leadership

non-technical skills toc =Leadership =



What does a leader do?
Much has been written about what the purpose of a leader is and also what activities they do that make them effective.

There is **no** single approach to leadership that will work with every situation, with every team, on every occasion. Different approaches - aiming to tyake into accoun thte situation and the team - are likely to be effective on different occasions. (//see the links for siutational leadership and for the Blake and Mouton managerial grid//)

One approach to answer this is to think of a team or group you are in and ask how its effectiveness would be affected without a leader. **Team performance and the effectiveness of its leadership are two sides of the same coin** (NB use of the wowrd leader//ship//, rather than leader).

In an outdoor setting, and probably in clinical settings to, one can argue that the leader's "job" is to make the team as safe and effective as possible. Outdoor it is about maximjising the safety, enjoyment and development of the group for which the leader is responsible. In a clinical setting the key focus is the best outcome of the casualty/patient.

Sometimes, especially in "routine" situations, a well developed team can operate well without a designated leader. An example of this is a group of competent walks going out for a hiek together, sharing the responsiblity for navigation and assessment of hazards along the way.

In high risk or unusal situations, though, the team may need effective leadership; leadership is most important and most necessary in those circumstances in which it is most difficut and most challenging. One of the consistent findings after something goes wrong is that leadership was absent or ineffective.

An effective leader makes the team more effective One approach to this is to ensure that all parts of the human factors cycle above are carried out well. A second, not mutually exclusive, approach is to ensure that all parts of the GRIPS teamwork mnemonic are addressed.

An effective leader decreases the stress felt by team members

Leadership vs management
A great deal has been written on this topic. The diagram below (from the "Very short introduction" recommended book) helps to distunguish leadership from other related activities.



Action centred leadership
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Many find the [|Action Centred Leadership] model of Adair a useful one with which to work.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">In brief, this reminds leaders to bear in mind: **task** (getting the job done, reaching a particular peak etc.), developing the **team**, and developing the **individuals**. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">In practice it is often difficult to achieve all three simultaneously, but if one area is consistently neglected leadership is likley to be less effective.



<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Tasks of leadership:

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Situational leadership
media type="youtube" key="UIAcqM0x2xA?version=3" height="315" width="420"

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">This model considers leadership behaviours as being ralted to task and/or relationship and that the emphasis a leader should put on each is <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">determined by the readiness of the "follower". Task behaviours include organising, explaining roles and how to accomplish tasks. Relationship behaviours include maintaining relationships, emotional support and active listening. If these behaviours are each split into two, a two by two matrix can be generated with four possibkle combinations of leadership.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Individuals often find they tend to use only one or two of these four styles when leading. The SL model suggests that it is necessary to be able to use any of the quadrants when necessary. The best quadrant to use - in a specific situation with a specific person - is determined by considering the follower's readiness. Readniess is determined by the ability of the follower (for that specific task, not in general) and their confidence & willingess (ditto).



<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Leadership styles can be summarised: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">HT & LR Telling <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">HT & HR Selling <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">LT & HR Participating <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">LT & LR Delegating

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Motivation
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Part of leadership is motivating team members. Actual or potential leaders will find this video on what motivates people useful: media type="youtube" key="u6XAPnuFjJc?fs=1" height="385" width="640"

media type="custom" key="9296042" width="160" height="160"

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">video on role of emotional intelligence in stressful situations

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">from [|outdoor leadership]: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">• Know why you lead. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">• Accept that leadership can be lonely. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">• Use your heart as well as your head; develop your abilities to sense others' feelings. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">• Believe in people. The confidence you have in others will have an effect on how well they do. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">• Practise. Work at becoming a better leader no matter how much experience you have.

Leadership from below (video): media type="custom" key="4496124"

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Quotations about leadership
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">** No person is fit to command another that cannot command himself. ** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">William Penn

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">** "Don't walk in front of me because I may not follow. ** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">** Don't walk behind me because I may not lead. ** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">** Just walk beside me and be my friend." ** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Albert Camus

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">** What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others. ** <span class="bodybold" style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Pericles

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">**<span class="word" style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. ** John Quincy Adams

<span class="bodybold" style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Colin Powell
 * <span class="body" style="color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership. **

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px;">**If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #555555; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px;">**.** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #555555; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px;">Antoine de Saint—Exupery

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Links
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Leadership] - Emergency Management Australia <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Leadership & influence] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Medical Leadership Competency Framework] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|High performance leadership] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Leadership] (RGS) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">NOLS approach to leadership <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Mountain leadership] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Fostering student leadership, competence and independence (NOLS) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Interesting article on conformity and leadership <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Leadership values] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Jim Collins' level 5 leadership] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Situational leadership] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Situational leadership model in the military] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Blake and Mouton managerial grid] [|Book chapter]<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> on leadership that summarises key approaches <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Summary of leadership styles] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Leadership](from open university)

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">**Books**
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Leading and Managing Groups in the Outdoors] (excellent book) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Shackleton's Way] (describes the leadership qualities of Shackleton) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Leadership. Theory and Practice (an pretty academic that reviews the main models of leadership) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Leadership: a very short introduction] (academic and not really an introductory text but is very good in parts)