SLP(E) Course
International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology

Leadership Experiences
GOOD Leadership
• One
BAD Leadership
• Two
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

Centre for Defence Leadership |
Background
• Cold War:
– Frozen strategic choices.
• Mid 1990’s saw several discernible trends:
– Increased study of the operational art , following Gulf War 1.
– Joint staff training.
– Modernisation of Government.
• Use of business tools in the Public Sector.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

• Five main reasons for executive failure in
Europe:
– Poor interpersonal relationships: 64%
– Inability to develop or adapt: 62%
– Failure to build & lead teams:
– Too narrow experience:
– Failure to meet objectives:
24%
18%
16%
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

Leader(ship) Development
Responsibility for organizational success
?
Specialist competence
International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology

NOT teaching how to lead.
Expose you to new ideas & to yourselves
Understand more about yourselves & how you interact with other people & the strategic environment.
• Style:
– Challenging.
– Reflective.
– Experiential.
– Enjoyable.
– Learn from self & each other.
• Relies on:
– Openness.
– Getting outside comfort zone.
– Beckett House Rule.
– NOT Assessed.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

• No cookery recipe.
• Unlearning old practises.
• Need for Reflection .
• No license.
• Tyranny of check-lists.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology

• Conducted at the higher levels of the organization.
– Above the tactical level.
• Longer time horizons.
• Broader context & environment.
• Complex
– Process larger amounts of information.
• Greater resource implications & lasting consequences.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

• Ethical issues at boundary of policy.
• No set, fixed or obvious answers.
• Greater levels of uncertainty & risk .
• More complex, frequently WICKED problems.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

National Interests
Strategic Vision
-
Ends
Means
Feasible
Suitable
Acceptable
Ways
Risks
Global
Context
-
Forces &
Trends
National Strategy
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

Strategic Context
• Political:
• Economic:
• Social:
• Technology:
• Legal:
• Environmental:
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology

• Position of authority & responsibility.
• Legally appointed.
• Leadership & management are key components.
• Commanders are not leaders until their position has been ratified in the hearts & minds of those they command.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

• Leadership is visionary .
• Projection of personality & character to inspire the team to achieve the desired outcome .
• Leadership is a combination of example, persuasion & compulsion.
• Style is dependent on the situation .
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

• Allocation & control of resources (human | materiel | financial) to achieve objectives.
• Capability to deploy a range of techniques
& skills to plan, organise & execute the business of defence.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

LEADERSHIP
Personal Power
Authority
LEADERSHIP
Positional Power
MANAGEMENT
• Stuff
• Numbers
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

• Near certainty & agreement = management + navigation .
• Little certainty & agreement = leadership + exploring.
International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology

• The capacity for recognising our own feelings & those of others.
• M otivating ourselves & for managing emotions well in ourselves & in our relationships .
• Distinct from, but complementary to, academic intelligence (IQ).
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

“The Effective Contemporary
Leader”
Bright enough!
IQ
PQ
Ethical &
Spiritual
EQ CQ
Culturally attuned
Emotionally aware
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

“ Destructive leaders are focused on short-term mission accomplishment .
They provide superiors with impressive articulate presentations and enthusiastic responses to missions. But they are unconcerned about, or oblivious to, staff or troop morale and/or climate. They are seen as self serving ”
US Army War College Class of 2003
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology

Changing Environment | Changing Skills
Strategic
Operational
Tactical
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

• Communication: from inward ‘reinforcing the team’ to upward & outward ‘shaping the environment’ & ‘crosssilo’.
• Uncertainty: increasing ambiguity & uncertainty.
• Risks: in defence context – physical to organsiational.
• Decision-making: increasing proportion of ‘ethical decisions’.
Strategic leaders do not need to know all the answers – they do need to ask the right questions.
International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology

Strategic Leadership Theory
• Providing Direction:
• Purpose | Vision for whole organisation.
• Getting Strategy & Policy right:
• Strategic thinking.
• Organise/Reorganise:
• Making the organisation fit for purpose.
• Release the Corporate Spirit:
• Energy | morale | confidence | Esprit de Corps.
• Relate the organisation to wider environment:
• Allies, partners, stakeholders.
• Develop today & tomorrow’s leaders:
• Succession planning | long term view.
John Adair – Effective Strategic Leadership 2002
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

The Leadership Helix Model
Integrity
Vision
Communication
Professional
Knowledge
Innovation
Decision Taking
Humility
Focussed on
Development
?
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

• One
Essential
• One
Desirable
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology

• Personality impacts leadership:
– who you are affects how you lead.
• Leadership impacts team functioning
& staff attitudes.
• Attitudes & team functioning impact organization performance
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology

WHAT KIND OF PROBLEM IS IT?
DO YOU KNOW HOW TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM?
YES
IS IT A CRISIS?
NO
DOES ANYONE KNOW TO SOLVE THIS?
YES
CRITICAL PROBLEM
Act as a commander
Be decisive
Provide answers
NO
TAME PROBLEM
Act as a manager
Use S.O.Ps.
YES NO
WICKED PROBLEM
Act as a leader
Ask questions & use clumsy solutions
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology

Change: how an organisation develops
Organisation
Amount of change
Shift
Environmental
Change
Incremental change Flux
Demise
Time
Major change
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

Emotional
Intensity
Reaction to Change
Anger
Bargaining
Acceptance
Change
Denial
Fear
Shock
Depression
Time
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

Inexperience in scope and complexity
17%
Lack of communication
20%
Failure to define objectives
17%
Technical issues
14%
Project Management
Problems
32%
Source: KPMG
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology

Kotter’s Eight Steps
1. Sense of urgency .
2. Powerful guiding coalition .
3. Create a Vision .
4.
Communicate the Vision.
5.
Act out the Vision.
6.
Short-term wins .
7. Prepare to produce more change .
8.
Institutionalize new approaches
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

• Kotter suggests that communication is the single most important change lever and is the one most frequently neglected.
• To achieve change means gaining trust through open communication.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology

As seen on the wall of the Ford HQ Boardroom
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

Culture | Schein’s Model
• Artefacts:
• Values:
• Assumptions:
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology

Why do we need to know about ethics?
• Complex battle-field | business-space.
• Drills & standard procedures not enough.
• Working at edge of policy.
• Face moral dilemmas.
• Under public scrutiny through the media.
International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology

The right action is the one that brings about the best overall consequences.
‘Always ACT so as to bring about the greatest happiness of the greatest number’
Jeremy Bentham, “The Father of Utilitarianism”
International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology

• From the Greek ‘Deon’ = a duty.
• About Rights & Duties.
• Some acts are just wrong – full stop!
– Murder, rape, torture, intentional (or reckless) killing of civilians.
• People are ENDS in themselves – not
MEANS.
International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology

• ‘Middle way’ between Deontology and
Utilitarianism. Developed over 2000 years.
• Cicero, St Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Hugo
Grotius & Michael Walzer.
• Guide to the strategic level in the appropriate moral conduct of war.
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy

SLP(E) Course
International Section | Leadership & Management Division | College of Management and Technology

Seven Deadly Sins/Ten
Commandments
• Identify the:
– Ten Commandments:
• What are the 10 most important things that a Strategic Leader MUST DO ?
– Seven Deadly Sins:
• What are the 7 most important things that a
Strategic Leader MUST NOT DO ?
Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy