Transforming organisations

Old fashioned principle centred leadership

Stephen Covey first brought the above phrase to my attention, but it is amazing how often it is valid today.

It starts with the premise that any one person is essentially trustworthy. That is to say that someone is of good character in the first place – they are honest and open, what they say is what they do. The other half of trustworthiness is competence and this means that someone has the skills to do the job (the how to), knowledge to know what to do in various circumstances and attitude which is the ‘wanting to do’.

At a personal level when someone is trustworthy they can look forward to a relationship with someone else that is based upon trust. This sort of relationship thrives upon a level of self disclosure, mutual respect and responsiveness.

When people in organisations create relationships based upon trust then this paradigm can spread throughout because it works both vertically and horizontally. For example, if staff trust their managers then there is a much greater chance of excellent communication and a fast response to change.

When managers and staff work effectively together there is a great chance that leadership within the organisation is inspirational. The real pay off is that when the directors or the senior management team plan, set targets and goals and make decisions then all people are rapidly in alignment with those plans.

Sometimes it is a change in leadership that inspires changes throughout the organisation. Get it right at the top and then you can cascade this culture down. If there are unresolved issues at Board level then the culture of transparency will be at best, partial in the organisation.

posted by Tim @ 6:17 AM