Good leaders or a leadership culture: What makes an organisation thrive?

We need leaders. Most people would rather be led than lead and that's just fine, especially if you have a leader who is inspiring, creates trust, sees the big picture and yet has an awareness of the small stuff too.

People often need guidance and direction and also feedback that they're on the right track and that the leader has their back.

At the same time, there has been a lot more talk in the corporate and training worlds about developing leadership throughout an entire organisation and how much more effective that is than simply developing individuals.

On our Leadership Development courses professionals come along with a range of levels and requirements: some want a refresh of their skills, some have just been appointed to new roles, some need to take a good hard look at their leadership style and how they communicate their vision, some even feel a bit of a fraud, as though they aren't really leaders and are going to be found out any day now.

We believe that people can be developed into better more motivating leaders prepared to make a more effective impact on their organisations.

As far as we're concerned, there doesn't need to be an 'either or' but rather, we ask the question, what would most benefit your organisation? And why not do both: develop individuals in leadership roles and spread a leadership culture to everyone in the business.

What do you mean by a leadership culture I hear you ask?

Take a look at your own organisation. Has everyone 'bought in' to the ethos of the business and feel that their contribution is appreciated and acknowledged? Are people trusted at all levels within the company? Are people able to challenge the status quo, make suggestions for change and given responsibility for actualising some of their ideas? Are staff members encouraged to initiate projects and feel they can influence the outcome of decisions?

A leadership culture can exist equally well in a strict hierarchy or a flat structure as long as the environment is supportive and fosters the concept that everyone, whatever their status in the organisation, has a valid voice. This does mean that people will question how things are done and will offer suggestions that may, at first glance, not exactly fit.

So how do you create a leadership culture? That brings us back to leaders, doesn't it? If you already have a leadership culture, then the key is to maintain and develop it and ensure it keeps bubbling along with commitment and enthusiasm.

If it doesn't already exist, then someone, or more than one someone has to introduce its benefits both to the powers that be (if they aren't themselves the powers that be) and the organisation as a whole.

And there couldn't be a better time than right now to take the ball and run with it because of the uncertainty and volatility that exists in the world today. Old ways of doing things may simply not work anymore nor will completely top-down structures necessarily be responsive to the changing business climate we are experiencing.

Organisations may indeed have to 'turn on a dime' and the more involved, trusted and creative the workplace is, the better any organisation will be to handle its future in a valuable, productive and considered way.

By Jo Ellen Grzyb, Director, Impact Factory

Check out Impact Factory's Leadership Development, Personal Impact, Line Management and Five Day Elite courses - Communicate with Impact and Presentation withImpact.