Hi everyone and Happy New Year to you

This episode features Glen Daley who runs a company called Productive Workplaces and he’s a long-standing speaker on Leadership. His background is in sales, then he stepped away from financial services and moved towards talking about leadership and management.

What is Leadership?

Glen feels leadership is the process of getting things done through using other people. He feels it’s about motivating others, sharing your vision, and inspiring people to want to achieve the same vision together. It entails a voluntary desire by an employee to feel involved in the running of the business and they feel included and cared about

So, can you learn Leadership?

Glen feels you can learn to be approachable and affiliative with people. People must want to follow you though, so the real skill isn’t just explaining the mission it’s about engendering trust. Even small teams can be led by someone who makes sure they communicate well, explain what they want, empower others to achieve, and do what they say they’ll do. Over time this builds trust.

What do Managers do then and how are they different?

Leaders may shape the vision and direction of the business but can forget the process and the ‘how’. Managers are essential for understanding what is needed, how they achieve the vision and the detail of the journey as they go. In my experience, leaders often live in the future in their minds. They know what they want and creatively plan what that will look like. Managers are equally valuable as they shape the plan so that it can be executed otherwise it’s just a plan. Managers turn it in to steps and a strategy. Business needs both. So, in essence, leaders create change, managers make things stable

What about if you’re newer to business, what is needed then?

There is no doubt that determining your values and communicating those is part of the process as is setting goals and having a plan. However, it’s also about how much time you spend investing in yourself. Glen cites an example where he was advised to work “harder on himself than on his job” and he didn’t understand it at first because everyone should work on their job shouldn’t they? Success is about doing well or so he thought. However, he came to understand it’s about who you are, what you’re good at, doing it well and using others to support you. You do not know everything in life he feels and involving other people in your strategy is essential if you are to learn as well as others.