What leadership skill do your employees, colleagues, and peers view as the most important for you to have?

In the Harvard Business Review a 2013 study by The Management Research Group found that  97 percent of a group of 10,000 senior executives said strategic thinking is the most critical leadership skill for an organisation’s success. In another study,  60,000 managers and executives in more than 140 countries rated a strategic approach to leadership as more effective than other attributes including innovation, persuasion, communication, and results orientation.

I contrasted this research to a Linkedin debate that is currently live on the CIPD Linkedin page. Someone asked the group for their views on the most common reasons for organisations to fail. The community of mostly HR and L&D professionals responded with many comments around leadership, empowerment, organisation culture, diversity, and many views that that pointed to relationship building as the platform for business salvation. Only one or two mentioned things like ‘strategy’ or ‘target markets’ or ‘investment priorities’.

I find it fascinating that so many people use the word ‘strategy’ but they don’t know how to develop one. They lack the skills and tools for a decent business plan.

So  consider this a call to action. Think about your own skill set. How comfortable do you feel in engaging your immediate team in a debate around strategic priorities? If you don’t see this as a strength, what can you do about it?

I am pleased to say we are upgrading all our facilitation materials for our Strategic Map Model to support teams and individuals to work through this important area. Do get in touch if this strikes a chord with you.

 Music in the Office

Lucinda Williams is back on the office music player. A remastered version of her album titled ‘Lucinda Williams’ is on repeat and we love it. Also playing Lloyd Cole’s new album – More people should be listening to it!