Two reports on our desks this week look at different aspects of CLD in the current climate- one suggesting that CLD hasn’t come out any worse than any other service in terms of resources cuts at least as far as local government services go – but we know that’s not where all of the positive work takes place and that the picture is wider than that by far...and a second one indicating that “community” is the great hope for the future.
Both had shared themes but inevitably the one that was on the team sheet before any other was the subject of leadership- critique of leadership as a must do if anything is to progress. It begs the question what the current leaders, so called, are actually achieving? Other than handsome salaries for the most part that doesn’t match achievement and progress towards change.
What would a great leader look like if you tripped over her, if you met him at a seminar or whatever? If you encountered a new colleague and they were inspiring, would you know? Would it be so obvious that you would get the vibe right away? Frankly, in too many public organisations the concept of leadership has been redefined, neutralised and sanitised. It is very difficult to lead beyond boundaries, though these boundaries are ever tight and stifling...incidentally, why can our so called leaders and champions not handle others in their structures who evidence these characteristics?......put the dustbin lid on the surprising and diminish the artistry of the creatives......
Most of the respected leaders of public and voluntary bodies are the less high profile characters. Doing their job, inspiring their people and sparking change. Too many people in the public sector are in lead roles because of dead mans – I know!! - shoes, fast tracking nonsense or system appointments that would see chimpanzees in the roles if they weren’t busy typing Elizabethan sonnets...
In the last 12 months CLD infrastructures have offered leadership courses to practitioners across Scotland...leadership should be evidenced in every ones role, it is claimed. How will we know what contribution that makes, what is your responsibility to champion such strengths and natural instincts?
And would we know it if we tripped over it...?
It will be in the next report too.....first on the team sheet....
1 Comment/s
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Many writers - especially those looking at management - tend to talk about leadership as a person having a clear vision and the ability to make it real. However, as we have begun to discover, leadership lies not so much in one person having a clear vision as in our capacity to work with others in creating one. (Doyle & Smith: 2001)
~ Gillian Lithgow Mon Oct 10 11:28:05 BST 2011
