Leader of the Pack: Developing the Skills to Run the Show
15/12/2006

While some people are born leaders, seemingly made for the position of heading up a team and taking the reigns whatever challenges life throws them, others approach leadership with considerably less gusto, unsure of where to start and afraid of saying the wrong thing. Whichever category you fall into however, there are always lessons to be learnt in the world of leadership, applicable to a wide range of scenarios in life, from work to play.

Ivor Smith of Fifth Dimension has seven years' experience in conducting workshops for encouraging the development of personal skills for life and work, including a workshop which addresses creative leadership.

"We try to convey the fact that creativity can be the key skill separating those professionals that just survive, from those that thrive. Our creative leadership workshop covers a range of topics, and uses the processes of learning to juggle, spin plates and model balloons, to help illustrate the various points."

Mary Holland is Senior Programme Director for the Aberdeen branch of Common Purpose, an organisation dedicated to helping people in leadership and decision-making roles become more effective. Through Common Purpose, she has worked with Fifth Dimension on a number of workshops.

"Fifth Dimension played an integral role in the work we do helping individuals to develop leadership qualities in their own organisations, in the community and in society as a whole," comments Mary. "Through a number of fun and innovative workshops, the team effectively illustrated a range of leadership traits, based on the underlying principle that an individual's commitment to creativity can be the difference between success and mediocrity in business. Following the success of the partnership here in Aberdeen, I did not hesitate to recommend their services to our sister organisation in Edinburgh."

Ivor outlines some of the attributes of a successful leader:

Seeing the context
We express the important leadership principle of being able to see the wood from the trees with a juggling exercise that shows how a seemingly complex task can be a simple process when broken down into its constituent parts.

Embracing challenges
Because of the constant need to let go of a ball when juggling, the process is an effective metaphor for how we impose self-limiting parameters on ourselves through our behaviours. The process, which is aimed at emphasising the value in stepping forwards rather than back when faced with the unfamiliar, shows that in order to achieve something you often have to give something away - responsibility is a good example.

Focus on the process
While end goals are important, having a process in place to achieve them is equally crucial. This usually means breaking down the target objective into smaller more manageable steps. It's worth remembering that building on small successes often gets you further in the long run, than aiming for the end target all the time.

Identify limits
Knowing when you've put enough effort into a new project is a valuable trait. For many of us there is a tendency to continue past the point of success and as a result we soon cease to be effective. It's also worth bearing in mind that it's ok to fail. Most of us learn more from our failures than our successes - no one rides a bike first time, and sometimes it's necessary to risk failing in order to achieve.


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