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Since the recession, UK companies are hungrier than ever for strong leadership.
In February, Henley Business School reported that developing leadership skills was a top priority for 2,500 HR and learning specialists this year. But although leadership seems to be the holy grail of private and public-sector organizations today, and pursued incessantly, it remains persistently elusive for many organizations. Where are they going wrong and how can they adapt in order to foster a culture that cultivates great leaders?
Free leaders from excess process
A common pitfall many companies face is encouraging too much process in their business, which can stifle good leadership and block creative thinking. Effective leadership can only thrive when leaders are freed from bureaucracy and organizational process, which is an obsession for many businesses. Excessive process is the ball and chain of decision making and the handcuffs of leaders who could otherwise foster good, quick decisions and actions.
Process can inhibit leadership because it encourages procrastination and creates a fear in leaders about the consequences of not following process. The boom days, from the mid-1990s to the middle of the first decade of the twenty-first century, allowed companies to indulge in their own process creation. Six Sigma was replaced by lean and any number of other processes, which were dragged out of business books. It all sounded good until one of the most revered processes of all, kaizen (continual improvement), allowed the biggest car maker in the world to create dangerous cars.
Somewhere, the process got in the way of someone saying: "Before we sell this car, should we ...?"
Companies can free themselves from excess process immediately by cutting down the number of meetings, making them shorter and even taking the chairs out of meeting rooms to promote energy and focus. They should train people to chair meetings effectively, as good chairing leads to good decision making, the inclusion of the views of...