witnessed and perhaps personally experienced over the last few months. What is working and not working in terms of the leadership you have seen and what do you believe needs to change in the future?
My fear is that these uncommon times will become more common in the future and if we are to overcome these challenges and thrive as humanity, leadership matters more now than ever before.
Even after all the turmoil, someone like Donald Trump still has the hearts of some. So we have to continue to challenge ourselves as to what this leadership thing is. Those that have stood out in this crisis for others, embody the integrity, selflessness, vulnerability and humanity, that we presuppose are the answer. I’d like to think that could be true for all. However, when most of the world is driven to want to have what the other half have got, humans get conflicted and drawn into compromising what we think we’ve held dear. In that space, many leaders can thrive. It’s taken us 2,000 years or so to get this far on the topic. Borders, religions etc can create a sense of belonging so important to us, and yet create divide. Brexit is a wonderful example. Leadership around collaboration is sought to help overcome some of the worlds ills as a collective. What are those leaders prepared to give up to make that happen?
Hello Steve. I'm interested to see that book when you've finished it. Leadership in the new normal . . . There's a topic probably best addressed with a beer in front of us both together but let me offer some thoughts I've recently seen leadership show it's vulnerability in how they have found the lock down challenging (this openly on conf calls to large numbers of staff) and therefore not just encouraged others to feel free to open up, but practised the behaviour themselves. Another lasting thought 're Leadership goes back to our days together at Xerox Steve. Leadership consults and seeks the opinions of others but doesn't (whatever time period we are discussing- today or back in the 90s) shy away from making decisions . Decisions that provide direction for the people they lead. Direction that will, I believe, become an even more important requirement for organisations as we enter the 'new normal. Hope you're all keeping well Steve. Catch up soon mate.
Assistant Director of Engagement, Inclusion and Experience at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
5ySteve, thank you for sharing this. I completely agree, leadership plays such an important part of building a brighter future, both with employees and the community. A critical part of that is to role model the behaviours expected of others. A have seen some great leadership in the current environment around leading on ways of working and pulling together to do the right thing both for the business and the wider community. Leadership is about showing people the right way to the future and building positive energy around what the future can hold. So together we can build something for our employees and the community to be Proud of.
Team Improvement Specialist. Chair, Prestwick Aerospace, Aviation Tour Guide & Organiser & Conference Speaker. Active promoter of the Prestwick Aerospace Cluster.
5yHi Steve - long time no speak! Anyway to answer your question very briefly (we can continue this 'live' if you want?) - What's Not Working? - Absent leadership or at least what I can 'Rabbit caught in the headlights' leadership. Basically COVID 19 has rocked them back and they do not know where to go next. Very little vision and have tended to work in the present as opposed to the future. Reactions are very knee jerk and based on what they know and have experienced as opposed to taking a leap forward. What's Working? Leaders seeing an opportunity to accelerate their visions and working practices as they already had these in the long term strategic plan. Leaders engaging fully with their all their employees and looking out for them on a regular basis with up to the minute factual updates thus not leaving anyone in the dark where possible. I could go...…………...