the 20 minute course in leadership

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Fastlane

The 20 minute course in... leadership

This months continuing professional development focuses on leadership. Kate

Hilpern gathers expert advice for marketing leaders across disciplines

In the military, once you progress to a leadership position, youre automatically

removed from your existing colleagues and placed in a new unit. Marketers dont

generally have this luxury, which means you might suddenly find yourself

expected to lead people who are not only your friends, but who may have

applied for the same leadership position.

Even if youve gone with the military philosophy, and are leading in a different

department or organisation than when you were a non-leader, you will be faced

with a raft of other challenges not least the fact that UK employers are

notoriously bad at offering leadership training.

I see a lot of marketers who dont particularly cherish becoming leaders, but its

the next step on the career ladder so theyre stuck with it, says Ron Mundy,

who trains leaders through his company First Touch Training. Whether youre

excited about being a leader or not, its essential to identify the change in your

role and make it your business to learn what it takes to lead well.

Leading creatives

Words like target, strategy and deadline dont sit too comfortably with creative

types, who like to have their own space and autonomy in, well, creating. This

may apply to you and it will certainly apply to some of the people youre leading.

For you, the solution lies in like it or not accepting that these areas are now

your responsibility, although the extent to which each will affect you on a dailybasis will vary according to whether you are a strategic or top-level leader, an

operational or department-level leader, or a team leader.

People in creative roles, more than anyone, need the freedom to do their jobs in

the way they feel works best for them and the company. Its your job to create

the structures and boundaries within which they feel they can do that, and within

which you can get the best results. Heres an example: every leader should

create a clear and compelling vision and a strategy for achieving it. You can do

this sitting in your closed-door office, then tell them about it, using management

speak that will turn them off within seconds. Or you can involve your team

members in the visions development, which will tap into their creativity and get

their instant buy-in.

The same goes for an individual brief. You can stick a document under their

noses, boring them senseless, or you can talk it through, making the objectives

clear but giving them options and freedom to try things out and make mistakes

within it.

Creatives must be given absolute clarity of what theyre working towards, even

more so than non-creatives because theyre prone to go off on tangents,

confirms Stephen Archer, founder of Spring Partnerships, a management,

training and development consultancy. But you dont want them to feel as

though theyre in a straightjacket because thats counter-intuitive to their

creativity.

If you think its hard leading creatives, take solace in the fact that at least you

probably understand them. Engaging and influencing people with unfamiliar

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Dos and don'ts

be approachable. Be

seen to be part of the

team.

allow for autonomy.

Once youve set

objectives, give your

people the space to

achieve them.

constantly develop

yourself and ensure

leaders are responsible

for developing other

leaders.

20 minute course in... leadership - The Marketer magazine http://www.themarketer.co.uk/articles/professional-development/fast-la...

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backgrounds, who may not automatically be on the marketing wavelength, may

be even more challenging, says James Brook of Strengthscope, a psychometric

tool that measures strengths and talents.

Sales people, for example, are often pragmatic and short term in their focus,

while marketers tend to be strategic, conceptual thinkers. Such differences can

cause distrust, unnecessary politicking, communication breakdowns and,

eventually, performance shortfalls, says Brook.

He suggests a strengths-focused mindset as a different lens to understand andlead employees, regardless of their discipline. Once youve identified each

persons strengths, he explains, you can identify tasks and activities that will

energise and motivate. This approach helps leaders manage employees

vulnerabilities and weaknesses more effectively, and with confidence, by helping

people understand the consequences of their strengths, or overused strengths.

Birthe Mester, managing director at the Centre for High Performance

Development, adds that assessing your own strengths and weaknesses as a

leader can only add to the picture. Many marketers with a creative background

have a great ability to be intuitive, flexible and happy to take risks, for example.

However, they can lack some focus on getting the job done. Conversely, many

market researchers are only comfortable dealing with hard facts and undertakingdetailed analysis of issues, which can leave some creatives cold.

Meanwhile, John Fay, chief executive of leadership and change management

consultancy SLF, says: It wont hurt to find out more about disciplines that

youre really unfamiliar with. Im not talking in depth, but you cant expect to

identify peoples strengths if you dont have at least a basic understanding of

what they do. Theyll respect you for it, too.

Not all managers are leaders, explains Fiona Elsa Dent, author of The

Leadership Pocketbook. The single fact of being put in charge of others does

not immediately confer leadership status, she says. Sometimes they are one

and the same, she admits. However, many managers will never make the grade

as leader and many leaders are hopeless managers.

Put simply, a manager carries out orders from above, while a leader creates his

or her own strategies. This is good news for leaders you may have more

liberty within your role than you thought. But it also means you need to give

careful consideration to the bigger picture, to creating targets, to setting the

tone, to developing others and to setting a professional example. Do as I do, not

as I say, is the ultimate leaders mantra. Its the only way youll ever gain the

trust of teams, believes David Meliveo, head of marketing at Autoglass. I think

a lot of people get it wrong and relationships break down and leadership fails.

David Kesby, consultant for the learning solutions specialist Academee, adds

that we often get the impression that managers say things because they think

they are supposed to. A leader needs to believe in, and be seen to believe in,

the things they say and above all stand for something. In your day-to-day

leadership it is important to clarify and to keep clarifying what it is you are about;

what it is you stand for. This will inform your decisions, priorities, styles and

options. Only when you know yourself will you be able to accurately promise

what you will be able to deliver. Without this your credibility as a leader is

unsustainable.

Judith Germain, managing director of Dynamic Transactions, adds that leaders

far more than managers should feel comfortable about not treating allemployees the same. While a leader should not play favourites with the team,

he or she should recognise that the team consists of individuals with their own

needs and potential. This will mean that some employees will need more

attention than others.

use coaching so

people take

responsibility for their

own problems, freeing

up your time to lead.

set the tone.

Attitudes are infectious.

dither. The best

leaders are decisive.

forget to be

adaptable. Being

decisive doesnt mean

you cant react to new

challenges.

fail to stimulate

debate and new ideas.

forget that you can

delegate responsibility,

but not overall

accountability.

be afraid to admit

you dont like leading.

Promoting bad leaders

can be disastrous for

business.

Tips from the top

Bill Levell designs and

presents training

programmes at WLM

Marketing Management

& Training and TheChartered Institute of

Marketing

Inspire people.

Communicate a clear


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If you only learn one leadership model, make it SMART, says Ron Mundy. So

you might say to a marketing manager: I want your department to create a

campaign (Specific) with these six objectives (Measurable), but lets go through

how youll achieve that (Agreed). We need to ensure your department has the

right skills (Relevant) and that you can do it by the end of next month (Time-

bound).

Mundy believes leaders need to use it all the time. It frees you up from having

to lean over peoples shoulders because everyone is clear about what theyreachieving and they feel empowered, he explains.

Johanna Reynolds, a marketing director at ReynoldsBusbyLee, believes there

are certain ground rules that make SMART more workable. Set no more than

six objectives and make sure the objectives reflect the overall company strategy

the individual must understand why they are important.

Since motivation is the name of the game in leadership, and one of the best

motivators is to achieve, Reynolds adds that objectives should always be

achievable. While they can be a stretch, they must be doable. It might sound

obvious, but too many leaders get carried away with extending them in an effort

to push their team. Before you know it, the team members are throwing theirhands up and, if youre unlucky, throwing in the towel.

One of the biggest challenges for a leader is leading people who dont report

directly to you or who report to more than one person. The same goes for

leading people who arent in the same geographical location, perhaps even

overseas.

Communication is obviously hugely important. Helen Brown, global talent director

for integrated marketing agency Iris, has a top tip for this the use of vivid

stories.

Stories are a great way of keeping everyone on the same track when it comes

to understanding the organisations beliefs, brand, expectations and so on. Plus,

people remember them, she says.

Keeping a consistent leadership style within an organisation can also be helpful,

she says. When we recruit people into leadership roles, we are definitely

looking for a certain kind of person. They need to be what we would call an Iris

person that is, their innate beliefs, skills and qualities need to match with our

brand.

When it comes to leading internationally, its essential to avoid cultural gaffes.

The Japanese, for example, dont usually attend meetings to debate as we

would in the UK, says Mundy. Their culture dictates that theyd see it as a

humiliation to have an idea rejected in public. So theyll debate in someonesoffice and ratify the decision in a meeting.

Another example of where you can trip up on foreign soil is with Arab business

people. Arabs wont respect you or do business with you until they understand

the kind of person you are, he says. Not a bad theory, when you think about it.

Kate Hilpern is a freelance journalist who writes for Coaching at Work and The

Guardian

Are you ready to lead?

When describing the organisational vision you:

Explain what it is and expect people to follow it.

Try to make the vision sound compelling, but sometimes find yourself

sounding like David Brent from The Office.

vision, strategy and

values and regularly

check understanding.

Sell and negotiate with

the team to confirm

acceptance.

not

reactive. Prepare

detailed plans andcommunicate them. Ask

for other peoples

opinions and be

prepared to change your

point of view.

Quantify

the meaning and value of

excellence and create a

sound, well-reasoned

strategy to achieve itthrough a realistic action

plan.

Never tell people what to

do, tell them what you

want them to achieve.

Motivate others by

empowering them to

direct themselves.

Ensure you thank and

encourage individuals

and teams. Reinforce

your appreciation with

tangible benefits such as

ad hoc rewards,

promotion, bonuses and

by publicising individual

achievements.

Focus and motivateyourself in the same way

you aim to motivate

others.

Question

assumptions and be

suspicious of tradition.

Effectively train,

coach and develop

individuals to take

responsibility for tasksthat you will otherwise

have to do. Use your

released time to refine

and raise commitment to


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Invite others to help develop the vision and ensure it is reflected in every

target and objective. You may even create an organisational motto.

Dont think about developing them. If theyve got a strong leader like you,

thats all they need.

Support them when they tell you they want to take up certain development

opportunities.

Are proactive, coaching them to tackle new challenges and showing you

believe they can do it. You also encourage them to train in new areas.

You expect people to follow rules that you have been known to slack on

yourself.

You have a clear set of goals and objectives, which you communicate to your

followers and motivate them to achieve the targets. You try to lead by example,

but you still sometimes feel more like a manager than a leader.

You inspire, compel, communicate and develop. You are a walking example

of your vision and you know people look up to you. But youre aware that theres

always room for improvement.

Lets face it, you are either not cut out to lead or you need to sign up to

leadership skills training now. Its sink or swim time.

Youre nearly there, but not quite. You probably know what you should be doing,

but you need a helping hand in getting there. A one-to-one training session with a

leadership expert might be the solution.

If your organisation isnt ahead of the competition yet, it soon will be.

your vision.


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