Understand your organization’s leadership orientation

Trust. Responsibility. Respect. Focus. All terms that should be used when describing the leadership orientation of an organization; or at least in describing an organization that wants to survive and thrive. The science of leadership (or is it a practiced art?) within organizations today has been studied, documented, and discussed by both those in the know and those who don’t know but think they do.

My intent is not to run through a list of what I consider the do’s and don’ts of effective leadership, but rather to suggest that if you are going to be involved in designing and/or delivering training and development initiatives for your organization, you need to take the time to understand what kind of leadership orientation or practice exists within the organization.

How much latitude is there at different levels within the organization when it comes to taking responsibility for making decisions? Is leadership centralized or devolved? Does the organization have a self-leadership model that is encouraged and capitalized on? Do those who are required to take on the role of follower understand what it means to be an effective follower?

Some of these questions are easier to answer than others. Regardless, it’s important to take the time necessary to answer them. If you are preparing any type of training program that touches on understanding the culture of the organization or in developing leadership skills to help the organization succeed, it needs to be consistent with, and reinforce how the organization sees and presents itself to the world. If these questions cannot be answered because there clearly is a lack of trust, responsibility, respect, and focus when it comes to organizational leadership, then you may want to suggest that the place to start is with the C-level leadership team itself.