We are incredibly proud to announce the publication of our book “Professional Leadership” written in collaboration with our Principal Consultants.
Professional Leadership is an impeccable resource for leadership development; organisational change and cultural transformation.
How do top leaders create an intentional company culture that effectively balances the demands of people, planet, and profit? Who develops those leaders, and what advice have they got for you? These international leadership professionals share their current and candid thinking on leading successfully.
This is well-researched, well-written, and packed with strategies, theory, tips and frontline advice.
Editors: Angela Armstrong PhD and Andrew Priestley
The introduction:
“There are enormous challenges facing us globally, organisationally and personally right now. Despite the pressures, I know that there are many leaders amongst us who are positive role models, who are resourceful in finding solutions and, who are forever curious about how they can be a better leader day by day. Are you that leader?
Someone with the audacity to envision a brighter future, the courage and capability to make it happen and the passion to inspire others to help? Someone who understands the responsibility that comes with having a far-reaching impact on people’s daily lives and livelihoods, regardless of what’s going on in your own?
Are you a leader who can be relied upon to deliver measurable business outcomes, and do so in a way that treats people like the free-willed, creative and compassionate individuals they are? Leadership is approximately 20% science and 80% art; two leaders if given identical teams would generate very different results.
The science part is the knowledge and skills of leadership that can be learned (e.g., defining clear business outcomes, strategic planning, and commercial awareness). The art part is a mixture of psychology (the study of individual human behaviour), sociology (the study of groups of people) and how each unique leader applies the art and science to the challenge at hand. This book focuses primarily on the art of leadership, i.e., not so much what you do, but how you do it.”
The book is available on amazon.co.uk in kindle or paperback formats.
We would like to congratulate and thank all contributors: Angela Armstrong PhD, Maggi Evans PhD, James Hall MBE, Andy Goram, Nick Corbo, Ellen Burton, Vanessa Boon, Susan Croft, Matthew Storey, Fraser Murray.
What’s in the book?
The Leaders’ role in Cultural Transformation
Prioritise these three aspects of change to avoid overwhelm and deliver what really matters in cultural transformation without breaking yourself, your people or the business in the process.
Leading Small Teams
The specific skills required to run a small team. The general point is simple. The requirements of successful leadership change with the environment and one size does not fit all.
Making the Complicated Happen
An idea that most of us already aspire to, in which we try to enable our people to achieve their outputs through their own ingenuity rather than through micro-management.
Profit on Purpose
Business outcomes show that doing good (for people and planet) also means doing well commercially (profit). So, be intentional about your company culture by embedding a compelling purpose and a set of values-led behaviours.
Talent Liberation: how to rethink your talent strategy
Have you ever looked around you and worried about the lack of talent moving through your organisation? If so, you are not alone. This chapter will help you to liberate more of the talent that is currently lying dormant in your organisation.
Five Steps To Leading A Stickier Business
Take some simple steps to start building a stickier business. A place where people love to work, where they thrive, stay and attract more great talent to you.
How to become a Trusted Leader
Understand the critical importance of character-based leadership, the ability to develop and adapt your character strengths is differentiating, the top tips to enable all your leaders and managers to become trusted leaders.
Psychological Safety – it’s real and it’s really important
Why Psychological Safety matters – The simple answer is that for high-performing teams it’s essential. Observations suggested that in times of uncertainty, people withhold their views as they associated some sort of risk with speaking in those moments unless they could be assured of support from their peers.
Inclusive Leadership: Look Through A Different Lens
Even the most experienced leaders can be oblivious to disrespectful interactions at work. Unexplored bias leaves leaders with blind spots, making it difficult to register the detriment of exclusionary behaviour among employees. Once aware, you will better recognise destructive interactions and learn to tactfully disrupt them.
Influencing without authority
As we continue to transform into an interconnected, interdependent, global workplace, the ability to influence will matter more. That’s because leaders can no longer lead solely by the power of authority or position. They need the power of influence – the ability to affect the actions, behaviour, opinions of others – to get things done, regardless of authority.
How to enable Empathetic Leadership
If you read this chapter, you will connect with the certainty that your emotional intelligence must be exceptional to be an effective professional leader.
How Not To Be An Inclusive Leader
Gain insights including mistakes and pitfalls to avoid, adventures in self-discovery, tongue-in-cheek pointers, and the collective learning from facilitating courageous conversations with thousands of people on this topic.
The Imposter Phenomenon and Turning Self-Doubts into Self-Beliefs
Learn self-belief techniques for you, and the team you are nurturing. Freeing people from the doubts that hold them back unlocks untapped potential for individual and business success. An estimated 70% of people will experience the imposter phenomenon, with feelings of inadequacy. Fostering a culture of greater self-belief supports you and your workforce to ‘take the brakes off’ releasing fresher, braver, more creative ideas.
