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There’s a seemingly simple exercise that can be very powerful in helping you identify how to strengthen your own leadership. It involves asking yourself five questions; you need to challenge yourself and be open to changing your assumptions. You might prefer to do this in private; or if you are brave you might do it with a coach, mentor, friend, business partner or life partner.

Analysis of corporate leaders’ 360-degree feedback suggest that as many as one in four has a listening deficit. The effects can be devastating for a company. But, despite today’s fast-paced business environment, even time-starved leaders can master the art of disciplined listening. Conventional advice for better listening is to be emotionally intelligent and available; however, truly good listening requires far more than that.

One of the most underrated competencies in leadership is delegation. As a leader you need to teach people how to think and ask the right questions so that the business can carry on if you’re not around.

Is it possible to focus too much on ‘leadership’ in business? We think the answer could be ‘yes.’ Seeing leaders as ‘special beings’ risks creating what Henry Mintzberg called ‘leadership apart’: leaders unconnected to their organisations, insulated from conflict, challenge, and debate; and unwitting creators of a culture of conformity and compliance rather than creativity and innovation.

One of the key elements of leadership is partnership. Not everyone would agree with this; you could argue that, in the presence of a powerful leader, partnership is unnecessary – you will get the job done with or without the involvement of others. But in today’s organisations, this is not enough. You might achieve the result, but at what cost? If you don’t involve others, you leave them disempowered and demotivated. You don’t train them in how to produce results. Your organisation is the poorer, and if you leave, your knowledge and skill leaves too.

Do you think you’re open-minded in business – or are you stuck in a certain mindset? One thing about mindsets is that it’s easy to see them in others but very hard to see them in yourself. For sure, you have opinions (based on experience) and you have certain ways you think you should run your business. But you’re definitely not stuck in any mindsets. Or are you?

In leadership skills development, the ‘seven levels of leadership consciousness’ model offers a particularly useful way of developing leaders. Based on the work of Maslow, it describes positive qualities and potentially limiting values for each level.

“I’m sorry to say so but, sadly it’s true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you” Dr Seuss – Oh the Places You’ll Go   You can’t escape change.  The march of time and gravity is relentless. What’s changed over the last five years in your work-place?  Bosses change, colleagues move on, there are …

We said in our last blog that the most effective and successful leaders, and the most successful and satisfying organisations, are the ones that take culture seriously. Why? A short answer is to look at the types of organisation where organisation culture (‘the way a group of people behave together’) is and isn’t worked on.

What did Peter Drucker mean when he said this? You can have the best strategy in the world, but without the right culture you will not be able to deliver it. Equally, if you have the right culture, it will help to ensure you have the right strategy. The role of leaders is not to be responsible solely for strategy, but also to take careful responsibility for culture.