BUSINESS 101

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leadership

David Butcher directs the fl agship business leaders’ programme at Cranfi eld School of Management, one of Europe’s premier business schools. A trained psychologist, he has been in management education for 20 years and has worked with Mars Confectionery, BP, AstraZeneca and the European Space Agency

EADERSHIP is one of the most discussed and written-about business topics. There are thousands of leadership courses claiming to transform your business, even your life. These often amount to plenty of pontifi cating, motherhood statements and confl icting advice – somewhat ironic when businesses need practical solutions to deal with today’s economic woes. Below are three key approaches, each of them simple to understand but diffi cult to pull off. But then who said leadership is easy?

David Butcher’s most recent book, Smart management: using politics in organisations, is published by Palgrave MacMillan

VERY BUSINESS leader wants answers today. But quick fi xes must be separated from strategy. Quick fi xes are about getting existing assets – people, money, processes – to work better, faster and creatively to win orders. Plenty of leadership scope there, but separate fast-track improvements from cutting costs. Cost-cutting is not leadership, unless you add a caveat: without damaging the business. Leadership ensures cost-cutting does not become asset-stripping. Which brings us to the longer term.

SSETS must be invested in. Any leader who has inherited brilliant people, strong customer relationships or a great brand recognises this. But in trying economic circumstances it is diffi cult to justify the resources needed to create ‘strategic assets’. It calls for resolve, clear thinking and negotiation with opinion-makers to support investment. Without this, initiatives will stall. And part of the leadership task is to address any residual opposition.

RIVING both short-term initiatives and longer-term investment decisions requires a crucial leadership ingredient: good relationships. Getting people energised and confi dent that they can infl uence the bottom line is more likely when trust and respect are established. Given how easy it is to ignore the importance of relationships, it is probably the best practical starting point for most of us as leaders.

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