"Servant"​, "Modern"​ or Just "Genuine"​ Leadership

The traditional command-and-control approach to leadership, which emphasises strict hierarchies and a focus on maximising productivity above all else with little if any regard for the wellbeing of the teams that are intrinsic to achieving any performance, has been the norm in many organisations for decades and whilst the need for fundamental change in the mindset of leaders is no news to anyone reading this, the amount of talk-versus-do that happens on the topic is now at a nearly criminal level when we have both employees and managers suffering from a lack of support and tools to better themselves on the topic.

As I mentioned before, to get a quick injection of all the behaviours managers should diminish or encourage to become genuine “modern leaders” I devised an EQ, Psychological Safety and New (Modern/Servant) Leadership Masterclass. In only two hours leaders get a crash course in team dynamics, Psychological Safety behaviours, CBT, empathy, radical honesty, effective communication for tech teams and much more. I’ve put this together first because I despaired at the lack of education in the market that only fed the “But I don’t know where to start” paralysis for most leaders.

Most work in enterprises that do not even mention this and have no interest in training them. A fortunate few have some exposure through their learning and development programs. That said, they all complain that traditional courses they are sent to are long, stiff, riddled with wooden language, non-hands-on, impractical and let’s face it boring and inefficient. My first goal in each of these mini-workshops? Connect. Make participants really feel the topic.

In the same way, I ask everyone to recall when they were last in a team that had Psychological Safety. We can only connect to these topics when we are genuinely able to understand and appreciate our various emotions and when we recall them as lived experiences.

When it comes to servant leadership, the need to be empathic and open is even more stringent - so I really try to make feel the need and the calling in this case.