Leadership – to change or not to change, that is the question

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So David Moyes has departed Manchester United - not an unexpected result given the clubs performance this season. I have to confess to being a lifelong supporter and so I am dismayed at the change in fortunes in only one season, therefore Moyes leaving is no surprise and with a reported £5m payoff every cloud has a silver lining! Failure can be rewarding after all. Who was it said, "Gentlemen, we need to fail more often."?

Of course, it raises some interesting points on the subject of leadership. A number of pundits have claimed one reason for his failure was he wanted the team to adapt to his style of leadership rather than the other way around. It seems that whenever a new “leader” arrives they seem to want to stamp their authority and character on the team/organisation/company. Same in politics, new governments want to change whatever the previous lot did irrespective of whether or not it is needed.

So what should a good leader do?

You can’t change history

Another tax year has come to an end and, for many, it is time to take stock of the last year’s results. What will they tell you and what will you do with them?

Results are about history; we can’t go back and change what happened. What they tell us is about how well the business performed last year, and those results impact all kinds of decisions by all kinds of stakeholders The real value of results is not what they tell us about the past, what we learn from them to make a better future.

There is a simple cycle that enables organisations to become ever more successful; it is called PCDA, or plan-do-check-act. It is a principle that quality practitioners know well; it is most effective when used organisation-wide, an approach known as TQM (Total Quality Management).

#2 in How do we create a High Performance Culture?

So having agreed that valuing people is pretty important in bringing about a high performance culture, that is all well and good, but we need to put something tangible into our strategy. That usually means articulating some objectives, targets, expectations for the coming years. There could be sales volumes, increase in market share, increased profit (of course!) or maybe qualitative values around improved quality, or maybe reduced customer complaints. Whatever, there are usually some big numbers and all too often the strategy is short on detail. Very aspirational, but perhaps not a practical route to implementation on its own.

The problem usually comes in translating these aspirations into something relevant to the people who have to deliver on this strategy. All too often these “targets” are passed on down the line without any thought to what they actually mean to those on the shop floor. All too often they are told, “These are your KPIs”.