What it was:

Talk by a senior MOD leader to the ISS leadership cohort in Corsham on 9 October 2018.

What I learned:

Introduction:

• You are a highly evolved ape!
• Think about the psychological environment you create for your team
• Systems of thinking, fast and slow
• Self awareness is key
• Create an environment that encourages Reasonable Challenge

A simple framework for leadership:

• A leader leads three things: issues, people and change.

Leading issues:

• The product: must be credible, consistent, defensible, logical, viable
• Stakeholders: use empathy, trust and assertiveness

Leading people:

• Be effective at what you do. This is fundamental to leadership.
• Be a time traveller; see five years hence, and reflect on how things have moved.
• Have a clear view of success and failure, beware the dangers of linear narratives,
• take a probabilistic view of success and failure
• Be human: learn about your people, which team they support, their children’s names.

Leading change:

• Change happens to us. We adapt to change. Therefore leading change is really just leading adaptation.
• In essence it’s the role of the leader to force the adaptation
• Evolution is a good analogy – it can be gradual or drama
• Reputation is the only real currency of leadership: The metric is what will people be saying about you / this in five years time
• There are many different leadership models, both quiet and loud

In summary:

• Lead through people
• Make sure the team is adapting
• Be conscious of your reputation

What I will aim to do differently as a result:

• Think about things in terms of issues, people and change – not just issues
• Use the framework above as a way of organising my planning time
• Ask my people about themselves more.