It’s lonely at the top.  Well, at least that’s what ‘they’ say but in truth, it is only lonely if your style of leadership drives a wedge between you and everyone else.   Admittedly, in years gone by when organisations were run on strictly hierarchical lines there may have been a grain of truth in the saying but in more recent times the nature of leadership has changed.

Today’s enlightened leaders no longer see themselves as figureheads with ‘the buck stopping here’.  Nor is the idea of the leadership team solely confined to the boardroom.  The name of the game in business is now to be collaborative and empowered and the leader who is prepared to follow that route will quickly find that they are in the centre of an empowered and empowering group of people.

So how do leaders move away from hierarchical loneliness and towards a more inclusive way of working?  Research by Jim Kouzes & Barry Posner more than 25 years ago revealed that there are five key practices which epitomise outstanding leaders.  These are Modelling the Way, Inspiring a Shared Vision, Challenging the Process, Enabling Others to Act and Encouraging the Heart.  Kouzes and Posner’s ongoing research has now influenced more than three million leaders at all levels of organisations and their leadership programme is recognised across the world.

The core of The Leadership Challenge™  is The Leadership Practices Inventory™, a 360-degree assessment which helps to establish where leaders currently sit on their leadership journey and forms a platform to enable them to refine their leadership style for the benefit of themselves, their co-workers and the organisation. 

Whether leaders follow this model or not, one of the key takeaways is that leadership is not an end in itself.  The leadership journey may well start in school but every step onwards brings an opportunity to learn, to evaluate personal style and to learn from successes and failures alike.  Leadership is an ongoing process, it has to change as the world and circumstances change and continuing evaluation brings the best chance that the changes required will deliver the optimum results.

You’re never too old to learn runs the saying and it is as true for leaders at the top of organisations as it is for those who are just starting their personal leadership journey.  Evaluations may well throw up developmental needs such as learning to communicate effectively or to engender enthusiasms in others.  But whatever the result the message is clear; those who are willing to accept evaluation and subsequent action as a part of leadership are more likely to benefit their personal journey than those who close their minds to change.

If you’d like to learn more about leadership development and The Leadership Challenge then feel free to get in touch at www.questleadershipdevelopment.com.