Building A Culture Of Leadership In Successful Businesses

A culture of leadership is vital to the success, at least the continued and long-standing success, of any company or business in Australia today.

It was once the case that a company looked to one leader to inspire them by his or her example, much as a rugby or football coach could take a team of average players and lead them on to a championship victory. Those days, sadly, are nearly gone. Business moves so fast these days with so much data to keep track of and so many new products and services continually emerging that there simply cannot be just one leader in many companies. Instead, a company needs a whole culture of leadership within itself which promotes those who take initiative to make things happen for the company when called upon to do so. Each department within a company, in fact, requires a leader or leaders of its own.

The dynamic and globally reaching economy of New South Wales demands the presence of this new ethos in business; a culture of leadership which works in tandem with the national economic strategies of the nation of Australia as it continues to go strong into the new century. The state of NSW says in its economic plans: "a strong economy allows us to provide the excellent services such as healthcare, education, and policing which the public expects...we are...innovative people who want a society built on fairness, equity, and collaboration...(a) society built on these principles will be more productive, wealthier, and fairer."

This is also the way the 21st century company should be run.

FIRST STEP: BUILDING TRUST AND A SHARED VISION

In every company, top management need to ensure that every person within the company is all working towards a common goal and shares one vision of success for the company. When everyone is on the same page and works together, interdepartmental conflict ceases and productivity skyrockets. When people feel that they are working towards a goal which is worthwhile, they will strive hard to ensure the continued success of the company. Having this kind of corporate culture will cause natural leadership talent to emerge in those who have it, benefiting the entire organisation.

In a company where everyone shares a vision for the future of the organisation, trust will flourish, as will innovation and the willingness to take calculated risks which can cause explosive growth,

Since people are so conditioned to always be in competition with one another in the business world, this can at first be a difficult thing to bring about. The top management must give people a push towards this goal by encouraging them to share their insights and feelings among their departments and perhaps even on a company wide level.

STEP TWO: EXPLORING THE POSSIBILITIES

People within the company must be brought around to a way of thinking which lets them take new and different possibilities into account. This is the way that top management thinks, but this view must be inculcated company wide. People have to be shown that it is OK to think outside the box and come up with truly new ways of doing things. One way to do this is to get people to sit down and think about some questions which pertain to them personally. These can include: "where do you see yourself in five years? In ten? How about your retirement party, what do you think will be said about you?" Questions about what are the positives - and the negatives of the company could be asked, along with questions dealing with how to handle unforeseen events are good ways to foster this sort of creative thinking.

Management needs to digest the answers and then share them with department or team leaders, eventually distilling them to all of the employees and getting everyone to further reflect on and contemplate what has been learned.

STEP THREE: ESTABLISHING AN ACTION PLAN

Now that the entire company is on the same page and everybody within the organisation is working towards a common vision of growth and success for the company, a plan for success can be plotted out. Each department will have its own goals to meet. These all will help the company on its way to the common goal which all will work to achieve. Top management will both steer the ship and act as cheerleaders for the company as it moves forward to ever greater success.

With a culture of leadership now established, a company can be more productive, forward thinking and of course, profitable.