MEMBER NEWS Successful leadership is about intent not instructions

obstacles to success and engender management and team commitment at all levels during organisational change. This is facilitated through targeted learning and development. He is also a long-standing programme facilitator with the Institute of Directors on their Director development programme.

Leadership for the 21st century is about intent not instructions. Be clear about your intent and allow the skilled, experienced team members you hired for their abilities to decide how to deliver it.

Why? Because an organisation of empowered thinkers is more effective, efficient and successful. People with detailed knowledge of day-to-day activities are better placed than their leaders to decide the best actions to deliver the outcomes desired.

Strong team/leader relationships lead to valued, trusted, loyal, better engaged and empowered staff in a service/performanceorientated organisation focused on achieving the best outcomes.

High performing groups exhibit competitive advantage through the combination of clarity of purpose and trust.

Eisenhower said leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he or she wants it done.

In his book Turn The Ship Around!, US Navy Submarine Captain L. David Marquet said: “If you want your people to think, you don’t give instructions, you give intent.” As a man in command of a nuclear submarine with serious consequences to any actions taken, his leadership style is a powerful case study for intent (coupled with agency to act) over instruction.

wish to achieve with the team free to propose the best route to achieving it. Healthy review, debate and disagreement ensures that both the leader and the team truly understand the intent, how that intent will be achieved and how that will deliver the best outcome.

Removing assumption removes making an “ass” out of “u” and “me”.

Achieving the change

A change of style in terms of leadership and communication is essential.

Language needs to change so that the team owns the decision; ask why is that the right decision and encourage thinking to find the detail of how to bring about the results you desire. More significantly, when leaders ask the team why their decision is right this encourages them to articulate their knowledge, building confidence in their abilities and ultimately lead to a more empowered, successful team.

David Marquet believes that giving control requires two supporting pillars to be in place; technical competence (are we doing it the right way) and organisational clarity (is this the right thing to do?).

Leadership is about people interactions. Tapping into all leaders, official and unofficial, at any level in your organisation delivers greatest success.

Giving intent does not mean a free for all but a dialogue between leaders and the team. Leaders must be clear about the outcome they

Individual ownership, collective success

Ownership and thinking for themselves cascades through an organisation almost immediately; everyone knows what the organisation is doing, what they wish to achieve and how they are going to achieve this. Agile thinking replaces cumbersome communication controls.

Individuals behave more efficiently, knowing what the organisation is doing, and arranging their own objectives in a timely and coordinated fashion.

Efficiency increases as a handful of leaders giving orders are replaced by a whole organisation of thinkers actively doing their job most efficiently, applying the greatest knowledge, and as a bonus, working happily and giving more to the organisation because they feel valued.

Creating the right environment

Creating the right environment can be uncomfortable as you move from having control to giving control. Authority must sit where the information sits to allow decisions to be taken autonomously.

Results

Leading with intent translates into how we drive purpose into action so people feel valued and proud of being part of something bigger than themselves. People need to know the organisation’s goals, thoughtfully contribute toward their accomplishment and push control and decision-making down the organisation - to ultimately take responsibility and have the authority to rise to the occasion, even during times of change or tension.

Organisational success is on the shoulders of all people and not simply the “leaders”.