Leadership in Equality Rob Beardall

Earth Rings of Saturn Taken, September 15, 2006 by the Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn.

Leadership…… The quality of leadership, more than any other single factor, determines the success or failure of an organization. Fred Fiedler & Martin Chemers Improving Leadership Effectiveness I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people. Mohandas Gandhi "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. Dwight D. Eisenhower

What is Leadership..? Leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less John C Maxwell: In the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

PERCEPTION Costly, time consuming, confusing, irrelevant, biased, not business sense OR.… Understanding the customer, tailoring service provision, employing the best people, and….good business sense… So……How do we INFLUENCE…? Equalities is…. a concept and therefore involves

The COMUNICATOR carries the message, and can be perceived as…..

And the COMMUNICATOR is up against..….. Negative mediaFinancial cuts Competing priorities Good intentions Comfort zones

Collective ideology ……………BUT……… Individualistic society

No significant business plan commitments Leadership Commitment Corporate Roadblocks Pockets limited Improvement Bare minimum mentality Constant progress chasing

BOXED IN Boxed in

Getting breakthrough …..

Organisational Psychology Social Identity - key leaders In-groups and an out-groups Core identity of Equality Agenda Know roadblocks – who/what? Key motivational cues CONTAINED LANGUAGE USE Getting inside mind of organisation….. …..to change it you have to understand it

Positioning Leadership Management levels Wider organisational culture Bottom up and… top-down

Bottom – up Staff Networks e.g Cardiff Champions Scheme Strategic involvement Staff training Internal Communications

Top - down Build trust and credibility INTEGRITY Build robust evidence base CAREFUL PLANNING Tap corporate agenda ASTUTE OBSERVATION Position yourself within in-group LANGUAGE USE and getting on the AGENDA

Building trust and credibility "To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful." Edward R. Murrow ALWAYS professional, ALWAYS honest, ALWAYS supportive, ALWAYS realistic but firm, More than determination….carry an astuteness True to corporate agenda first, and frame agenda within that context Establish must dos and win ground

Useful tips One 2 One meetings Understand sub-cultures, FLEX to that context Demonstrate –Knowledge and understanding –Balanced viewpoint with realism Engage influential champions…but stay true to core leadership Empower leadership with: – Localised facts, figures, statistics – Evidenced service barriers – Changed outcomes Carry positive outlook – language use is key mecahnism

Summary Organisational psychology Perception is the lock, language is the key Positioning Leadership - crucial Building credibility