ETAG Conference - 29 Jan 13

‘Leading the Troops’

Brigadier David Allfrey MBEChief Executive and Producer - The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo

“Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor dampened,

your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity.”

Sun Tsu (544 - 496 BC) - The Art of War

It is the fault of the officers

Who are the Leaders?

You all are!

The inclusive nature of the tourist economy in

Scotland means that we are all responsible for

playing our part, whether it be large or small, in

the collective success… and for encouraging

others to do the same.

Scope

� What is the context for the leadership challenge?

� Normal Running - In the advance or in retreat

� Change

� Establishing a Common Framework of Understanding

� Attributes of a Leader

� The Particular Task

� Selection and Maintenance of the Aim

� The planning process

� The Human Dimension - the key enabler!

� Bringing it all together

� Leadership Philosophy

� A few thoughts to finish

The Leadership Context

� The macro environment

� The level(s) of leadership

� The timeframe/s involved

� The shape and size of the task

� The balance of risk and opportunity

� The mood , competence and character of the team

� Key individuals

Physical/Environmental Dimension

Socio-demographic Dimension

Science and Technology Dimension

Economic Dimension

Legal and Ethical Dimension

Political Dimension

Military Dimension

The Macro Environment

The different levels of challenge and their

associated lead times

‘Strategic’ (6 - 10 years)

‘Operational’ (2 - 5 years)

‘Tactical’ (the here and now!)

‘Grand Strategic’ (10 - 25 years)

PHYSICAL COMPONENT

(The means to do business)

Manpower Information & Intelligence

Infrastructure & Equipment

Training Finance

MORAL COMPONENT

(The ability to get people to

give of their best)

Motivation Leadership

Management

Principles Practice Development & Creativity

CONCEPTUAL COMPONENT

(The thought process)

BUSINESS POWER(The ability to be effective and efficient - to generate profit/surplus)

Business Effectiveness

‘Leadership is visionary; it is the projection of

personality and character to inspire people to

achieve a desired outcome. There is no prescription

for leadership and no prescribed style of leader.

Leadership is a combination of example, persuasion,

and compulsion dependent on the situation. It

should aim to transform and be underpinned by

individual skills and an enabling philosophy. The

successful leader is an individual who understands

him/herself, the organisation, the environment in

which they operate and the people that they are

privileged to lead’

‘Leadership is visionary; it is the projection of

personality and character to inspire people to

achieve a desired outcome. There is no prescription

for leadership and no prescribed style of leader.

Leadership is a combination of example, persuasion,

and compulsion dependent on the situation. It

should aim to transform and be underpinned by

individual skills and an enabling philosophy. The

successful leader is an individual who understands

him/herself, the organisation, the environment in

which they operate and the people that they are

privileged to lead’

Establishing a Vision

Vision Statements and Mission Statements are the

inspiring words chosen by successful leaders to

clearly and concisely convey the direction of the

organisation. By crafting a clear mission statement

and vision statement, you can powerfully

communicate your intentions and motivate your

team or organisation to realize an attractive and

inspiring common vision of the future. www.mindtools.com - Jun 12

Either could/should include a statement of unifying

purpose: “….in order to….”

Personality and Character

� Integrity

� Vision

� Ability to Communicate

� Decisiveness

� Innovation

� Humility

� Professional Knowledge

� Additional qualities or attributes unique to each individual leader

….Underpinned by appropriate values

� Courage (physical and moral)

� Discipline

� Respect for Others (and yourself)

� Integrity

� Loyalty

� Selfless Commitment

….and standards

� Appropriate Behaviour

� Legal

� Professionalism

Towards a Desired Outcome

� Define the aim

� Harvest the necessary intelligence and information

� Define the factors that bear on the situation

� Tease out possible courses of action (including doing nothing!)

� Select the optimum course of action

� Refine the intention and establish a plan

� Brief the intention and any key detail

� Execution of the plan - getting on with it!

� Evaluate continually

� Adjust if necessary

� Lessons identified (and learned !)

Key Capabilities

� Leadership and Team Playing

� Knowledge Management and Market Intelligence

� Marketing and Sales

� Quality and Customer Service

� Innovation and Entrepreneurship

� Collaboration and ‘Partnering’

� Sustainability

� Training and Development

� ICT and connectivity

� Finance and Investment Appraisal

Action-centred Leadership

Task

Team Individual

The leader must achieve the task, build and maintain his team

and develop the individuals within it

™ John Adair

The Leader’s Task Focus

Task

� Define the task

� Set objectives

� Make the plan

� Allocate work and resources

� Brief the team

� Monitor progress and

exercise quality control

� Adjust the plan

� Keep checking against the

aim

The Leader’s Team Focus

� Involve the team in planning

� Set standards & priorities

� Maintain discipline

� Build team spirit

� Provide a sense of purpose

� Appoint sub-team leaders

� Coordinate

� Ensure internal communication

Team

The Leader’s Individual Focus

� Physical (Food, drink and sleep)

� Security

� Social (companionship and leisure)

� Esteem (self-respect, status,

achievement)

� Self-fulfilment (ambition and

personal interest)

Individual

Unease in three main areas….

� Most Positive - Ambassadorial

� More Positive - Supportive

� Positive - Benevolent

� Neutral - Ambivalent

� Negative – Irritated

� More negative - Resentful

� Most negative - Antagonistic

Levels of Engagement

Influencing Perceptions

Building Interest CommitmentAwareness

Listening to

the proposition

Responding

to it

Placing a

value on it

Society

Institutions

Individuals

Telling others

about it

Changing

behaviour

Communication in Action-centred Leadership

Co

mm

un

ica

te

CORE

FUNCTIONSTASK TEAM INDIVIDUAL

Define the AimIdentify tasks

Identify constraints

Involve the team

Share commitment

Clarify aims

Gain acceptance

Plan

Establish priorities

Check resources

Produce plan

Consult

Agree standards

Assess skills

Establish targets

Delegate

Brief Brief the team

Check understanding

Obtain feedback

Establish ‘ideals’

Develop initiatives

Advise

Listen

Enthuse

Praise

Execute Maintain standards

Progress & Discipline

Coordinate

Reconcile

Develop suggestions

Reassure

Observe

Counsel

Praise

EvaluateReview objectives

Assess progress

Re-plan if required

Recognise success

Learn from failure

Assess performance

Guide & train

Action-centred leadership is highly dynamic…

The relative importance of ‘needs’ will alter as the situation

changes - everyone must understand this dynamic

An Appropriate Philosophy?

‘Distributed Responsibility’Auftragstaktik or ‘Mission Command’

•Decentralised

•Empowerment

•Trusted subordinates

•Freedom of action

•Initiative encouraged

•Understanding higher intent

•Relies on a well educated workforce

•Copes well with friction and

complexity

‘Directive Control’Befehlstaktik

•Centralised decision-making

•Reliant on a geometric and

detailed plan

•Initiative not encouraged

•Drills and repetition

•Relies on a well-trained

workforce

•Does not cope so well with

friction and complexity

‘Distributed Leadership’

…..incorporating centralised intent and decentralised execution to

deal with complex, dynamic and adversarial situations.

� Unity of Effort

� A specified ‘Main Effort’ (and corresponding economies)

� Freedom of Action (and appropriate control measures)

� Trust (up, down and sideways)

� Mutual Understanding

� Timely and Effective Decision-Making

Toxic Leadership

Toxic leadership refers to a process in which leaders, by

dint of their destructive behavior and/or dysfunctional

personal characteristics inflict serious and enduring

harm on their followers, their organizations, and non-

followers, alike. Defining toxic leaders can prove

vexing, at best, since one individual’s toxic leader is

another’s heroic savior, given that context, history, and

perspective weigh heavily in such judgments.

Jean Lipman-Blumen, Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito (2005)

“Leadership is the will to dominate, together with the

character which inspires confidence. A leader has got

to learn to dominate events which surround him; he

must never allow events to get the better of him; he

must allow nothing to divert him from his aim; he

must always be on top of the job, and be prepared to

accept responsibility. He must analyse the good and

bad points in a man’s make up; we must then develop

his good points and teach him to keep the bad points

in subjection.”

Field Marshal The Lord Montgomery of Alamein

“If you want to empower people, you should do it from a place of generosity and care”

Marianne Elliott - Associate Director at the National Theatre and Director of ‘War Horse’

"I will tell you as officers….that you will neither eat, nor drink, nor smoke, nor sit down, nor lean against a tree, until you have personally seen that your men have first had a chance to do these things. If you will do this for them, they will follow you to the ends of the earth. And if you do not, I will bust you in front of your regiments“

Field Marshal William Joseph Slim

“General Slim emerged from under the trees by the lake shore.

There was no nonsense of “gather round” or jumping on

boxes; he just stood with his thumb hooked into his carbine

sling and talked about how we had caught the Japs off-balance

and were going to annihilate him in the open; there was no

exhortation or ringing clichés, no jokes or self-conscious use of

barrack room slang - when he called them [the enemy]

“bastards” it was casual and without heat. He was telling us

informally what would be, in the reflective way of intimate

conversation. And we believed every word - and it all came

true. And afterwards, when it was all over and he spoke of

what his army had done, it was always “you” not even “we”

and never “I”.

George MacDonald Fraser OBE - ‘Quartered Safe Out Here’ (1992)

Some points for discussion

� Could you recite 6 key personal values without thought?

� Are these values the same as those in your business?

� Should your approach to leadership be adapted differently for male and female staff ?

� Would you approach leadership differently when dealing with people from different nationalities

� Which is the key stage in problem solving?

� Can you recognise ‘toxicity’ in a leader

� Can you recognise toxicity in yourself?

� Are there occasions when toxicity might be a good thing?

� Which of these tenets is the most important?