{"id":603,"date":"2014-03-31T19:41:54","date_gmt":"2014-03-31T19:41:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carolinegourlay.wordpress.com\/?p=239"},"modified":"2020-10-14T10:46:23","modified_gmt":"2020-10-14T10:46:23","slug":"so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/","title":{"rendered":"So you\u2019re a leader \u2013 What do you actually do?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Much has been written about leadership and leaders. Are they born or made? Can you teach leadership? What are the characteristics of a great leader? And so on and so on. What is frequently omitted, however, is the question \u2018What does a leader actually do?\u2019. What is the job of leadership? It\u2019s as though we think the answer is obvious, but it\u2019s not. When this question is addressed, the focus is often on the aspects of leadership related to people, such as how to inspire others to follow you. But there is more to leadership than this. It\u2019s useful, for example, to work out which direction to go in the first place.<\/p>\n

A relatively recent leadership model, based on years of research (which just this week was short listed for a Business Psychology award<\/a>) takes a much broader perspective. The Primary Colours leadership mode<\/a>l, developed by psychologist Dr David Pendleton<\/a> \u2013 and owned by his consultancy, Edgecumbe \u2013 covers three major areas of leadership and the interaction between them. It also demonstrates, incidentally, that psychologists are not just interested in the \u2018touchy feely\u2019 stuff. So if you\u2019re in a leadership position, you might want to think about how much time you spend on each of these leadership tasks. Chances are you\u2019ll gravitate to some more than others.<\/p>\n

The Primary Colours of Leadership<\/h2>\n

\"Primary<\/a><\/p>\n

As you can see there are three major areas (or \u2018domains\u2019) where leadership is required \u2013 strategic, interpersonal and operational. You could think of them as \u2018head, heart and hands\u2019. Each domain has its own tasks. There’s also an additional task which overlays the whole model, Coping With Pressure<\/strong>. You’re not much use as a leader if you become a wibbly mess in the corner during a crisis or throw your toys out of the pram if someone disagrees with you.<\/p>\n

Where are you going and how will you get there?<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s start with the strategic bit. One of the first tasks of leadership is Setting Strategic Direction<\/strong>. Whether you\u2019re leading a small project or a multi-national corporation, you need to know where you\u2019re going, how you\u2019ll know when you\u2019ve got there and, maybe, what you\u2019ll do after that.<\/p>\n

Where the strategic domain meets the operational domain, you have the task of Planning and Organising<\/strong>. You need to work out how you\u2019re going to get to wherever you\u2019re going. You need structures, systems and plans and some way of tracking progress.<\/p>\n

Where the strategic domain meets the inter-personal domain, you have the task of Creating Alignment<\/strong>, which is a fancy way of saying \u2018getting everyone pointing in the same direction\u2019. No one\u2019s going to guess what you want, so you need to explain your plans clearly in a language appropriate for the audience \u2013 generally different in the boardroom from on the shop floor. Creating Alignment is also likely to involve a degree of persuasion. If your strategy is to become the best in your market in the South West, for example, but someone on your team thinks you should be expanding geographically as fast as you can, then you need to get them on board before they start exploring opportunities in Birmingham or Glasgow \u2013 or complaining that you won\u2019t.<\/p>\n

The \u2018people\u2019 bit<\/h2>\n

The core task in the inter-personal domain is Building and Sustaining Relationships<\/strong>. That\u2019s with everyone \u2013 customers, suppliers, peers, staff, shareholders and anyone else who can make a difference to the success of your organisation. \u2018Sustaining\u2019 is a really important word here. \"Dave<\/a>This isn\u2019t about getting on with people for just long enough to get the job done or having the gift of the gab to make a sale. It\u2019s about being a reliable, trustworthy person. It\u2019s about putting in the time and effort required to build working relationships that endure, so that when you need it, people are there for you.<\/p>\n

Where the inter-personal domain meets the operational domain, you have the task of Team Working<\/strong>. Getting on with people is all very well but you have to get them doing something. Team working involves ensuring that you have the right people, with the right skills, that they know what they\u2019re doing and can work well together without getting in each other\u2019s way.<\/p>\n

Getting stuff done<\/h2>\n

The core task in the operational domain is Delivering Results<\/strong>. You actually have to get stuff done. This is the bit that people think psychologists aren\u2019t interested in. We\u2019ll try and make you \u2018people focused\u2019 instead of \u2018task focused\u2019, right? Well no, actually. It\u2019s not either\/or; it\u2019s both. Whether you\u2019re a commercially-focused team running a supermarket chain or a caring, sharing, values-driven bunch building an orphanage in Zambia, you have a job to do. Your task as a leader is to make sure that job is done properly and on time \u2013 and to do something about it if it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

Pulling it all together<\/h2>\n

So what\u2019s that bit in the middle, called \u2018Leading<\/strong>\u2019? Well that\u2019s the task of standing back and deciding where the focus of attention should be right now. \"Conductor\"<\/a>Think of it as being like an orchestra conductor, deciding when to emphasise the percussion and when to bring in the strings. So if, for example, you find that performance is slipping, it\u2019s your job as a leader to work out whether you should be rallying the troops to put in a bit more effort (Delivering Results), fixing some problems with systems and procedures that are causing inefficiencies (Planning and Organising) or dealing with some underlying issues in the team that are causing friction (Team Working).<\/p>\n

The task of leading also involves knowing yourself well enough to know which bits you need help with and perhaps letting someone else take a lead in those areas, something I\u2019ve discussed here before<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Who is it for?<\/h2>\n

At this point, I should declare an interest. When I\u2019m not working with my own clients, I sometimes work with David Pendleton as an associate at Edgecumbe<\/a>. We use the Primary Colours model on leadership development programmes at Said Business School, Oxford University<\/a>, and to assess senior executives in multi-national businesses. I\u2019ve found it to be an incredibly useful model \u2013 simple, yet comprehensive.<\/p>\n

I also use it with my own clients, who tend to work in smaller businesses, typically employing a couple of hundred people, and have found it works just as well there. It\u2019s just a case of adapting the ideas for the particular context. So if you\u2019re a leader in an organisation of whatever size, you might want to think about which leadership tasks you do most often and which you find most challenging or tend to neglect. And if you\u2019re not doing those bits, who is?<\/p>\n

Photo credits<\/p>\n

Leader: Justin Trudeau<\/a><\/p>\n

Shaking hands: US Dept of Agriculture<\/a><\/p>\n

Conductor: Leigh Wolf<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[372,366],"tags":[58,36,59,60,22,23,61],"yoast_head":"\nSo you\u2019re a leader \u2013 What do you actually do? – Caroline Gourlay Consulting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"So you\u2019re a leader \u2013 What do you actually do? – Caroline Gourlay Consulting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Caroline Gourlay Consulting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-03-31T19:41:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-10-14T10:46:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/leader.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"333\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nick\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nick\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/5669ea95e9bef337571237143263c5e2\"},\"headline\":\"So you\u2019re a leader \u2013 What do you actually do?\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-03-31T19:41:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-14T10:46:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/\"},\"wordCount\":1294,\"commentCount\":11,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/leader.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"influence\",\"leadership\",\"leading\",\"primary colours model\",\"recruitment\",\"Senior executive jobs\",\"strategy\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Developing Career Potential\",\"Leadership\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/\",\"name\":\"So you\u2019re a leader \u2013 What do you actually do? – Caroline Gourlay Consulting\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/leader.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-03-31T19:41:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-14T10:46:23+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/leader.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/leader.jpg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":333},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"So you\u2019re a leader \u2013 What do you actually do?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"Caroline Gourlay Consulting\",\"description\":\"Psychology for Business\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Caroline Gourlay Consulting\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/caroline-gourlay-logo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/caroline-gourlay-logo.svg\",\"width\":312,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Caroline Gourlay Consulting\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/5669ea95e9bef337571237143263c5e2\",\"name\":\"Nick\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/52bcbce9d2ad057e87a6140e76c10c6f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/52bcbce9d2ad057e87a6140e76c10c6f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nick\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/author\/nick\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"So you\u2019re a leader \u2013 What do you actually do? – Caroline Gourlay Consulting","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"So you\u2019re a leader \u2013 What do you actually do? – Caroline Gourlay Consulting","og_url":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/","og_site_name":"Caroline Gourlay Consulting","article_published_time":"2014-03-31T19:41:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-10-14T10:46:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":333,"url":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/leader.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nick","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nick","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/"},"author":{"name":"Nick","@id":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/5669ea95e9bef337571237143263c5e2"},"headline":"So you\u2019re a leader \u2013 What do you actually do?","datePublished":"2014-03-31T19:41:54+00:00","dateModified":"2020-10-14T10:46:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/"},"wordCount":1294,"commentCount":11,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/leader.jpg","keywords":["influence","leadership","leading","primary colours model","recruitment","Senior executive jobs","strategy"],"articleSection":["Developing Career Potential","Leadership"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/","url":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/","name":"So you\u2019re a leader \u2013 What do you actually do? – Caroline Gourlay Consulting","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/leader.jpg","datePublished":"2014-03-31T19:41:54+00:00","dateModified":"2020-10-14T10:46:23+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/leader.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/leader.jpg","width":500,"height":333},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/so-youre-a-leader-what-do-you-actually-do\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"So you\u2019re a leader \u2013 What do you actually do?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/","name":"Caroline Gourlay Consulting","description":"Psychology for Business","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/#organization","name":"Caroline Gourlay Consulting","url":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/caroline-gourlay-logo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/caroline-gourlay-logo.svg","width":312,"height":86,"caption":"Caroline Gourlay Consulting"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/5669ea95e9bef337571237143263c5e2","name":"Nick","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/52bcbce9d2ad057e87a6140e76c10c6f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/52bcbce9d2ad057e87a6140e76c10c6f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nick"},"url":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/author\/nick\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carolinegourlay.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}