Wednesday, 19 March 2008

Leadership

Recently quoted in the Scotsman (14 March 2008) were Norman Schwarzkopf and Colin Powell, themselves quoted in the FBI’s leadership course. These luminaries were cited by Gordon Meldrum director general of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency.

His summation was as follows: “You can be light years ahead of everyone else, but if you don’t actually have an ability to turn around and communicate it to the people who work for you and with you, you just end up leading yourself”.

Teams have to be persuaded to follow and whilst threats and intimidation may achieve something in some settings, in a business setting they are most likely to lead to a claim for constructive dismissal.

So persuasion it is!

A team inspired by a leader can achieve great things but only if the leader can impart his or her ideas clearly to the team. When the leader can inform the team of the key ideas and inspire them to follow through, inspiration can’t be far away. This takes time and effort but ultimately adds value to the company and with economic storm clouds gathering inspiration is going to be a much needed quality.

Presentation skills and the ability to understand the component parts of successful communication are essential pieces of kit for any leader.

MG
Skillpresentations.com

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