Leadership Toolkit

Executive Summary
As one of the five LARGE keys at the 2003 RAISE conference, Leadership has been
highlighted as a key issue for the voluntary/community sector.
This toolkit defines Leadership as ‘the ability to motivate and guide the people connected
to a voluntary/community organisation to meet its goals’.
In Section One the toolkit defines what Leadership means in the voluntary/community
sector and why it matters. It compares the job of leading a VCO to the role of the
leader of an expedition, who must think about the terrain, the weather, the skills of the
team, and the best route to the destination.
Section One also looks at the functions of a Leader and at the benefits of good
leadership. It looks at the different people who can and do play Leadership roles in
VCOs, and the skills and qualities that they need.
Section Two looks at how Leadership helps a VCO to reach its destination, focusing
particularly on how to use the vision, mission and strategy of the organisation to
encourage people to achieve its goals.
Section Three highlights how Leaders can inspire and motivate people by rallying them
round shared beliefs and values and creating a positive culture.
In Section Four, the Toolkit looks at the leadership of the change process, whether
planned or driven by crisis and gives some techniques to use to guide people to the right
destination.
In Section Five, the Toolkit briefly reviews how the Leadership role is split between the
Board and the Chief Executive and looks at the links between leadership, representation
and accountability.
Section Six suggests some ways in which Leaders can carve out the time to do ‘the big
stuff’, particularly being creative about future directions.
In Section Seven, some tools and techniques to enhance the all-important communication
skills of Leaders are explored.
And finally, in Section Eight, the Toolkit looks at learning and how the individual can
profit from their experiences, both the things which are successes, and those that
didn’t go so well. It highlights the conditions in which learning for everyone can be
encouraged.
www.raise-networks.org.uk 1
About RAISE
RAISE enables voluntary and community organisations (VCOs) in the South East Region
of England to influence regional policy, wherever it is made or implemented, for the
benefit of the people they serve.
If yours is a VCO in the Region, it can join RAISE for free. It can then:
• join in the election for members of the RAISE Board;
• join in the election for VCO representatives at the South East Regional Assembly.
It can also nominate people to a host of other strategic regional bodies.
In this way you and your VCO get a grass roots perspective into regional policy.
RAISE also organises events, seminars, workshops and conferences. We publish a variety
of papers, guides and other publications that our members say they need. We work to
find funding for all we do so everything is delivered free to VCOs – including travel and
childcare for very small community groups.
RAISE strives to ensure that, in the Region, the voice of VCOs is heard and respected.
We demand that the sector is always treated with equity. But RAISE can only be as good
as the sector in the South East, and vice versa. So, if you are from a VCO in the South
East, get involved. We need you.
You can contact RAISE in a number of ways, and we will always be glad to hear
from you.
POST us a letter to:

Berkeley House
Cross Lanes
GUILDFORD
Surrey
GU1 1UN
You can TELEPHONE us
01483 500770
FAX us something on
01483 574439
Send us E-MAIL
to [email protected]
or visit the website at www.raise-networks.org.uk
2 www.raise-networks.org.uk
About the LARGE Toolkits
At their 2003 Conference, RAISE presented five keys for the voluntary/community
sector.
Collectively termed LARGE, the five keys are:
• Leadership.
• Accountability.
• Representation.
• Governance.
• Equalities.
Prior to the conference, a think tank was convened for each key. This group met to agree
on a working definition for the term and discuss the key issues it presents from a sector
point of view.
At the conference, workshops were held – two for each key – giving the wider RAISE
membership a chance to put forward their views, informed by the findings of the think
tank and helped by an external facilitator/expert.
In addition, RAISE commissioned five new toolkits, each one building on one of the five
conference keys.
In common with the existing RAISE toolkits, the LARGE toolkits will act as a resource
for those involved in the voluntary/community sector - providing advice, information and
ideas in a clear, accessible format and signposting the reader to other sources which may
be of interest. The toolkits aim to help groups to take a critical look at their
organisation, identify areas for improvement and implement change. The new toolkits
each form part of the LARGE series and therefore consistent definitions have been used
for each key across the five documents. Each one is a self-contained document although
there is necessarily some overlap between the keys and so the interested reader may
find it is beneficial to obtain the full set.
Existing RAISE Toolkits
• The Step by Step Guide to Successful Partnership Working

• A Compact Toolkit
Hard copies of both have been distributed to RAISE members and can be
downloaded from the RAISE website: www.raise-networks.org.uk
Index Page
Executive Summary 1
About RAISE 2
About the LARGE Toolkits 3
Finding your way around this Toolkit 6
Toolkit Map 9
Section One: Understanding Leadership 11

What is Leadership? 12
What does a Leader do? 13
Why do we need Leadership in our sector? 14
Who provides Leadership in the VCS? 16
What are the characteristics of Leaders? 17
What can be said about Leadership qualities? 18
What leadership does your VCO need? 19
What do followers want from Leaders? 20
‘Principle-centred Leadership’ 21
Section One summary 22
Section Two: Leading People to a Destination 23

Achieving clarity on the vision and mission of your VCO 24
Creating or reinforcing your VCO vision 25
Summing up your VCO’s mission 26
Checking out if your mission is up to date 27
Establishing a clear strategy for your VCO 28
What is a strategy? 29
How do you lead on strategy? 30
What are you like? 31
Section Two summary 32
Section Three: Leading People 33

Leading on values and beliefs 34
Do you really act on your values and beliefs? 35
Creating a healthy working environment 36
Building an ‘emotionally intelligent’ organisation 37
Symptoms that your values and beliefs could be lost 38
Creating a supportive culture 39
Section Three summary 40
Section Four: Leading Change 41

The challenge of leading and managing change 42
Dealing with planned change 43
Mapping the environment and forecasting trends 43
Scenario planning and the Help/Hinder model 44
Changing direction mid-stream 45
The GROW method and Handy’s four levers of change 46
Some warnings about the pitfalls of change 47
Risk assessment and analysis 48
Crisis management 49
Leadership styles in times of crisis 50
‘Emotional intelligence’ in times of crisis 51
Section Four summary 52
Section Five: Leadership Roles in VCOs 53

The link between Leadership and good governance 54
Where should your Leadership line be drawn? 55
The link between Leadership and accountability 56
Section Six: Making Time to Lead 57

Time management and ‘the Clock’ and ‘the Compass’ 58
Making the time to deal with important things 59
What are the important leadership tasks for you? 60
‘Luxury!’ – How do we find the time? 61
Terms and conditions for ‘player-managers’ 62
Balancing responsibilities 63
Herrmann’s theory of creativity 64
De Bono’s method of being creative 65
Section Six summary 66
Section Seven: Communication Skills for Leaders 67

Why strong communication skills are so important 68
Why are you setting out to communicate? 69
Being a good communicator 70
Understanding your audiences 71
Preparing to communicate with your audiences 74
Being representative and accountable 75
Section Seven summary 76
Section Eight: Learning from Experience 77

Leaders as learners 78
How does learning take place 79
How do you learn? 80
Are you in the mood for learning? 81
The five steps in coaching 82
How to stop people learning 83
Workplace stress and how to overcome it 84
The importance of feedback 85
The importance of caring for ‘followers’ 86
Section Eight summary 87
Glossary and Jargon Buster 88
Finding your way around this Toolkit
This toolkit is designed to help voluntary/community organisations (VCOs) to:
• Understand the concept of Leadership and why it is important.
• Explore the roles and responsibilities usually associated with Leaders.
• Hear what some of the key writers have had to say on the subject, and view
some tools and techniques designed to handle the major issues.
• Undertake some exercises to enhance their understanding and that of their

VCO about how to motivate and guide people to reach their goals.
The toolkit is divided into eight main sections:
Section One: Understanding Leadership Page 11
Section Two: Leading People to a Destination Page 23
Section Three: Leading People Page 33
Section Four: Leading Change Page 41
Section Five: Leadership Roles Page 53
Section Six: Making Time to Lead Page 57
Section Seven: Communication Skills for Leaders Page 67
Section Eight: Learning from Experience Page 77
Each section (apart from the brief section 5) ends with a summary page which provides a
quick overview of the main points. The sections do not have to be read consecutively –
the document has been broadly designed to allow the reader to dip in and out when they
need to find out more about a particular topic. The toolkit map should be used to guide
the reader to the areas of most interest and relevance. Throughout the document,
readers will be signposted to other resources and further sources of information. There
are also tools such as checklists and activities which we hope will encourage critical
analysis and inspire change.
The different elements of the Toolkit are designed to be as self-standing as possible,
and appear generally within rounded borders. More explanatory material tends to occur
without borders.
Case Studies. Throughout the text, illustrative case

studies are indicated by this symbol and are enclosed in
boxes like this.
Further Reading. This symbol highlights where you

might find further material on a given topic.
Key Concept. Where a particular concept is really

important to our understanding, it is given this symbol,
and put in a box like this.
Activity. These are designed to be done either alone or with

colleagues and aim to stimulate thought and action. They might
not be quite as energetic as the symbol implies....
Bright Idea. Quotations from key thinkers and good

ideas you might like to copy are shown like this.
Occasionally, stray thoughts or comments

by the author that may or may not lead
anywhere in particular are put in speech
bubbles.
Toolkit Map
Understanding Leadership
What is What does a Leader Why do we need

Leadership? p12 do? p13 Leadership? p14
What is a Leader
Who can provide it? p16 like? p20
What are the characteristics of

good Leaders? p17
How do you learn to be a Leader? Leadership and

p80 accountability: p56
Undertaking Key Leadership Tasks
Mapping the environment Scenario

and forecasting trends: p43 planning: p44
Being creative and innovative: p64-65
Creating a Vision Risk assessment and

for your VCO: p25 analysis: p48
Summing up your mission: p26 Preparing a strategy: p29-30
The duties of the Board and the Chief Executive: p54-55
Leader Relationships with Key Others
Building an emotionally Understanding your audiences:

intelligent organisation: p37 p71-74
Creating a supportive culture: p39 Being representative

and accountable: p75
Reinforcing positive values and beliefs: p35
Symptoms that values and Workplace stress and how

beliefs could be lost: p38 to overcome it: p84
Leading on Review, Change and Problem-Solving
Checking if your mission Following the Clock or

is up to date: p27 the Compass? p58
Risk assessment
and analysis: p48 Making time to do the
important things: p59
Changing direction /
problem solving: Crisis management:
p45-46 p49-51 Creating a
healthy working
environment: p36
How to stop people

learning: p83 Emotional intelligence in a crisis: p51
SECTION ONE
This Section looks at what Leadership means in the

Voluntary and Community Sector, why it matters and
what kinds of knowledge, skills, behaviours and
personal attributes it is thought to require.
Section One Why do we need Who provides
Leadership? 2 pages on Leadership? 3 pages on
What is Leadership?
In this toolkit we define leadership as:
‘The ability to motivate and guide the people connected

to a voluntary/community organisation to meet its goals.’
There are hundreds of books about leadership, and dictionaries provide

numerous definitions, but one thing that unites all of them is the idea of
movement - how do we get from where we are now to where we want to
be.
If we are to be purposeful, we need to know where we are going and how

we might get there. In a well-run VCO, everyone will be clear about the
destination: there will be agreed goals and a broad consensus about the
problems we are there to solve. Not everyone, however, will be clear
about how to meet those goals, or solve those problems, and we therefore
need leadership and management to show the way, and to provide advice,
encouragement and guidance.
Meanwhile, other VCOs have lost their way. Their reasons for existence
have been forgotten or overtaken by events. Without a clear purpose, the
people connected to the organisation lose their sense of direction and
have to decide for themselves what they should be doing, and how they
should be doing it. If the senior people are fighting among themselves,
contradictory messages are sent out, and loyalties are divided. Without
leadership, without guidance, the organisation will eventually founder.
So ‘good’ leadership has to be about:
• Knowing the goals and the mission of the organisation
• Being able to work out how to achieve those goals
• Having the ability to take everyone with you
• Having the skills to deal with the obstacles that emerge
• Being able to communicate and explain what is happening
• Being able to revitalise and renew initiatives, when needed.
Imagine. . . .
What does a Leader do?
The best way to understand ‘Leadership’ is to think about

what a leader does. One helpful comparison is to think about what would
be involved in guiding or leading an expedition.
If it were your responsibility to take a group of people on an expedition,

you would need to think about:
The destination = the vision and mission of your VCO
The lie of the land = the external operating environment
The weather conditions = prevailing economic factors
The proposed route = the strategic plan of your VCO
The people in the group = their skills, morale, welfare etc
The logistics of the trip = time, pace, equipment and approach
Day-to-day management = the daily review of progress
Internal communication = the daily briefings and debriefings
Your own ability to cope = your skills, style and personal state
Crisis management = plans on what to do if things go wrong
External communication = keeping in touch with the outside world
Rounding off the trip = reviewing your experience and learning
There’s rarely the luxury in the VCS of doing just one thing at a time, so
the comparison with an expedition is obviously a simplified one. VCS
leaders are usually dreaming up one project, planning another, crisis
managing a third and finishing a fourth all at once……
Why not dream up your own analogy? It can

be a creative exercise. US writer Warren
Bennis said leadership was like ‘herding cats’,
which prompts some great mental images!
Why do we need Leadership in the VCS? (1)
A very good question, and one we sometimes find difficult to answer
because so many of us instinctively prefer the principles of joint
endeavour, shared decision-making, equality and empowerment. We can be
suspicious of the whole concept of leadership because we think it might go
against these principles.
But on legal and practical grounds, we do need ‘Leadership’.
In ‘Understanding Voluntary Organisations’, Charles Handy says that people

in VCOs often prefer the idea of ‘direct democracy’, in which all the
participants in an organisation have equal responsibility for all the tasks
that need doing – including leadership. However, Handy thinks this model is
suitable for only the smallest groups.
As VCOs get bigger, says Handy, they need to opt either for a
representative democracy’ or for a ‘stakeholder democracy’ because on a
practical level, not everyone can be involved in everything.
In a ‘representative democracy’, the participants agree that a cross-

section of members can form a committee to act on behalf of everyone
(like the House of Commons). A ‘stakeholder democracy’ also involves a
larger range of interest groups from the wider community who might need
to have a say (like the House of Lords).
The Board of Trustees/Management Committee thus created then has legal

responsibility for the VCO, in which case we have to accept their
leadership: we can’t ask them to accept the responsibility without also
giving them the power to make the appropriate decisions.
As the VCO develops, the volunteers who did run everything also tend to
appoint paid staff, including eventually, a chief executive and senior
managers. Again, there is little point in paying their salaries if they are not
allowed to exercise any responsibility.
Further Reading
‘Understanding Voluntary Organisations’,
by Charles Handy, published by Penguin Books
Pages 79 & 133.
ISBN: 0-14-014338-6
Why do we need Leadership in the VCS? (2)
We need ‘Leadership’, even if we might disagree with the idea of having ‘a

Leader’ in the very traditional form of a figurehead.
One of the defining characteristics of the voluntary/community sector is

that we have a passion, a conviction, a sense of purpose because we
believe in our cause, and we care deeply about the well-being of our users.
We work in the sector because we want to.
Let’s be honest, though! Sometimes, we get bogged down. There is too

much to do. There aren’t enough resources. The demands seem to be
contradictory, and they can be relentless. People get burned out. A lot of
the time, it seems as if no-one is listening to our views.
This is when we really need leadership. We might need:

And the
• To be reminded about why we exist and what’s important photocopier
• To be inspired and re-energised by real life success stories keeps breaking
• To be enthused and purposeful in our work down........
• To feel a sense of relief that a plan of action is going to work
• To be thanked and appreciated for our efforts
• To be reassured, or protected in times of vulnerability
• To get help when we don’t know what to do
• To witness someone being brave and principled
• To have our achievements celebrated
Good leadership can bring us these positive rewards. Conversely, many

people have experience of working in organisations where these things do
not happen – and they can testify to how miserable life can be without a
leadership that provides this kind of support.
The impact of all stick and no carrot
A 40-year old charity had got into desperate financial straits and Case Study
the trustees decided the solution was a hard-nosed senior manager
from the private sector who would drive up income and cut the
costs. The strategy was a success for the first couple of years, as
all the staff cooperated with the efficiency drive. Unfortunately,
the trustees and the director forgot that they needed to thank
and praise the staff for their efforts and they thereby created a
bitter, disaffected workforce.
Section One Why do we need Leadership Qualities:
Leadership? Last 2 pages 2 pages on
Who provides Leadership in the VCS?
A lot of literature was generated in the twentieth century on the subject

of leadership, and the British and American books of the last 20 years have
focused very much on the personalities of key leaders, particularly from
the private sector.
We will see in the next few pages that we can learn some valuable things
from the literature, but one idea we should immediately dismiss is the idea
that we need a few big, charismatic personalities to take on chief executive
roles and provide us with leadership.
In fact, leadership can come from all quarters, and different contexts
need different kinds of leadership. For example:
The community activist who gets together with like-minded others to

start a campaign or respond to a local need
The volunteers who start up a new project and through hard work and
persistence, get the initial funds to set up a new community-based initiative
The first member of staff who writes the first business plan and begins
the fundraising campaign that eventually lead to the establishment of a
substantial new voluntary organisation
The chief executive and/or the senior managers who keep a larger, more
established organisation going successfully
The chair and board members who provide the governance function for a
VCO, whether at start-up or through to maturity
The individual who finds him/herself in a situation in which someone needs

to do something, and who steps forward to take the initiative.
An example of a community activist leader
Case Study Mrs A set up an extremely successful care agency from

nothing. As an Asian Muslim woman, she was concerned
that the care services provided by the state were not
sympathetic to Islamic tenets about health, illness,
death and the family. She now employs nearly 100
specially trained home visitors who provide culturally-
sensitive care through a contract with social services.
What are the characteristics of ‘Leaders’?
This Toolkit has so far deliberately steered away from the question of what
leaders are like in terms of personality. This is because much of the
leadership literature seems – perversely – unhelpful and disempowering. The
distinct impression is that only a tiny percentage of people can aspire to being
a leader, given the huge lists of special skills and larger-than-life personal
qualities required.
Professor John Storey of the Open University Business School has tried to
debunk this literature by talking about how ‘inflation’ has happened to the
leadership claims. His theory is that researchers ask existing leaders about
their distinctive personal qualities, and the leaders wax lyrical about their own
abilities. The researchers are only too happy to ‘discover’ that the leaders
have extraordinary attributes, and as a result the accounts of personal
heroism become more and more embellished over time. Professor Storey
suggests that people in authority also find it more palatable to believe that
they are special than to believe they were promoted by chance.
At the LARGE conference in 2003, RAISE members came up with a list of key
leadership values rather than characteristics. There was a clear consensus on
the most important values. In ranked order they were:
1. Vision
2. Honesty
3. Respect
4. Creativity
5. Flexibility
6. Productivity
7. Learning/Personal Growth
8. Achievement/Success
These seem to offer much more fruitful lines of enquiry, and later sections of
the Toolkit explore these values and behaviours in greater depth.
‘Leadership in Organisations:
Current issues and Key Trends’
Further Reading
edited by John Storey, published by Routledge, London 2004
see pages 19 - 22.
ISBN: 0-415-31033-4
See also ‘Governance – A RAISE Toolkit’, which talks about

the specific leadership tasks that the Board of a VCO should
be addressing.
What can be said about Leadership qualities?
For his book (see previous page) Professor Storey surveyed the mainstream
leadership literature and dismissed the hyperbole about charismatic
personalities and ‘superman’ type skills. However he concludes that there do
appear to be three generally-accepted behavioural requirements and
capabilities for leaders. These are what he calls:
• ‘Big-picture sense-making’
• ‘Ability to deliver change’
• ‘Inter-organisational representation’
Helpfully, two out of three of these tie in neatly with the leadership skills
of visioning, creativity and innovation prioritised by RAISE members at the
2003 conference!
Notice, however, that both Professor Storey and RAISE members are
talking in terms of behaviour and capabilities rather than about personality
traits and personal attributes.
Discussions of leadership ‘behaviours’ and ‘capabilities’, or even of

‘leadership tasks’, are far more empowering and egalitarian than discussions
of leader-like personalities.
Now we can talk about what leaders do, how they might need to act, what
their behaviour might look like, and what skills they might need in various
contexts.......In other words, we all have the potential to be leaders
sometimes.
Some new thinking on leadership theory……
One theory says that we must firstly understand the context in which a leader
needs to operate, and from that, identify the particular skills and behaviours needed
in that context.
Another theory says that leaders must first understand the competences they need
to demonstrate (ie. the particular mix of knowledge, skills and behaviour that need
to be displayed in order to perform a particular job).
A third strand of thought begins with organisations, and asks if individuals can
actually change them, and if so, how.
Some new theories focus on what ‘followers’ want from leaders and with how power
can be exercised in a legitimate way.
What Leadership does your VCO need?
If we can’t recruit new leaders just by advertising for people with a

particular type of personality, then the job of defining what we need Activity;
becomes more onerous. We have to start thinking more stringently defining a
about what we need our leaders to be able to do. person
specification
Stage One is to be clear about the leadership role we have in mind. Is it for a Leader
the job of the chief executive? Are we looking for a new Board role
member? Do we need a team leader or a departmental head? Or
someone who – for example – needs to coach or lead or teach a group of
users, say young people?
Stage Two is to clarify some key points about the context in which this
work will be done and the department/organisation in question:
• What are our goals: what do we want to achieve?

• What is the operating environment like?
• What is the culture of the organisation like?
Stage Three is to ask ‘In the light of this information, what will this
potential leader need to be able to do?’
Stage Four queries ‘In order to do this list of things, what will this
potential leader require in terms of:
• Knowledge?
• Skills?
• Beliefs and values?
• Behaviours?’
Perhaps we should also check:
• What do we mean round here when we talk about ‘good’

leadership?
• Is there a fit between what we say we need and what we secretly
think we need?
• If there isn’t, how do we reconcile our differences?
We might also enquire of ourselves:
• What do we already have in-house in terms of skills and

competences?
• How can we develop some of the talents we already have within
our organisation?
This information should give you a good basis for a job description and
person specification for the job you have in mind.
Section One Activity: Defining a leader’s Section One
job spec: previous page Summary; 2 pages on
What do ‘followers’ want from Leaders?

As was said above, one of the new theories says how important it
is to ask what ‘followers’ want from their leaders. For all our democratic
sensibilities in the voluntary/community sector, do we ever ask this
question of people who work in our VCOs?
There is some research, however, from the NHS, local and central
government agencies about what UK public sector workers would like to
see from their bosses. The researchers, Beverly Alimo-Metcalfe and John
Alban-Metcalfe, say their opinion surveys generated an impossible but
very interesting ‘wish-list’. The behaviours sought from UK public sector
leaders were:
• Demonstrating genuine concern for staff as individuals

• Delegating effectively and empowering and trusting people
• Being accessible and approachable
• Encouraging people to think for themselves and try new things
• Being honest, consistent and transparent in behaviour
• Acting with integrity, but being open to other opinions
• Ability to make decisions, even difficult ones
• Being excellent - even inspirational - communicators
• Being capable of solving and dealing with complex problems
• Being able to gain commitment to visions and values from third parties
• Ability to focus and lead team effort
• Ability to pull others together to work on a shared vision
• Being non-judgmental, encouraging learning from mistakes
• Being sensitive about the impact of change on staff.
They said this list showed that staff are most interested in what their
bosses can do for them. But it also showed the importance of shared
vision, collaboration, partnership working, shared responsibility and
creative thinking – all things that resonate in the VCS.
‘Leadership in Public Sector Organisations’

Further reading by Beverly Alimo-Metcalfe and John Alban-Metcalfe
in ‘Leadership in Organisations’,
edited by John Storey, published by Routledge, London,
2004, p177-178.
ISBN: 0-415-31033-4
‘Principle-centred Leadership’
Although Section Three deals with the issue of values and beliefs in detail,
this introduction would not be complete without some reference to the
question of the personal values and principles of leaders. One American
approach that we in Britain might find a little over the top, given that we
tend to have a more secular and down-beat approach to things, is put
forward by Stephen R Covey.
Covey is best-known for his promotion of theories about personal

effectiveness, his most popular book being, ‘The Seven Habits of Highly
Effective People’, but he also promotes the concept of ‘Principle-Centred
Leadership’.
According to Covey, the eight characteristics of principle-centred leaders

are:
They are continually learning They are service-orientated

They radiate positive energy They believe in other people
They lead balanced lives They see life as an adventure
They are ‘synergistic’ They exercise self-renewal.
Covey’s ambition is said to be to help leaders to transform their

organisations and staff by sharing the Principle-Centred Leadership
message. This entails ‘communicating vision, clarifying purposes, making
behaviour congruent with belief, and aligning procedures with principles,
roles and goals.’
His upbeat messages are continued in his list of ‘Seven Habits’:
• Be proactive
• Begin with the end in mind
• Put first things first
• Think win-win
• Seek first to understand, then to be understood
• Synergise - don’t compartmentalise your life
• Sharpen the saw - ie hone your skills and look after yourself
Further Reading
‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’, 1994, and
‘Principle-Centred Leadership’, 1992,
by Stephen R Covey
published by Simon & Schuster, London.
ISBN: 0-671-71117-2 and 0-684-85841-X
Section One – Summary
• Leadership is defined here as ‘the ability to motivate and guide the

people connected to a VCO to meet its goals’. It is about moving the
VCO from where it is at present to where it wants to be in the future.
• An analogy would be the leadership of an expedition, where task, team,

route, logistics, the environment and crisis management are all
important activities for a team leader.
• Power and responsibility go hand in hand. Leadership can be provided by

all kinds of people in a whole variety of settings, including by individuals
who step forward in an emergency.
• Leadership is not about personality or extraordinary personal

attributes. The most helpful leadership literature talks about the skills
and behaviour of leaders – an approach that is much more empowering
and inclusive.
• Attributes which are universally mentioned by writers of all kinds are:

‘big-picture sense-making’, the ‘ability to deliver change’ and ‘inter-
organisational representation’.
• Newer theories say we must understand the context or the organisation

in order to talk about leadership requirements, or that we must
understand the competences required of the individual or the
expectations on him/her of ‘followers’.
• As a result, we cannot look for a blue-print leader; instead we must ask

what the leader needs to be able to do and what he/she will require in
terms of knowledge, skills, beliefs and values, and behaviours for a
particular context.
• Research into what public sector staff want from their seniors backs up
the idea that people are primarily looking for support and
considerateness from their leaders.
• An American theory about personal leadership highlights the

importance of values, principles and beliefs – which links neatly with
Sections Two and Three, which deal with visions and values.
SECTION TWO
Leading People to a Destination
In this Section, we look at how Leadership helps voluntary/

community organisations to achieve their goals by
focusing on vision, mission and strategy
Imagine. . .
Achieving clarity on the vision and mission
of the VCO
In Section One, we likened Leadership of a VCO to being the leader of an

expedition, and we said that part of the job of the expedition leader was to be
clear about the destination and the journey.
In this analogy, the expedition leader would probably be the expert, the person
who had been to the top of the mountain before, and who was the most skilled
at climbing mountains. The job would entail showing the expedition members
how to get to the top of the mountain, and guiding their activities and
behaviour so the whole party got there safely, efficiently and in a timely way.
It would also include encouraging the team members to keep going and
maintaining their morale.
In the everyday context, the job of the VCO leader includes reminding people
why the organisation exists and what it is there to achieve, as well as guiding
people about how to set about realising these goals. A good leader will also
think about how to enthuse people and maintain group morale.
In formal terms, these would be referred to as the organisation’s
‘vision’ Page 25
‘mission’ Page 26
‘strategy’ Page 28
The symptoms of a loss of focus

Case
Study A group set up a charity to campaign against the destruction of
historic buildings at a time when modern architecture was being
heavily promoted. For 20 years the charity was really successful and
drew in lots of funding, but the trustees did not notice when public
tastes changed again. A member of staff who was more on the ball
set up a new department which would focus on new government
priorities. As this department drew in more funds, the heritage
experts got more and more angry that the charity’s traditional focus
was being lost. Who was right; who was wrong? Who could say? The
organisation needed leaders with the skill to unite the charity again
under a new, agreed vision and mission.
Creating or reinforcing a ‘vision’ for the VCO
The ‘vision’ describes the ideal or aspirational goal for which your VCO is
working.
An international aid agency might aspire to ‘an end to world poverty’. An

environmental charity might be working for ‘GM-free foods’ or ‘a shift to
renewable energy sources’. A medical charity might seek to ‘provide a cancer
nurse for everyone who needs one’, or give ‘access to confidential advice, day
or night, at the end of the phone’.
All of these phrases say quickly and simply what is the ultimate aim of the
organisation. They use language that everyone can understand. They sound
purposeful and ambitious.
If you want to inspire the people who are connected to the VCO and encourage
them to give their best, why not try to create a vision statement to sum up in
a pithy way what you are there to achieve? This can be very useful both
internally and externally.
At internal meetings and events, you can use it to remind people of the
direction in which all their energies need to be channelled.
It can be useful at external events, when people say, ‘So, what do you
do? ’and you know you have only a few moments to capture their
interest.
It can be vitally important at difficult times, when everyone is

demoralised or there is a lot of controversy. To be able to say, ‘Let’s
not forget that we are here to ….’ can be enough to rally everyone to
the cause again.
Creating a Vision
The process has to involve your users, your staff and your
volunteers, as well as the Board and the senior management Activity
because everyone has to feel personally committed to the
vision.
Allow a couple of hours at an Awayday or in a workshop setting

and encourage people to imagine and describe the ideal for
which you are all striving. Make sure the verbs are the right
ones. Hone the wording until it’s crystal-clear. Use positives
rather than negatives, if you can. Get everyone to agree on the
neatest, pithiest encapsulation of your aims.
Section Two Creating a Vision Establishing Strategy:
Previous page Next page but one.
Summing up the ‘mission’ of the VCO

Whereas the vision statement tries to sum up the ultimate aim of the
organisation, the ‘mission statement’ is more of a practical explanation of
what the VCO actually does, and how. One theory says that a mission
statement summarises five key things:
• The target groups or users you want to serve
• The needs you want to meet
• The services or products you want to offer
• The skills and capabilities you can deploy
• The resources - equipment, time, money - you can bring.
The idea is to give headline information in half-a-page to a page of text

about these five topics. Again, this is a useful communication tool for both
internal and external use.
The mission statement should be broad enough accurately to sum up your

VCO over the medium-term - say, five years or more. It might need to be
reviewed at intervals: the circumstances of your users could change, or
qualification standards in your field might go up, for example.
In the meantime, however, it should give the Board, the chief executive
and senior managers – as well as other people with a stake in the VCO – a
clear idea of whether particular activities or clients fit into your remit and
are appropriate to take on, or not.
Key Concept Mission drift
Organisations of all kinds can suffer from this phenomenon

over the medium to long term, for two key reasons.
Sometimes no-one stops to ask why new activities have been

taken on, and they wander further and further away from
the stated aims. Or all too frequently, organisations adapt
their work to fit with the available funds without making an
explicit decision that this is the right thing to do.
Check out if your mission is up to date
Why not check if your VCO is still clear about its mission? If there are
lots of arguments about priorities, or resentments about particular bits
of work, perhaps confusion has crept in about what your VCO is there to
achieve.
Activity
You could go about this in two ways. Firstly, you could ask individual
board members, senior managers and others how they would sum up the
objectives of the VCO. You could then compare this information with
the feedback from members or users, and with what your last official
documents said about you. Are all these interpretations compatible with
each other?
Alternatively, if you suspect that everyone really is working at cross-

purposes, you could schedule an Awayday to go through the five
components of a mission statement listed on the left and come up with
new definitions.
You may find that new people had no clear conception of what the
mission is, or you may find that key groups have moved apart over time.
The discussion may well generate arguments as some people want to
move on, and others want to return to the original objectives and
activities.
You may need an independent facilitator to guide you to a consensus. You

will also need some facts and figures on the table so you can have a
sensible discussion about the current operating environment and what is
a realistic and feasible agenda for your VCO to set itself.
In ‘Managing without Profit’, Mike Hudson reminds us that

fundamental choices about mission, or objectives, have to be made,
and that these are often the cause of the biggest disagreements
within the VCO. For example,
Key
• Do we campaign for change, or provide services for those affected
Questions
by the issue concerned?
• Do we try to tackle the underlying causes of a problem or do we
set out to treat the symptoms?
• Do we provide a little help for a lot of people, or set out to help a
few in a more substantial way?
• Do we shift our objectives to win new resources?
‘Managing without Profit’, by Mike Hudson, published by Penguin,

London, 1995, p140. ISBN: 0-14-023886-7
Establishing a clear strategy for your VCO
The ability to think strategically is a real gift, and a VCO that does not have at
least one person who can work out how to get from A to Z is an organisation
that is doomed to muddle along.
It sounds simple enough – working out how to get from A to Z – but whole
books are devoted to strategic development and few people find it
straightforward to prepare a strategy, or strategic plan, despite the fact that
it lies at the heart of a sound business plan.
Imagine. . .
Route planning for the leaders of expeditions

It may be helpful to use our analogy of the expedition leader
to cast a light on the complex task of developing a strategy.
In Section One, we suggested that amongst other things, the leader of an

expedition was responsible for ‘the proposed route’, and we likened this to the
strategic plan.
We also said, however, that the expedition leader would be responsible for
thinking about ‘the lie of the land’, ‘the weather conditions’ and the ‘logistics’ of
the trip – all fundamental factors that would have to be taken into account when
planning the route.
The expedition leader would need to consider whether the terrain was easy or
difficult, and whether the weather conditions were likely to be favourable or
adverse. Both factors would influence the overall plan: is the expedition likely to
be a gentle stroll through a friendly landscape, or a dangerous scramble through a
hard and rocky place? Are there any unknowns to take into account?
Turning to the question of logistics, what kit and equipment would need to be
taken along, and what kinds of skills would the team need to be trained in before
departure? What should be in the first aid kit, and what kind of back-up support
might be needed? Given the likely conditions, what should be the timetable for
the expedition?
As can be seen, strategic planning is not just a case of deciding on a destination

and setting out towards it. External factors and the capabilities of the expedition
members are among the major influences on the plan. Alertness to such factors is
vital.
What is a strategy?
• It is a plan of action that is designed to help you achieve your vision and
your mission over a specified period of time
• It explains how you will cross the gap from where you are now to where
you want to be at a stated point in the future
• It expresses what you want to achieve in clear and specific terms under
about half a dozen headings, often called ‘strategic objectives’. These sum
up the key targets for the main strands of your work
• It shows how all the programmes, projects and activities you run fit into a
logical and coherent package
• It shows you are responding to the external conditions in which you

operate, addressing the economic, political, social, environmental and
legislative factors that will help or hinder your work
• It shows a thorough understanding of your users/clients and your own

strengths and weaknesses, and an accurate analysis of the resources and
skills you can deploy, or develop
• It should be stimulating and challenging but also realistic, with some

discussion of the risks and how you would address them
• It can be a high-level 5 to 10 year plan or a more detailed 1 to 3 year

business plan, depending on what is more useful at this stage in your
development.
Two excellent guides to strategic development:

Further
Reading ‘The Complete Guide to Business and Strategic Planning’,
by Alan Lawrie, published by Directory of Social Change,
London, 2nd edition 2001.
ISBN: 1 900360 87 X
‘Managing without Profit’

by Mike Hudson, published by Penguin, London, 1995.
ISBN: 0-14-023886-7
Also see Mike Hudson’s website at:

www.compasspartnership.co.uk
Section Two What is a Strategy? Section Summary
Previous page Next page but one
Creating ownership of the strategy

Activity
Look at the description of a strategy on page 29. There is one huge
thing missing from it. Nothing has been said about ownership. Think
about how you would set about preparing a strategy to which everyone
in your VCO was committed. Who would you involve in its development
– and how would you make sure they had a chance to influence its
contents?
How do you Lead on strategy?

In any walk of life, what we really want from our leaders is the clear
impression that they know where they are leading us and what they are
doing. That does not mean that we would follow them without question over
the edge of a cliff: in these less deferential times, we subject our leaders
to a running commentary on their performance, and we protest vigorously if
we disagree with them. Nonetheless, we do expect them to be better than
us at deciding what to do and then pushing on to achieve it. And we expect
them to be better than us at coping with set-backs and crises.
In a voluntary/community organisation, there is always a delicate balancing

act between making a decision and taking into account the opinions of
everyone who is affected by that decision. We will come back to that in a
later Section. However, there are several contexts in which we might want
leaders to take a lead on strategy:
• In the early days, before there is a clear idea of what to do and how
to do it
• At times of crisis, or when things are going wrong or getting

confused
• When there’s an opportunity which could benefit the VCO
• At the appropriate intervals when we have decided we will review

progress, think about the future and make new plans.
Different kinds of leadership skills are needed in these different contexts,

and different personal styles might be required.
What are you like?
What do you enjoy? Do you love sitting down with a blank
piece of paper, generating masses of new ideas, getting
excited about how you’d set about making new projects fly?
Do you like the thrill of selling new concepts to people?
Or do you prefer taking an idea and making it work? Does Key Concept
your skill lie in turning broad-brush plans into workable
programmes of action? Can you just look at a budget and
see where its strong and weak points are? Do you enjoy
working with a team of people on a day-to-day basis?
Organisations need both kinds of people, but if you are

more of an ‘ideas person’, you may be more suited to a start-
up situation when the vision, mission and strategy are being
developed for the first time. If you are more the second
type, it may be more satisfying for you to lead an
established VCO which needs a strong, steady hand on the
tiller.
Different horses for different courses
A small group of imaginative activists set up a new agency to

provide information and training to the VCS. They wrote books
and reports, delivered training courses, spoke at conferences
and lobbied the government on issues of concern. The agency
developed a high reputation for the quality of its work.
Case Study
Over time, all but one of the original group left. The remaining
founder stepped down from being director, but still went into
the office every day, still wrote reports and lobbied
government, and still told the staff what to do. The new
director had to cope with having a back-seat driver on the
premises, telling him what to do and how to do it. The trustees
felt it would be ungrateful to tell the founder to go away.
The founders did a good job of having the idea, setting up the
agency and making it work – but perhaps they should then have
moved on to another new project. They were opinion formers
and innovators, but not the most ideal leaders for an agency
that now needed continuity and stability. Different leadership
skills are needed at different stages of development.
Section Two – Summary
Leading on the VCO’s vision, mission and strategy
• The job of the VCO leader includes reminding people why the organisation
exists and what it is there to achieve, as well as guiding people about how
to set about realising these goals.
• The process of creating or updating the vision for your VCO has to involve
users, staff and volunteers, as well as the Board and the senior
management because everyone has to feel personally committed to it.
• A ‘mission statement’ is a practical explanation of what the VCO actually

does, and how. In essence, it summarises five key things: the target
groups or users; the needs you want to meet; the services or products you
want to offer; the skills and capabilities you can deploy; and the
resources you can apply.
• If there are lots of arguments about priorities, or resentments about

particular bits of work, perhaps confusion has crept in about what your
VCO is there to achieve.
• A strategy is based on an understanding of where you are now and what

you want to achieve, and explains how you will cross that gap.
• Strategic planning is not just a case of deciding on a destination and

setting out towards it. Alertness to external factors, like the funding
situation, and to internal factors, such as the capabilities of the team, is a
vital activity for leaders.
• In a VCO, there is always a delicate balancing act between making a

decision and taking into account the opinions of everyone who is affected
by that decision.
• Different kinds of leadership aptitudes and skills may be needed at

different points in the life-cycle of the VCO.
SECTION THREE
Leading People
In this Section, we look at the role of Leaders in

establishing and maintaining the values and beliefs of
voluntary/community organisations and in
creating strong and positive organisational culture.
Imagine. . .
Leading people
In Section One, it was suggested that one part of the expedition leader’s role was to
think about all the people involved in the expedition, and their morale, welfare and skills.
We also tried to show how unhappy a workplace can get if leaders do not praise and
thank people, give them reassurance in troubled times, provide advice and guidance when
they are unsure, or inspire and enthuse them about the meaning of their work.
In Section Three, we explore this theme in greater depth by looking at how leaders can
create a positive environment within a voluntary/community organisation. We look at
three key areas:
• Creating and reinforcing positive values and beliefs
• The role of the ‘Emotionally Intelligent’ leader
• Whether the culture of the organisation is supportive.
Leading on values and beliefs

In all sectors, the creation and reinforcement of positive values and belief
systems are seen as vital parts of the job of the leader. In the voluntary/
community sector, values and beliefs are seen as particularly important.
The world, however, seems to get more and more cynical about the integrity
and honesty of people in authority and the institutions in our society – even
those in the charitable sphere. How do we make sure that our values and
beliefs really count? How do we persuade people, internally and externally,
that we are the ‘good guys’?
In one respect, it is easier for the voluntary/community sector to get

respect for its honourable values and beliefs. As VCOs have charitable aims
and are non-profit making, we can defend ourselves against some
accusations of self-interest. The majority of VCOs have causes that meet
with general approval: people will often say, ‘I wish I worked for a
worthwhile organisation like that!’
In other respects, it can be more difficult to be true to values and beliefs:

when funds are tight, or when there is under-staffing, everyone is
overworked or worried and our caring, sharing halo can slip a little.
Section Creating a healthy working An emotionally intelligent
Three environment: Next page VCO: Next page but one
Do you really act on your values and beliefs?
Fons Trompenaars – a Dutch management theorist – has been much

concerned about ethics and organisational culture, and he suggests:
Ask the people in your organisation, ‘What are our values and beliefs
Activity
here?’
Get people to spell out the values and beliefs they believe apply to the
organisation, and encourage them to discuss them freely and in depth.
Get the group to agree the list of values and beliefs.
Now pose some challenging questions: ‘So what? Where does that get
us?’ and note down the indignant replies.
The questions will generate a list of do’s and don’ts and behaviours. For
example, ‘It means we always follow clients up!’, ‘It means we never cut
corners!’, and so on.
Trompenaars suggests you discuss the second list because this is where
the real substance lies. Any organisation can have a list of fine words,
such as ‘Respect’, ‘Equality’, ‘Integrity’ and so on, but they don’t actually
guide anyone’s behaviour because they don’t say what these concepts
entail.
Your discussion should throw up dilemmas and tensions, and differences

between departments, which in turn can lead to fruitful debates about
how the organisation can safeguard its standards and guide behaviour.
Shortcomings and lapses can then be dealt with through action plans
that help to reconcile the ideals with reality.
Further Reading
In ‘Did the Pedestrian Die’,
by Fons Trompenaars
published by Capstone Publishing,
Oxford, 2003.
pages 195 – 198

ISBN: 1-84112-436-2
‘Methinks the Lady Doth Protest Too Much!’
Interesting Thought The management consultant, Trompenaars, who was

quoted overleaf, wrote of his annoyance at seeing big
displays on corporate values in the lobbies of his clients’
premises. He wondered why he got so irritated. To test
his theory, he hung a big notice on his porch at home,
which said, ‘We do not kill people here’. All his visitors
reacted with alarm when they saw the notice, and he
asked them why. They said, ‘Why reassure us that you
won’t kill us? Shouldn’t we take that for granted?’ Fons
Trompenaars concluded that going on about values can be
counter-productive because it can make people think that
you need to remind yourself to live up to them. In other
words, the trumpeted values aren’t really genuine.
Creating a healthy working environment

One of the latest leadership theories concerns the ‘Emotional Intelligence’
of the workplace. Daniel Goleman, who coined the phrase, believes that it is
the vital component in successful leadership, and that ‘to prime good
feeling in those they lead’ is the fundamental task of leaders.
One American review of organisational stress surveys concluded that for

an average of 60–75% of employees, supervisors were the worst source of
stress. Goleman talks about the disillusionment caused by ‘harmful
attitudes, rules and policies’ in the workplace, and the problems that start
when there is dissonance between the published values and beliefs and the
reality. He suggests that some organisations can become positively toxic to
the health of the people who work there. This is a very new angle in the
literature, which has rarely considered problems like bullying, fear, anger
or browbeating in organisations.
Goleman says that ‘emotionally intelligent’ leaders can address unhealthy

workplaces by questioning the ‘emotional reality and the cultural norms’ of
the organisation, and paying attention to the undercurrents. He believes
that the emotional intelligence of leaders is more important to
organisational success than their IQ, educational background or technical
ability. Goleman’s advice on how to build a healthy workplace is given on the
next page.
Building an ‘emotionally intelligent’ VCO
Daniel Goleman suggests that leaders have to do several things in order to
build emotionally intelligent organisations. They have to:
1. Recognise the truth about what is happening in the organisation
2. Be brave enough to talk about what is happening, and to help people

to discuss any damaging norms, assumptions and behaviours
3. Look for organisational strengths on which to build
4. Bring people together to work on a dream, or ideal, of how they

would like things to be instead - and then making sure they are
genuinely signed up to any new vision
5. Set out to demonstrate to people how to work together

differently.
Australian organisational psychologist, Margaret Thorsborne says that

developing healthy workplace relationships depends on:
1. Developing a climate in which it is ok to be open and honest, and to

talk about feelings
2. Listening to what people have to say and respecting their opinions

and their feelings – both positive and negative
3. Explicitly discouraging attitudes and behaviours that diminish

others in any way - and checking all policies and procedures to
ensure they are not negative either.
‘The New Leaders’ Further ‘Integrity’ by Margaret

Reading Thorsborne in:
by Daniel Goleman, Richard
Boyatzis and Annie McKee ‘The Seven Heavenly
Virtues of Leadership’
published by Time Warner
Paperbacks, London, 2003 published by
McGraw-Hill Australia,
p283 New South Wales, 2003
ISBN: 0-7515-3381-5 ISBN: 007471258-6
WARNING
If you recognise the following symptoms as applying to your

VCO. It might be time to take some remedial action..........
Symptoms that values and beliefs could be lost
Bad behaviour …
‘In my work, I have observed that certain actions are always present in the
chronically toxic workplace. These include abuse and criticism; letting people down;
office gossip and back-biting; bullying and harassment; poor management of
performance reviews; poor management process; and lack of engagement,
explanation and clarity of expectation.’
Lack of enthusiasm …
‘I have asked audiences to ‘guesstimate’ how many people are passionate about
their work, and some 80% of respondents say that less than 20% of our workforce
impress them as being passionate. This anecdotal evidence is persuasive and I
believe it is close to the truth, regardless of the exact definition of passion that
each person may use.'’
‘And yet I cannot remember speaking to a person who was not genuinely excited,
enthusiastic, indeed passionate, about starting a new job. What happens to this
excitement, enthusiasm and passion? I believe that it’s the quality of leadership
that is a fundamental factor in destroying new employees’ passion.’
Margaret Thorsborne and Charles Kovess, writing on ‘Integrity’

and ‘Passion’ in ‘The Seven Heavenly Virtues of Leadership’,
p73 & p142. Full reference on previous page.
Questionable priorities …
‘In a very real way, what a person spends his or her time doing is the most direct
expression of his or her values…How you choose to allocate time transmits strong
messages about what matters to you. For example, if you say the customer comes
first, and yet you spend less than 10% of your time with customers, your
organisation hears the message loud and clear – customers don’t really come first.
In fact, they come a poor fourth after internal budgetary issues, staff meetings
and e-mails.’
‘Alpha Leadership’, by Anne Deering, Robert Dilts & Julian Russel

published by John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, 2002, p156
ISBN: 0-470-84483-3
Creating a supportive culture
Trying to change the culture of an organisation is one of the most difficult
things you can do. If there is an unhealthy culture, it has probably taken
many years to set in. It will take concerted hard work at a senior level to
reverse it. However, it is not enough just to set out to defeat unattractive
or destructive patterns of behaviour – this strategy won’t work.
In ‘Managing without Profit’, Mike Hudson says it is essential to understand

the roots of the unhelpful beliefs and behaviour. Culture is partly affected
by people’s underlying assumptions and beliefs, and by the explanations or
justifications they develop over time. For example, the inconsiderate
treatment of staff and volunteers could stem from a belief that it is wrong
to use resources for the benefit of the organisation, when the needs of
the users are very acute.
To change the culture, says Hudson, you have to appreciate – in a non-

judgmental way - what these hidden assumptions and explanations are. He
suggests taking the five actions identified by US professor of management
Edgar Schein:
• Pay most attention to the things you want to encourage - you will
send out clear signals about what you consider most important
• Put funding towards the things you want to emphasise - this will show
that they have a high value for you
• Make sure the qualities you value come through in your recruitment
and promotion decisions
• Be very aware of the priorities you show when you react to a crisis -
people will deduce your beliefs from your behaviour
• Coach staff by putting out consistent messages through your actions,

your advice and your comments so you are a role model for the
behaviour you want to encourage.
In ‘Managing without Profit’

by Mike Hudson
published by Penguin Books, London 1995
p297
ISBN: 0-14-023886-7
Section An emotionally intelligent Symptoms of losing values and
Three VCO: 3 pages back Beliefs: 2 pages back
Section Three – Summary
Leading on the VCO’s values and beliefs
• A critical part of the leader’s role is to think about the morale, welfare and
skills of all the people involved in the VCO, which can become an unhappy,
unproductive place if this is neglected.
• The creation and reinforcement of positive values and belief systems, the
development of a supportive culture and the use of ‘emotional intelligence’
are all vital to a healthy VCO.
• It can be difficult to be true to values and beliefs when funds are tight,
there is under-staffing, and everyone is overworked or worried. And any
organisation can have a list of fine words, such as ‘Respect’, ‘Equality’,
‘Integrity’ and so on, which don’t actually guide anyone’s behaviour because
they are not genuinely assimilated and pursued.
• To get people to think through the values and beliefs that guide the VCO,
ask what difference they actually make to the way that people behave. If
the supposed values and beliefs are not permeating people’s behaviour, talk
through with them how you can put the principles into practice.
• One new leadership theory is that ‘emotionally intelligent’ leaders can

increase the success of an organisation by questioning its ‘emotional
reality and the cultural norms’, paying attention to the undercurrents and
by demonstrating to people a more healthy way of operating.
• Unpleasant behaviour, lack of enthusiasm and priorities that are

questionable can be signals that the culture of the organisation has become
debilitating and demoralising. It is essential for leaders to understand the
roots of the unhelpful beliefs and behaviour and challenge them
constructively.
• Leaders are role-models for the rest of the organisation. Other people
watch and pick up clues from the values shown and the criteria used by
their leaders to make decisions. Make sure as a leader that you are
consistent in displaying the values and beliefs you want to encourage. Lead
by example.
SECTION FOUR
Leading Change
In this Section, we look at how Leaders can

successfully guide VCOs through a change process,
including crisis management and planned change.
Leading Change
There are three contexts in which people in leadership roles will contemplate change:
• As part of the normal development process for the organisation, for example
during the first stages of drawing up a new business plan
• During the course of the year, if it transpires that programmes of work are not
proceeding as anticipated, or it seems that targets may be missed
• When there is a crisis, and the situation must be rectified as a matter of urgency,
and the choices made could be critical.
Imagine. . .
For our expedition leader of Section One, the first situation would be akin to planning the
expedition in the first place, thinking about the potential destination, the terrain, the
weather conditions, and the experience of the team.
The second and third situations could arise after the expedition had started. Bad
weather, a climb that was more difficult than anticipated, a broken piece of kit, might all
lead to a rethink about the approach and the speed of the second half of the trip. An
accident, or another catastrophic event could lead to the need for radical action on the
spur of the moment. This Section makes suggestions on how to approach change in all
three contexts and gives advice from a range of writers on leadership.
Change Management is probably the most testing job for the

leadership of an organisation, because it brings to the fore all
kinds of fundamental questions about culture, ethics and beliefs. It
carries questions about all five of the LARGE topics about which
RAISE has published Toolkits:
Governance: what are the respective decision-making roles of the

Key Concepts Board and the chief executive/director?
Representation: to what extent are the leaders responding to the

views of the members or users or attempting to shape their
opinions and preferences?
Accountability: how answerable will the leaders be for the

consequences of their decisions and their actions?
Equality: will some groups suffer disproportionately or be

disadvantaged by the proposed changes, and if so, who?
Check your change proposals against these

considerations
Dealing with planned change
Although it ought to be more straightforward to deal with planned change – that

is, change as part of the normal development of the organisation – most people
seem to prefer things to stay the same as they were, and it can be difficult to
shift mindsets and ways of working. In older, more established organisations,
habits can seem almost impossible to break. Leaders may need to work hard to
bring about differences, even when it is obvious that things can’t go on as they
are. A few tools and techniques are suggested on this and the following couple
of pages.
Environment mapping and forecasting trends

In the ‘Complete Guide to Business and Strategic Planning’, Alan Lawrie suggests
a number of really useful exercises, one of which focuses on the investigation of
future trends and developments. Lawrie advises considering potential changes
of five types:
• Available resources
• How we work
• Demand for our services and the needs of users/members
• In the political or economic arena
• In the environment and the market
And that you consider what might happen in each of these areas:
a) in the next 12 months

b) in the next 1 to 3 years
c) in the longer term
Lawrie also advises VCOs to be realistic about how they prepare to deal with
change. If your typical response to problems is a ‘chaotic’ or ‘bureaucratic’ one,
you have to allow yourselves extra time to identify and work out how to deal
with changing circumstances.
Further Reading ‘The Complete Guide to Business and Strategic

Planning’
by Alan Lawrie
published by Directory of Social Change, London
2nd edition 2001, p35
ISBN: 1-900360-87-X
Scenario planning
Another method put forward by Alan Lawrie to get people to think
about the future and the possible need for change is ‘scenario
planning’. This exercise is ideal for an Awayday.
• Draw up about three hypothetical scenarios for your VCO. Choose Activity
things that are real possibilities - such as a major change in the way
your services are funded. Don’t choose too many to work on.
• Get people to work in small groups on:
ð the dangers and opportunities presented by each scenario

ð how you would spot each one if and when it started emerging
ð some alternative ideas about how you could respond
ð short and long-term action plans to back up the best ideas.
• Include the most likely ones in your business plan, showing how you
plan to detect and respond to any of these potential scenarios.
The Help/Hinder model

This is another method to stimulate thinking about change, probably
most useful when your plans just need ‘tweaking’ rather than radical
change. Again, it is a good way to generate discussion.
Activity Draw up a form on a large piece of paper with four columns right to
left:
1. The factors which hinder our progress

2. Ideas on how to counteract these hindrances
3. Ideas on how to boost the helpful factors
4. The factors which help us to succeed in our work
Get one small group to generate a list under heading 1, and a second
group to make a list under heading 4. When the lists are complete,
get the two groups to swap lists.
The group with list 1 now works on item 2, generating ideas about
how to counteract hindrances, and the group with list 4 generates
ideas about how to boost the helpful factors listed under heading 3.
Collect feedback on the ideas generated and decide which ones are
most suitable to adopt and work up for your next business plan.
Section Four Tools for planned change Midstream changes
Previous 2 pages This and next page
Changing direction mid-stream

It is almost inevitable that a business plan will be changed in one respect or
another during the course of the year. Monitoring information will show that
targets are not being hit, budgeted income has been slow to arrive, or that
satisfaction levels are down. The departure or illness of a key person, or a change
outside the organisation, can herald a series of other problems. Staying alert to
the possible consequences and reacting appropriately are key responsibilities for
both Boards and senior managers.
The best laid plans can go astray
A Surrey-based arts organisation based in a disused church had a

number of tenants, all paying rent for various spaces, some big,
some small. One of the major tenants stopped paying rent after Case Study
their key person left and their own takings plummeted. A risk
analysis had been done which highlighted that if one of the
tenants went bust, the organisation’s reserves would provide a
financial cushion for four months. However, the Board quickly
realised that with rent and bills payable on a quarterly basis in
arrears, just two missing payments from the tenant would put
them into debt as well. Fortunately, the advance warnings gave
them enough time to respond and put in place an emergency plan.
‘Detecting weak signals’
Deering, Dilts and Russell say that the ability to ‘detect weak
signals’ will increase your feeling of being in control and reduce
Good Idea your levels of stress. You can do this by listening to your hunches,
by paying attention to what front-line staff and volunteers say,
by going to meetings you don’t usually attend, by finding out what
other VCOs are doing, by noticing things that don’t add up, or
that you didn’t expect to hear. People who are good at
anticipation tend to pay attention to tiny clues and signs, say the
authors.
‘Alpha Leadership’, by Deering, Dilts and Russell

Pub. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, 2002
ISBN: 0-470-84483-3
The ‘GROW’ method of problem solving
In his 1996 book, ‘Coaching for Performance’, author Sir John
Whitmore devised a four stage problem-solving model with a
helpful acronym:
G What is the Goal that is being sought?

R What is the Reality of the current situation?
O What Options are available?
W What will you do, and by When?
Activity
Whitmore stresses the importance of undertaking a well-
structured and thorough investigation of the problem. At stage 2,
don’t skimp on analysis of the situation. Try asking:
• What exactly is not working?

• Who is involved?
• What precisely are they doing or not doing?
• When/how often exactly is it a problem?
• How do you know there is a problem?
At stage 3, it is essential to consider all the options, even ones that

initially sound unlikely. Test them out by asking:
• Which idea would have the most impact?

• Which idea seems to be most realistic?
Further Reading Sir John Whitmore’s

‘Coaching for Performance’, is reviewed in
‘Writers on Leadership’ by John van Maurik
Penguin Books, London, 2001.

ISBN: 0-14-029305-1
Handy’s four levers of change

Charles Handy says there are four ‘levers of change’ that can be pulled:
• You can Redefine the Task of the VCO or departments within it

• You an Alter Systems and adopt new ways of doing things
• You can Change the Structures of the VCO
• You can Address the skills, jobs or knowledge of the People
‘Understanding Voluntary Organisations’ by Charles Handy

published by Penguin Books, London 1988, p151
ISBN: 0-14-014338-6
Some warnings about the pitfalls of change
Don’t be
too sure!
‘To become more effective, leaders need to
break through the information quarantine
around them – and the conspiracy to keep
them pleased, even if uninformed.’
‘The New Leaders’ by Daniel Goleman,

Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee, published ‘If organisations have stagnated, there
by Time Warner Paperbacks, London 2003, may be a desire for a change-oriented
p170. ISBN: 0-7515-3381-5 leader. If, conversely, the organisation
has experienced a prolonged or intensive
period of change management, there may
be a desire for a leader who promises to
consolidate and stabilise.’
Enough is Professor John Storey and Iain Mangham

enough! in ‘Leadership in Organisations’, edited by
John Storey, published by Routledge,
London 2004, p342. ISBN: 0-415-31033-4
‘If leaders do not act with respect to the Don’t be too

organisation’s historical antecedents, codes different!
of order and practices, they risk losing the
support of their followers.....For instance, if
traditional leaders [try to change] their
relationship with their followers, these
followers may well see them as behaving
inappropriately’’’…and may react by seeking
to replace the leader with a more
traditionally oriented alternative.’
‘Organisations only change when the people
Tim Ray, Stuart Clegg and Ray Gordon in in them change, and people will only change
‘Leadership in Organisations’, edited by when they accept in their hearts that
John Storey, pub. by Routledge London change must occur.’
2004, p177-178
ISBN: 0-415-31033-4 Sir John Harvey-Jones quoted in ‘Managing
with the Gurus’, by Carol Kennedy, published
by Century Business Books, London, 1996
p61 ISBN: 0-7126-7604-X
Hearts and
minds must want
to change!
Section Changing midstream Leadership styles
Four Previous 3 pages in time of crisis
Next page but one
Risk assessment and analysis

The Charity Commission’s Statement of Recommended Practice for
Accounting and Reporting (SORP 2000) says that VCOs with a gross annual
income of more than £250,000 should undertake risk analysis, but even
those VCOs too small to attract this obligation can benefit from undertaking
the process anyway. It can be woven into the annual process of preparing a
business plan; this highlights its general usefulness to the VCO and reduces
its administrative burden.
Step One is to make a comprehensive assessment of all the events, internal

and external, that could pose a risk to the organisation. Even positive things,
such as winning new funds, could carry risks for you. External developments
in social, economic, legal, environmental or public opinion terms could have
consequences for you.
Step Two is to analyse the potential risks. This involves ‘scoring’ the items
on your list for their likelihood and their potential impact, saying whether
they present a ‘low’, ‘medium’ or ‘high’ risk on each measure. This enables you
to prepare a ranked list, which guides you as to which you should deal with
first.
Step Three is to devise your risk management strategy. This is partly a

question of deciding how risk-averse your VCO wants to be. Do you prefer to
avoid high risks, control them through policies and procedures, or expose
yourselves to highly-managed and monitored risks? This partly depends on
what kinds of things you do as a VCO, and whether you are able to be risk-
averse.
Step Four is to work through your list of risks in a systematic way, putting in
place systems, policies and procedures to ensure the VCO deals with the
potential hazards according to the decisions of the Board. The Board should
remember that it bears responsibility for risk. Monitoring and reporting
systems are absolutely vital.
‘Managing Risk: Further Reading

Guidelines for medium-sized voluntary organisations’,
by Caroline Clark
published by the National Council for Voluntary
Organisations, London, 2001
ISBN: 0 7199 1593 7
Imagine. . .
Crisis management
Even in the best-run organisations, there will be crises from time to time.
Using the analogy of the expedition leader, there could be an accident, a
terrible storm, a landslide, or some other catastrophic event to deal with.
The team members would turn to the expedition leader to rescue them, or
perhaps someone else would step in and save the day through their quick-
wittedness and good judgment. However, on a well-managed expedition, you
would expect the leader to have undertaken risk analyses, put in place
avoidance strategies and to have the experience to get the group safely
through the hazards. Ditto in a well-run VCO.
In other organisations, there is a constant sense of crisis. For some

personalities, this can be an exciting environment in which to work.
However, it takes its toll on the majority of people in the medium to long-
term, and since employees have started to receive compensation from
employment tribunals for stress-related illness, Boards and senior
management should perhaps start to take more responsibility for sorting
out, rather than perpetuating, stressful cultures.
There is little advice in the literature on handling crises. Some of the

techniques in the previous pages will be useful – in particular, the problem-
solving models. A few writers outline the dangers for all involved in a
crisis, and others warn leaders of the pitfalls. In the next couple of pages,
some of these insights are passed on.
‘As leaders, we must know how to diagnose organisational

problems and opportunities and how to intervene efficiently
and skilfully. Leaders are often attracted to the role
because they are doers who prefer action to analysis. The
Wise Thought danger is that doers often misdiagnose in their haste to act.
There is no substitute for defining the problem or
opportunity accurately for, without that, the intervention
may make the problem worse or lead us to miss the
opportunity........ Intervention skills are mostly learned
through apprenticeship and mentoring; on the job or by
doing.’
‘Wisdom’ by Dexter Dunphy & Tyrone Pitsis in

‘The Seven Heavenly Virtues of Leadership’, edited by
Carolyn Barker and Robyn Coy
The Australian Institute of Management, published by
McGraw-Hill Australia, New South Wales, 2003, p182.
ISBN: 007471258-6
Leadership styles in times of crisis
It is increasingly accepted that the style and tone of a leader can be
guided by the situation in which the organisation finds itself. Thus, if there
is a crisis, the leaders might respond in a different way than in times of
calm, suggest Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee.
In an emergency, leaders can take a ‘commanding’ approach in order to try

‘smooth fears’. This means calling for immediate compliance by the group,
issuing clear directions to people without explaining why, and taking tight
control of the situation.
When firm or decisive action is called for, leaders can act in a ‘pace-
setting’ way. This means rallying people round, asking for a bigger effort
from them and demanding faster and better performance until the problem
is sorted out.
However, they warn that outside the armed forces, these are not well-
accepted leadership styles. They can work well if they are used selectively
and in the very short term. The authors also stress that leaders who use
these styles should never accompany them with anger, impatience,
contempt or disgust, because of how damaging these behaviours are for
members of the group.
There are also warnings about getting ‘so used to the adrenaline rush of
handling crises that we become dependent on it for a sense of excitement
and energy.’ High profile US author, Stephen Covey, knows all about the
kick crises can provide:
‘How does urgency feel? Stressful? Pressurised? Tense? Exhausting?

Sure! But let’s be honest. It’s also sometimes exhilarating. We feel
useful. We feel successful. We feel validated. And we get good at it.
Whenever there’s trouble, we ride into town, pull out our six-shooter,
do the varmint in, blow the smoke off the gun barrel and ride into the
sunset like a hero. It brings instant results and instant gratification.....
Addiction to urgency is every bit as dangerous as other commonly
recognised dependencies.’
‘The New Leaders’, by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and

Annie McKee, pp90-100, op cit.
‘First Things First’, by Stephen R Covey, A Roger Merrill and

Rebecca R Merrill
published by Simon & Schuster, London, 1994, p33.
ISBN: 0-684-85840-1
Emotional intelligence in times of crisis
‘No leader can afford to be controlled by negative emotions, such

as frustration and rage, or anxiety and panic...... self management
– which resembles an on-going inner conversation – is the Hmmm..... I
component of emotional intelligence that frees us from being a hadn’t thought
prisoner of our feelings. It’s what allows the mental clarity and of that
concentrated energy that leadership demands, and what keeps before....
disruptive emotions from throwing us off track. Leaders with
such self-mastery embody an upbeat, optimistic enthusiasm.'’
‘Because emotions are so contagious – especially from leaders to

others in the group – leaders’ first tasks are the emotional
equivalent of good hygiene: getting their own emotions in hand.
Leaders who freely vent their anger, catastrophise or otherwise
let their distressing emotions run amok, can’t also lead the group
to a positive register, where the best work gets done.’
‘The New Leaders’, by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and

Annie McKee, p56, op cit.
Are you an emotionally intelligent leader?
Questions to ask yourself - and your team if you are brave enough!
• Are you emotionally self-aware?
Do you understand how your feelings affect you and your

performance?
Can you remember your values, even when you are under stress?
• Can you exercise self-control?

Activity
Are you capable of managing your emotions and impulses in a crisis?
Can you stay calm and clear-headed in order to deal with challenges
and problems?
• Are you optimistic?
Are you able to recast threats as opportunities in order to get out

there and deal with them positively?
Do you demonstrate to people the behaviours you would like to see

them adopting?
Are you a role-model for them in terms of being helpful,

constructive and respectful?
Section Four Risk Assessment Leadership in times
4 pages back of crisis
Previous 3 pages
Section Four – Summary
Leading change
• There are three contexts in which change is contemplated: as part of the

normal development process; to alter course when things are not going to
plan; or in a crisis.
• Change management is probably the most testing leadership job because

it brings to the fore fundamental questions about culture, ethics and
beliefs, and has implications for the governance of the VCO, and the
accountability, sense of equality and representativeness of the leaders.
• Planned change involves mapping the environment and forecasting trends,

thinking in particular about changes in available resources; how the VCO
works; future demand and needs; and developments in the external
environment. The ability to pick up early clues about impending change can
be vital. Advance planning is crucial.
• Getting people to change is possibly the most challenging issue. A sense of

crisis helps, as well as a strong motivation, a vision and clear direction,
excellent communication and senior co-operation.
• Accurate diagnosis is the most important part of problem-solving. It is

also vital to think through all the options before making any decisions
about what course to take.
• Various ‘levers of change’ are available: you can address the design of the
task, system or structure, or you can work on the people. Choices are
always affected by cultural considerations, including the amount of risk
your VCO is prepared to accept.
• In times of crisis, leaders often change their style of operating, but

people may respond badly if leaders’ styles are dramatically different.
More forceful styles of leadership should be used only selectively and for
limited periods of time in real crises.
• Self management in leaders is vital – avoiding anger, contempt, the

expression of fear and anxiety and addiction to adrenaline rushes.
SECTION FIVE
Leadership Roles
In this Section, we briefly review the respective

responsibilities of the governing body and the
chief executive, and highlight the importance
of accountable leadership.
The link between Leadership and good Governance
The legal and financial responsibility for a VCO lies with its governing body –
its Management Committee, Board of Trustees or Board of Directors. As the
ultimate responsibility rests with this group, it is the de facto leadership
group.
However, in practical terms, the governing body, where it employs staff,

relies on the chief executive and other senior staff actually to run the
organisation.
But where is the governance/management line?
In ‘Managing Without Profit’, Mike Hudson says that each VCO has to decide
where to draw the line between ‘governance’ and ‘management’. In some
VCOs, the Board plays a limited role, focusing solely on the mission, the
strategy and the policies, whereas in others, Board members are more
closely involved in implementation. Hudson says that the age of the
organisation and its circumstances help to determine where the line is drawn.
It must, however, be the governing body that makes the decision about ‘what
is governance’ and ‘what is management’. As Hudson says, these cannot and
should not be watertight categories, but it is vital for the Board to focus its
energies on governance and not to get bogged down by things that in theory
have been delegated. Typically, the governance line is redrawn after natural
phases of development throw up new kinds of challenges and crises.
A chief executive plays a very complicated role, acting as the executive

agent for the Board, but also providing leadership in his or her own right. As
Hudson comments, there has to be a ‘partnership’ between the Board and the
Chief Executive. This should be dynamic but the Board should always be the
‘first among equals’.
Further Reading
Governance: A RAISE Toolkit, available from the website
below or in hard copy from the address on page 2.
In it, you will find a list of Board roles and responsibilities, a

job description and person specification for Board members
and more advice on the relationship between the Chair and the
Chief Executive.
Where should your Leadership line be drawn?
Mike Hudson strongly advises that the leadership line be redrawn

at intervals during the life-time of a voluntary/community
organisation. It may be appropriate for you to revisit the issue,
given the developments in your VCO over the last few years – or
perhaps it’s a new issue for you. Either way, it will be helpful to Activity
consider where the leadership roles of the Board and chief
executive begin and end.
Draw up a list of the roles and responsibilities involved in running

your organisation. This should certainly involve ‘big issues’, such as
who sets the mission and the goals, but can also include specifics,
like ‘who checks the bank balance?’ You may need someone to give a
big chunk of time to devising and organising some comprehensive
lists of items.
Board and senior management should discuss what ought to be seen

as ‘governance’ and ‘management’, bearing in mind the legal and
financial responsibilities, but also time-factors for the Board and
realistic levels of ‘freedom to operate’ for the chief executive, who
must be seen to have some authority.
Further Reading
‘Managing Without Profit’
by Mike Hudson, published by Penguin Books,

London 1995, pp 40-88
ISBN: 0-14-023886-7
Are there checks and balances in the system?
The suggestions of the new Chief Executive about new

trustees were eagerly seized on by a depleted Board of a
training charity. A couple of years later, a few older trustees
Case Study
had to retire at the AGM. The Board was now dominated by
close associates of the chief executive and the only candidate
for chair was also a personal friend. Although everyone acted
at all times with total propriety, there was a widespread
perception that this was a clique. Even worse, when there was
a crisis to deal with, they all realised that their personal
relationships impeded their decision-making and their
conflicts of interest were hampering their ability to act.
The link between Leadership and Accountability
Section One mentioned a leadership theory that focuses on ‘followers’ and

what they feel about the exercise of power by influential people. In the
VCS, we think in this respect not only about employees, but also users/
members and volunteers. Of course, in some legal structures, members have
the power to vote out governing bodies, but this is a radical solution which is
rarely exercised. On a day-to-day level, users, volunteers and staff are
stuck with board members and senior managers. So how leaders remain
accountable – above and beyond the legal minimum – is a core issue for VCS
leaders.
Charles Handy suggests that decisions can be made in one of five ways:
• By exercising power and authority

• By majority
• By consensus
• By a minority exercising a veto
• By a sheer lack of response to proposals put forward.
How do you remain accountable, and to whom?
To which individuals and groups do you consider your VCO accountable?

List the various stakeholders to whom you should be answerable in Activity
moral, legal and financial terms.
What do they expect of your VCO’s leadership?
What do you consider is due to them?
In which of Handy’s five ways does your VCO make decisions?
In what ways do you make yourself accountable to your stakeholders

for your decisions?
Is the way in which you make decisions as inclusive as it could be, or

could you do more to involve people?
For further discussion on this topic,

Accountability: A RAISE Toolkit, available from the
website below or in hard copy from the address on page 2.
SECTION SIX
Making Time to Lead
In this Section, we look at a few ideas

about how to make time to lead, especially being innovative
and creative, given the time pressures and weight of work
associated with working in a VCO.
Making Time to Lead
In the 1970s, venerable management theorist, Henry Mintzberg, studied how top and
middle British and American managers spent their time. He found that 50% of the
activities of American chief executives lasted less than 9 minutes apiece. In his British
study, he discovered that chief executives spent only 5 to 6 hours a month on activities
lasting longer than 30 minutes.
Although this style of work led the job holders to think they had everything under
control, Mintzberg commented, it actively blocked them from creative or strategic
thinking, planning and reflection.
As these latter activities are amongst the most important ones for leaders, it is
obviously vital to be able to carve out an appropriate amount of time and space to do
them properly.
Time management and the ‘clock & compass’
One time management theory advises us to classify activities in one of four

ways:
• Important and Urgent

• Important but not Urgent
• Urgent but not Important
• Not Urgent and not Important
Stephen Covey has a more interesting angle, which is to introduce the

concepts of ‘The Clock’ and ‘The Compass’ into self-management. The Clock
represents time, and the Compass a sense of direction.
Covey suggests that people who live their lives just according to time rather
than to a sense of direction will never be able to prioritise in a way that they
or others find satisfactory. In order to be able to decide what is truly
important, Covey suggests that we need to have worked out a fundamental
sense of direction for ourselves.
Henry Mintzberg’s ‘The Nature of Managerial Work’ is

Further quoted in ‘Managing with the Gurus’
Reading by Carol Kennedy, published by Century Ltd, London
1994, p141.
ISBN: 0-7126-7604-X
‘First Things First’ by Stephen R Covey, A Roger

Merrill and Rebecca R Merrill
published by Simon and Schuster, London 1994
ISBN: 0-684-85840-1
Making the time to deal with important things
In ‘First Things First’, Stephen Covey relates a story to illustrate

the importance of finding time to deal with important things. He
uses the analogy of a large jar into which large rocks are placed. Useful
The large rocks represent the ‘important but not urgent’ tasks Concept
that make a qualitative difference. If the large rocks go in the
jar first, many can be fitted in, and the small rocks, stones, gravel
and sand that represent other (urgent and/or less important)
activities can be fitted in around them.
If however, the small rocks, stones, gravel and sand that stand
for urgent and unimportant things go into the jar first, then
there is no room for the large rocks. In other words, unless time
is carved out in advance for important items, the less important
items will continue to crowd out our diaries.
Good Idea ‘Progress tasks’ and ‘maintenance tasks’
Another idea is to classify all the things on your task list as

either ‘maintenance tasks’ – which are things which keep you
in your current position – or ‘progress tasks’ – which are
things which move you on in a substantive way. Then you can
make sure you block out some time to do the latter.
How to make sure you spend time on these tasks
The key suggestion from the time management field is based on

the ‘large rocks’ principle. That is, given that there is a limited
amount of time in the working week, put big things in the diary Activity
first, then small things can pack in around them.
In practice, this means getting a time planner or diary that

allows you to survey a month at a time. Before the start of that
month, you block out large chunks of time for the most
important, qualitative tasks.
The same process is repeated for a weekly basis, ensuring that

the other kinds of tasks are being fitted in effectively around
the larger responsibilities already blocked out.
This is one of those disciplines that sounds too simple in theory,

but in practice, demands an assiduous approach.
What are the important leadership tasks for you?
The latest thinking is that every leadership job is highly individual and
that it is for those involved to decide what the important parts of it are
at any given time. In other words, you have to decide what the priorities
are. Here, though, are some ideas on how to sort your ‘To Do’ list.
The annual cycle of events
Are there things that need to be done at a particular time of year? Are
there cyclical things which are always important? Decide when they
need to be done and block out time in your diary now. Make a policy of
sticking to that commitment.
Schedule in ‘big rocks’ or ‘progress tasks’
Activity Sort your ‘To Do’ list by asking, ‘Which of these tasks will progress our
position, and which just maintain our current position?’ Can you block out
a day or half a day a month to lock yourself away to get on with the
progress tasks?
One theory says that 20% of the things we do tend to yield 80% of the
results. One secret of success is to prioritise that 20% and do it first.
Can you identify that critical 20%? Can you persuade people not to
disturb you for a couple of hours a week so you can work on this 20%?
Look for a balance
John Adair, one of the most noted leadership gurus, says leaders need
to divide their time between three interlocking issues: ‘Task’, ‘Team’ and
‘Individual’, and to make sure they give sufficient attention to each. Can
you say you are doing this? If there’s an imbalance, what could you do
about it?
Still not able to prioritise?
If your ‘To Do’ list still misses the mark, one idea is to ask ‘If I had an
extra hour a day, what would I do with it?’ This question usually elicits
guilty admissions about the things you are currently short-changing.
Block time out to do those very things before you put anything else in
your diary.
‘Not Bosses, But Leaders’
by John Adair with Peter Reed, 3rd edition Further

published by Kogan Page Ltd, London, 2003 Reading
ISBN: 0-7494-3899-1
Section Six Ideas for time Terms and conditions
management for player-managers
Last 3 pages Next 2 pages
In early 2005, a Wall Street Journal reporter was allowed to

accompany Bill Gates, the head of Microsoft, on one of his six-
monthly retreats. The journalist, Robert Guth, revealed that Gates
went on his own twice a year to a remote coastal location for a ‘Think
Week’.
Case
Gates lived on diet coke and cheese toasties and spent up to 18 hours
Study
a day reading 100 working papers. Many of these were suggestions
that had been submitted by Microsoft employees, a company
practice which Gates encourages.
Apparently Bill Gates returns from these ‘Think Weeks’ with lists of
brilliant ideas for new products and various strategic proposals for
the development of Microsoft.
This is a prime example of how to make time for ‘the big stuff’.
Fortunately The
diet coke isn’t
compulsory!
“Luxury!”
“Resources are tight and it’s all very well saying people should take the time
out to do ‘visioning’ or ‘strategic planning’, but I have got to juggle a whole
variety of tasks including supervising my colleagues, looking at balance sheets
and preparing papers for board meetings!”
This might well be the response from many quarters to the earlier parts of
this section. A hectic working environment is common in the VCS, and indeed,
participants in the 2003 RAISE workshop on leadership put ‘productivity’ as
one of the leadership qualities they rated most highly. In that context, how do
leaders cope with a varied portfolio of responsibilities?
An intriguing new book about the ‘Player Manager’ may cast some light on the
tensions involved. Authors, Philip Augar and Joy Palmer transfer the term
from the sporting field to the business world to describe the senior staff
member who has to ‘combine the roles of producing and managing’. This is a
familiar picture for the VCS!
Terms and conditions for ‘player-managers’
In many organisations, people who are perceived to be successful at their

jobs have managerial duties added to their remit. Few of their former
responsibilities are taken away. Authors Augar and Palmer call these people
‘Player Managers’. The combination of roles can come about for many
reasons. Perhaps your organisation:
• Believes that only a respected practitioner from your field can be

accepted as a leader or senior manager
• Does not rate other qualifications very highly and doesn’t believe
leadership or management demand any particular skills
• Sees additional responsibility as a reward for good performance
• Genuinely sees this as a way to enrich your job and empower you
• Cannot afford to let you spend all of your time on leadership or

management
• Has financial problems that mean you and others have been forced to
take on more and more responsibility.
On the basis of their experience, Augar and Palmer give advice to others
who have to combine the ‘Player’ and ‘Manager’ roles:
• Don’t think that you have to do everything yourself. You have to learn how
to delegate. Don’t under-estimate your colleagues.
• You must reconcile yourself to spending less time on your former role in
order to get to grips with new elements of the job. If this suggestion
rankles, ask yourself why you agreed to the promotion.
• Don’t take refuge in the task-orientated parts of your job in order to

avoid the more threatening people-related elements. You have to face up
to problems, because they don’t go away on their own.
Further Reading
‘The Rise of the Player-Manager:
How professionals manage while they work’
by Philip Augar and Joy Palmer

published by Penguin Books, London 2002
ISBN: 0-14-028665-9
Section Six Being creative. Section summary
Next 2 pages Third page on
Balancing responsibilities
Are you one of these people Augar and Palmer talk about, who have to
juggle a professional task within your organisation with the job of
leading it?
Are you managing to make a success of balancing the two roles, without
being permanently torn in two directions? If having to continue to be a
‘Player’ is preventing you from carrying out your ‘Manager’
responsibilities, there are some questions Augar and Palmer suggest
that you ask: Activity
1. There are a number of reasons why people consent to being

overworked. For example, you might be doing it temporarily to
advance your career in the longer term. But if you are
persistently overworked, you could ask yourself why it is so
difficult for you to draw a line. All this hard work - what is in it
for you?
2. What kinds of additional support could your VCO usefully give

you so you could make this arrangement more of a success for
everyone?
3. If the most important thing is for you to be a leader in your

organisation, what would enable you to give this role the
importance it deserves?
Leaders should spend more time on conceptual stuff
A definitive essay in the January 1955 Harvard Business Review by RL

Katz has influenced thinking ever since it was published. Katz’s theory is
that people at different levels in organisations should spend varying
Key percentages of their time in the exercise of three types of skill:
Concept
technical skills human skills conceptual skills
Katz suggested:
Top managers should spend 40% of their time using conceptual skills,
40% on human skills and 30% on technical skills.
Middle managers should spend 40% on human skills and 30% each on
conceptual and technical skills.
Supervisors should spend 40% on technical skills, 40% on human skills

and 20% on conceptual skills.
Making space to be creative and innovative
Other leadership qualities which were highly rated by RAISE members at the 2003
conference were ‘creativity and innovativeness’. Again, this is a vital element of the
leadership role that can easily be side-lined because of day-to-day pressures. Some
leadership theorists believe that creativity is the particular responsibility of the leader.
Herrmann’s theory of creativity
In his 1989 book, ‘The Creative Brain’, American consultant Ned Herrmann
suggested that there are four ‘modes of thinking’:
Thinking Organising Skills and

‘type’ principle abilities
The ‘A’ Brain Rationality logical, analytical, fact-based and
quantitative
The ‘B’ Brain Organisation organised, sequential, planned and

detailed
The ‘C ’ Brain Feelings interpersonal, emotional, expressive

and sensory
The ‘D’ Brain Experimentation intuitive, imaginative, synthesising

and holistic
Contrary to traditional approaches which value ‘A’ and ‘B’ type thinking most
highly, Herrmann believes that ‘D’ and ‘C’ type thinking are more important
for leaders, who need above all else to be creative. However, whatever mode
of thinking comes most naturally to you, Herrmann thinks that you can
strengthen the other types of mental ability by deliberately setting out to
practise. The keys to success are to be flexible and to tolerate
experimentation.
Being creative, says Herrmann, involves six stages which bring all the types
of thinking into play in turn:
1. Questioning present methods Uses all types of thinking

2. Gathering evidence Uses ‘A’ and ‘B’ type thinking
3. Generating lists of ideas Uses ‘D’ and ‘C’ type thinking
4. Getting inspiration Comes from the ‘D’ brain
5. Testing practicality of ideas Uses ‘A’ and ‘B’ type thinking
6. Implementing plans Uses all types of thinking
Ned Herrmann’s theories on the facing page are
Further outlined in
Reading ‘Writers on Leadership’ by John van Maurik
Penguin Books, London, 2001, pp162-171
ISBN: 0-14-029305-1
De Bono’s method of being creative
An alternative approach is to use Edward de Bono’s ‘Six Thinking Hats’. The

idea is that instead of doing several things at once, groups of people can pool
their energies and co-operate fruitfully by deliberately doing one kind of
thinking and then another, each characterised by (metaphorically) putting on
a different coloured hat:
Blue hats mean taking an overview and thinking about the reason for doing
something and the process being used Good
Idea
Green hats stand for creativity and new ideas
Yellow hats stand for positive thinking and hopefulness
White hats mean neutral, factual, objective thinking
Red hats stand for emotional, intuitive, non-rational thinking
Black hats mean pointing out the risks, looking for a ‘fit’ with our current
work, being cautious, being evaluative.
De Bono stresses that black hat thinking is positive thinking: it does not
mean being negative or dismissive. It should not be used in order to squash
people’s ideas or parade egos. De Bono’ says organisations can make the best
use of everyone’s intelligence, creativity and experience by explicitly asking
people to engage in particular kinds of thinking.
‘Six Thinking Hats’ by Edward de Bono

published by Penguin Books, London, 2000
ISBN: 0-14-029666-2
‘Big Hairy Audacious Goals’

Key
Concept James Collins and Jerry Porras, US academics specialising in the visionary
side of leadership have coined this term which has recently become a
popular and much-cited concept. What they mean by ‘Big Hairy Audacious
Goals’ are ideas that are so ambitious that they make hearers gasp.
BHAGs may be very long-term objectives, or very bold ones, but they
must have the sheer power or bravery to make people passionate and
inspired. As a result, their levels of motivation and commitment will soar.
Section Six – Summary
Making Time to Lead
In all walks of life, senior people often have very fragmented days in which
lots of things vie for their attention. Time management experts warn that
unless the big things get put in the diary first, the smaller but more urgent
activities will crowd them out.
It is also important, however, to have a sense of direction because being

ruled by the clock alone does not move you forward.
Activities can be divided into ‘progress tasks’ and ‘maintenance tasks’. It

can also be helpful to think about the balance of time spent respectively on
Task, Team and Individual, or about the 20% of activities that will yield
80% of the difference. However your agenda is sorted, the key thing is to
plan in advance how you will reserve good thinking and planning time.
There are particular difficulties when organisations want you to continue to

be a practising specialist in your field and a manager or leader. Great
clarity of purpose is required and you probably need to examine what
support you will need to enable you to play both roles satisfactorily........
without getting burnt-out. The ability to delegate effectively will be vital.
Leaders also need the space and time to be creative and innovative. Some
theorists think creativity is the real job of leadership. It requires a certain
kind of thinking to be creative, but anyone can learn the mind-set that is
needed to generate ideas and test them.
The ‘Six Thinking Hats’ model is one way of encouraging a group to think big
and discouraging the clever criticism that can be self-defeating. Another
way of inspiring people is with what two US authors called ‘Big Hairy
Audacious Goals’!
SECTION SEVEN
Communication Skills for Leaders
In this Section, we explore tools and techniques to enhance

the communication skills of Leaders, giving ideas on how to
hear and be heard, and focusing on the external role of
being an ambassador for a VCO.
Communication Skills for Leaders Imagine. . .
There is a strong consensus in the Leadership literature that the

ability to communicate well is one of the most vital skills for leaders.
If we go back to our analogy of a leader of an expedition, we can see how important it is

for him or her to brief the team at the start of every day, to debrief in the evening, and
to handle planning and problem-solving discussions in a way which inspires confidence and
respect. The team needs to feel that it can trust the expedition leader, whether he or
she is very consensual, or very authoritarian. Strong communication skills enable the
Leader to put across the key messages so that people can hear and understand them.
Open University Professor John Storey says that ‘inter-organisational representation’ is

one of the three top leadership skills on which all theorists agree. It is also extremely
challenging because key audiences can have wildly different values, beliefs and levels of
understanding. Leaders may have to strive to get their messages across to people who
have all kinds of preconceptions, and will have to do so in a number of different contexts
– on platforms in front of audiences and in meetings large and small, with partner
organisations, sponsors, critics and interested parties from all sectors.
Further Reading
‘Leadership in Organisations:
Current issues and Key Trends’
edited by John Storey
published by Routledge, London 2004, see pages 24-25
ISBN: 0-415-31033-4
Why strong communication skills are so important
‘Socially skilled leaders tend to have resonance with a wide circle of people
– and a knack for finding common ground and building rapport. Relationship Good
management is friendliness with a purpose: moving people in the right Concept
direction, whether that is agreement on a marketing strategy or
enthusiasm about a new project.’
‘The fundamental task of leaders is to prime good feeling in those they

lead…Leaders typically talk more than anyone else and what they say is
listened to more carefully. They are [also] watched more carefully than
anyone else in the group.’
‘The New Leaders’

by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee
published by Time Warner Paperbacks, London 2003, p64, preface & p10
ISBN: 0-7515-3381-5
Why are you setting out to communicate?
It is said that the great majority of people fear nothing more than the
prospect of having to speak in public. As a result, they don’t consider
themselves to be good communicators. Think for a minute, however, about all
the different reasons you might have for communicating with others, and
the wide range of attributes and skills needed to perform brilliantly in every
conceivable situation. Perhaps only a small minority of people will be excellent
all-round communicators, and the majority of us will prove to be better at
some types of communication than at others. What are you best at doing?
• Team building and coalition building?

• Training and supervising people?
• Information gathering and giving?
• Being an advocate for your members or users?
• Being an ambassador for your cause?
• Explaining ideas and concepts?
• Selling projects and persuading people?
• Giving pep talks and ‘rallying the troops’?
• Telling stories and entertaining people?
These are all very different communication tasks, so it’s hardly surprising
that talent in one area may not translate into proficiency in another. You may
feel very confident doing some of these tasks but really very modest about
your ability to tackle others.
However, there are some core skills that apply across the board, and some
theories about communication that can help to enhance performance even in
the most demanding situations.
Who do you need to communicate with?
Make a list of all the people and organisations with whom you
need to communicate, ensuring that your list includes both
Activity
‘internal’ and ‘external’ audiences.
Against the names, list the reasons for which you need to
communicate with them.
Being clear about the purposes for which you are communicating
is the first step to being a good communicator.
Section Why are you setting out to Understanding your audience:
Seven communicate? Previous page next page for 4 pages
Being a ‘good’ communicator

The most important skills of a good communicator are not, ironically, good
speaking skills: they are careful listening and open-minded understanding.
Audiences - internal or external - are not like baby birds, waiting trustfully in a
nest for morsels of food to be stuffed down their throats. To get people to
hear what you say, understand it, accept it and be willing to follow it, you have
to get through the filter of their critical faculties.
These critical faculties consist of a system of values and beliefs, cultural

assumptions, preconceptions about ‘the way things are’ and whatever moods or
emotions might be present at the time.
To communicate successfully, a leader has to understand these variables and be

willing to craft his or her message in the light of such factors. The truth is that
other people can’t be made to see things our way, so the starting point for
communication has to be the way that they see things.
This means thinking critically about who is in the audience, what they are like
and what will be the best strategy to get through to them, given their
characteristics and attitudes.
Presentation skills trainers will tell you to spend nine tenths of your preparation
time working on the first five minutes of your presentation. This rule probably
applies to most situations in which you set out to communicate with others.
Whether it’s fair or not, the vast majority of people make decisions about new
acquaintances within a few minutes of meeting them. On the plus side, people
generally start out well-disposed, so good communicators will consciously use
those first few minutes when they are being ‘sized up’ to create a sense of
rapport with their listeners.
Key Concept Taking responsibility for communication
Sometimes you can think, ‘They just won’t listen to me!’, but for
a communicator, it is far more empowering to believe, ‘I must
try something different because I am not getting through to
them.’ In other words, you take personal responsibility for the
effectiveness of the communication. By taking this attitude,
you give yourself more choices about how to act and react.
Understanding your audience
Fons Trompenaars specialises in understanding the cultural differences
between different nations and working groups. Together with Charles Hampden-
Turner, he has devised a model to explain cultural diversity. This model has
seven dimensions covering beliefs and values about relationships, time and the
environment. It suggests that successful interactions with others start with an
accurate analysis of where people or groups are on the dimensions below.
1. How much emotion are people allowed to show in this culture?
Are people generally demonstrative, or low-key, in this culture? How OK is it to

display feelings overtly -for example, anger, amusement or distress? Or are
emotional displays and signals suppressed?
2. Is this culture governed by rules or by relationships?
Do people in this culture operate according to formal standards, rules and

objective selection criteria? Do deals depend on detailed contracts? Or are
social connections and introductions from mutual friends what count in
business? Does a handshake confirm a deal?
3. Who has the highest status in this culture?
Does high status come as a result of personal achievement in this culture? Or

do social origins, family connections, educational and professional backgrounds
and senior job titles confer high status?
4. Do you have to be a member of the golf club in this culture?
In some cultures you have to bide your time and pass through some gate-
keeping function -such as being accepted to join the golf club - to be recognised
as a suitable person with whom to do business, but once you are ‘in’,
relationships are both personal and professional. In other cultures, you can
quickly get friendly and respected in the workplace but never be invited home
to meet the family. The degree of cross-over affects how open you can truly be
about your opinions.
5. Is the group more important than the individual in this culture?
For some groups, the welfare of the group – eg the family, the company, the
profession, the faith - comes before the welfare of the individual: members are
expected to put collective benefit first. In other cultures, individual freedoms
and satisfactions are more important, and it is believed that the group is better
off when its individual members are allowed to think and act for themselves.
Understanding your Audience (cont.)
6. Attitudes to time in this culture
There are cultures where the present and the future are more important
than the past, and as a result, time-keeping and adherence to schedules are
highly valued. In ‘historical’ cultures where people look to the past for
explanations and value antecedents and older generations, people are much
more relaxed about deadlines or about arriving on time.
7. Attitudes to the environment in this culture
In some cultures, the expectations are that mankind can and should prevail
over external forces, and that individuals should be able to control their
own destinies. To fail to do so is a sign of weakness. In other cultures,
people feel that external forces - for example, the weather or the
economy - are more powerful than themselves, and that mankind will always
be at the mercy of his environment
How does all this help with communication?
These understandings help in both external and internal contexts. If you

have witnessed a speaker ‘lose’ his or her audience by making a gaffe that
offends beliefs and values, you will know just how quickly rapport can be
lost. Conversely, you may have seen someone win over an audience through
persuasion and what seems to be sheer force of personality, but is really an
ability to hit exactly the right note.
As a preparation for a negotiation with, or an attempt to

influence, a partner organisation, why not think through what you
know about them against the above headings ? Having done that
(and also perhaps thought about your own organisation’s norms
and how they might see you in return), work out what separates
you, what unites you, and how you might work together in future.
’Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding

Cultural Diversity in Business’, Further Reading
by Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner

published by Nicholas Brealey Publishing Ltd, London
second edition 1997, pp29-154
ISBN: 1-85788-176-1
Section Selling or selling out? Being representative and
Seven Next page accountable: 2 pages on
Communication and marketing
There were two charities in the same town doing much the same kind
of thing. The director of one was always to be found on platforms
with the chief executives of the local authority and local businesses.
Case
Its numerous staff were much in evidence, buzzing round town self-
Study
importantly, getting articles in the newspaper, putting out glossy
publications, and hosting swanky events.
The staff of the other agency could not understand how this could be.
The first agency was so showy.....their level of expertise was so
shallow.... they didn’t do any ‘proper’ work..... they didn’t evaluate
things properly.... they dumped projects overnight. How come they
seemed to have so much money and got invited to everything? How
come their own director, who was so clever and erudite, and so
conscientious and thorough was rarely invited to sit on a platform?
The bitter truth was that the first charity was so much better at
selling itself than the second. Its director was a magnetic speaker and
its staff could rustle up funding bids that hit all the right buttons for
potential sponsors. The events and publications convinced the world
that the agency was achieving great things.
The second agency was much more worthy, but it did come across as
much more dull. Its director had a sardonic, little ‘Muttley’ laugh
which frightened people, and as its staff got crosser and crosser at
being overlooked, the second agency began to be viewed with dread.
Finally a vicious circle was created when it downright refused to
market itself professionally just in case people thought it was too
much like its rival.
Marketing yourself or selling your wares is not a sin!

Key Concept
Tailoring presentations to audience expectations is not a
dishonest thing to do. There is a difference between
‘content’ and ‘presentation’. Just because slick and glossy
things can be deceptive, that doesn’t mean that things which
are good, sound and honest have to be dowdy to be true.
Selling, or selling out?
The literature on persuasion and influence is very clear: trying

to ‘sell’ ideas and projects to others from the point of view of
your own values and beliefs will always be far less successful
than appealing to the values and beliefs of your audience.
This is not to suggest that anyone should betray his or her

Good Idea own beliefs and values when liaising with others and seeking to
persuade them. It is vital to stay true to your principles. And
on a practical level, there is little point in seeking alliances with
those who have fundamentally different attitudes because the
relationships will be too fragile to survive.
However, there is a big difference between ‘selling out’ and

pausing to consider whether you are focusing on the things
that appeal to you, or the things that will appeal to the other.
Before an exchange with a key stakeholder, run through the

materials on pages 71-72, and see if your answers give you new
clues about how to create a positive and beneficial connection
with them. What common ground do you have? What can you
agree on? How can you get them to hear what you have to say?
Preparing to communicate with your audiences
Bringing together all of the suggestions above, why not try to

prepare for a piece of communication by considering:
• With whom do you need to communicate? Activity
• What are you trying to achieve through this communication?

What outcome are you seeking from this exchange?
• What do you know of the cultural norms of this audience?

What do you understand about their values and beliefs?
• What do you know about this person’s/these people’s styles

of operating? For example, do they want broad-brush
information, or will they want to hear the detail?
• How can you shape your language and presentation in order to

maximise your chances of being heard by them?
Being Representative and Accountable
Other Toolkits in this RAISE series focus on the issues of Accountability and
Representation. These are vital considerations for the Leaders of VCOs,
particularly in their external communications.
On Accountability, the relevant Toolkit says that Accountability is about

‘providing effective ways of explaining how power is or has been used’ and that
communication is ‘the most important way of being accountable’. The Toolkit
suggests that Leaders will be trusted to the extent that they make
themselves Accountable for what they say and do.
The Representation Toolkit says that being a Representative is ‘acting,

speaking or being present on behalf of someone else’ and that someone in a
Leadership role must be particularly scrupulous about the extent to which he
or she is entitled to make commitments or negotiate on behalf of these
others. The Toolkit says, ‘The “pure” representative will wish to speak
accurately on behalf of those they represent without distortion, and will feed
back to them’. Leaders are advised that if they ‘see fit to influence those
they represent’, they should frankly acknowledge this intention. The Toolkit
advises against taking a Leadership role in the external world unless there is a
mandate to do so from those who are being represented.
This issue of how much power and autonomy Leaders are allowed to exercise is
one that is common to all sectors, although perhaps the people engaged in
VCOs are more anxious than others about what is said and done in their
names. Literature from the private sector on Leadership is said to make
‘implicit assumptions about the silence of followers’, which is not a fault
commonly associated with the modern VCS where reconciling opinions is more
frequently an issue!
To behave appropriately as an ambassador for your VCO, it is vital to keep all

these considerations at the front of your mind, and to act with integrity,
strong principles and an ego that is under control.
‘A new look at dispersed leadership’ by Tim Ray, Further Reading

Stewart Clegg and Ray Gordon
in ‘Leadership in Organisations’, edited by John Storey,
published by Routledge, London, 2004. p323
ISBN: 0-415-31033-4
See other RAISE Toolkits on Accountability and

Representation at the website below or contact RAISE at
the address on page 2.
Section Seven – Summary
Communication Skills for Leaders
• The ability to communicate well is one of the most important skills for
Leaders, in particular ‘inter-organisational representation’, which is
universally acknowledged as vital by leadership writers.
• Leaders have to work hard to get their messages through to a wide

range of audiences, with all kinds of values, beliefs and preconceptions,
and have to do so in a number of different contexts. It is likely that you
will be better at some kinds of communication than others; don’t dismiss
your communication skills just because you find standing on platforms
challenging. There are lots of situations in which your communication
skills will be needed and can be demonstrated.
• Be clear about who you need to communicate with, and your reasons for
wanting to communicate. Think carefully about presentation: you don’t
need to be dull to be worthy. Take responsibility for the effectiveness
of your communications; don’t blame others for not understanding you
because that doesn’t get you anywhere.
• Leaders with good social skills can find common ground and build rapport
with a wide range of people. As preparation for a negotiation with – or
an attempt to influence – others, why not think through what you know
about them in terms of values, beliefs and attitudes about how the
world works. Tailor your communication so you hit the right notes with
them.
• Think about people’s operating styles when you are considering what to
say to them and how you say it. In this way, you can get on the same
wavelength as others.
• Behave with integrity and remember your principles. You will engender
more trust and respect if you are careful about being properly
accountable and representative in your communications with others.
SECTION EIGHT
Learning from Experience
In this Section, we look at how readers can set

about learning and profiting from their good and bad
experiences, and in the process can enhance
their own performance and that of their staff.
Myths about leaders inhibit the development of skills and experience for both the
experienced executive and the newcomer or aspirant to the role:
• One myth is that leaders never admit to any weakness. They are perceived as
being different from everyone else, with qualities and characteristics that stem
from their personality or upbringing. These make them more able than the rest of
us to step up and take on the leadership job successfully.
• Another myth is that leaders never admit to any ignorance. The assumption is that
they are by definition the biggest experts on the premises in any given subject.
People therefore expect them to know what to do and to take control of all
situations in a commanding fashion.
Neither theory stands up to examination, but both still influence our culture. Books and
articles are written in particular about private sector leaders. It is only when there is a
corporate scandal that commentators start to query whether the highly paid leaders
involved were really omniscient after all, or whether they should have had slightly less
faith in their own abilities.
In reality, leaders – along with everyone else – need to learn. One key issue is how they
can learn from their experiences, and another - just as vital - is how they can help others
to do so too.
Good Leaders as learners

Thought
Not all the literature about Leadership assumes that leaders have
learned all they need to know. John Adair, one of the most influential
writers and trainers, says:
‘Leadership is learned by experience; it’s a practical art. You cannot

avoid mistakes. Let your colleagues and subordinates teach you.’
‘Not Bosses, But Leaders’
by John Adair with Peter Reed

published by Kogan Page, London,
Further
third edition 2003, p183.
Reading
ISBN: 0-7494-3899-1
How does learning take place?
The most well-known theory about how adults’ learn is Alan Mumford and
Peter Honey’s ‘Learning Styles Theory’, which says that:
• Some people like to dive in and experiment for themselves

• Some people like to collect information and observe before acting
• Some people want to get to the bottom of the theories behind something
before they have a go
• Some people want to put each step into practice as they go along.
However, Honey and Mumford stress that in order to learn something, an

individual has to go through all four of these steps, in some order or other.
Learning happens only with practice and reflection.
Quoted in ‘Training your Staff’ by Jacquie Bambrough

published by The Industrial Society, London, 1993
ISBN: 0-85290-882-2
Another theory suggests that there are four levels of learning:
• Unconscious incompetence: This is a stage of blissful ignorance, when we

neither know something, nor know that we don’t know. For example, as
young children, we could neither drive, nor knew that there was such a
thing as driving.
• Conscious incompetence: As we start to learn, we are concentrating hard,

yet we can’t seem to get it right. For example, in a driving lesson, we keep
on stalling, despite carefully focusing on how we are releasing the clutch.
• Conscious competence: Finally, we think we have got the hang of something,

but we get it right only when we focus on getting it right. In a driving
lesson, we remember the ropes only when we repeatedly mutter, ‘Mirror,
Signal, Manoeuvre’ to ourselves.
• Unconscious competence: Eventually, our learning has bedded down so well

in our brains that we can do something without thinking about it. In a car,
for example, we can drive and sing along to the radio at the same time.
Quoted in ‘Compassion’ by Fabian Dattner, in

‘The Seven Heavenly Virtues of Leadership’, edited by
Carolyn Barker and Robyn Coy, published by McGraw Hill
Australia, New South Wales, 2003. ISBN: 007471258-6
Section Eight How does Learning take How to stop people
place? Previous page learning: 3 pages on
How do you learn?
There are a whole variety of ways in which you can learn, some formal and
some more informal:
• By participating in broad-based academic courses
• By going on directly relevant specialist training courses
• By taking up courses that provide transferable lessons, for example

outward-bound type exercises
• By attending short seminars, workshops and briefings
• By undertaking self-directed reading and study
• By working with a mentor or coach
• By offering to be a coach or mentor for someone else
• By exchanging experiences with your peers or fellow specialists
• By observing and drawing lessons from people you admire
• By setting out to enrich your job with more demanding tasks
• By teaching someone else to do your job, or writing a manual on how to

do it
• By consciously recording your experiences and reflecting on what you

have learned from them and what you should do differently next time.
What are you doing to ensure you keep on learning?

Activity
How many of the above activities have you undertaken over
the last 12 months? Even if money is tight, you could do up
to 8 of the things listed above at no financial cost. The
investment at least of time will keep on enhancing your
skills.
Are you in the mood for learning?
Are you giving yourself the chance to learn from your experiences? Both
the everyday occurrences, and the more occasional major events?
Learning Logs
Some trainers suggest that you keep a notebook in which you can record
your own personal learning points at the end of a project or whenever
something significant happens to you, particularly the times when you
think you got things wrong. This is one way to ensure that you reflect on
your experiences at work and prompt yourself to do things better next
time.
Activities
Making the time for learning
Do you fall into the common trap of letting everyday duties crowd out all
opportunities to learn and develop?
Do you have a stack of unread professional journals on your desk?
Do you keep meaning to attend those professional seminars without ever
quite getting there?
Have you been meaning to update your qualifications for years?
Only you can make the time to think, learn, reflect, practice and
incorporate new skills into your working life.
Have you thought about your legacy?
One way of focusing attention on the most important skills and

behaviours is to think:
‘What will my legacy to this organisation be?
What will people remember me for?
What would I like written on my epitaph?’
By asking these questions, you can bring longer-term considerations into
focus.
How positive are you towards yourself and others?
Earlier in this Toolkit, it was suggested that people deduce what are the
important things by noticing what their leaders focus on and reward.
Are you in the habit of praising and encouraging achievement and
success?
Do you give other people – and very importantly, yourself – positive
reinforcement?
Encourage everyone, including yourself, to learn by being appreciative of
success and thus increase morale.
Guru not necessary
Fons Trompenaars, international business culture expert, relates

how Boris Becker’s triumph at Wimbledon in the mid 1980s led to a
surge in the number of young Germans who wanted to learn how to
play tennis, to the extent that there were not enough tennis
coaches to go round.
Skiing coaches were quickly trained up and sent into tennis clubs to
conduct lessons. After a while, it transpired that the skiing
coaches’ pupils were outstripping those taught by the far more
Good
experienced tennis coaches.
Concepts
Trompenaars’ conclusion was that the pupils learned faster when
they had to think for themselves much harder about how to
succeed.
Trompenaars also reports the famous study by Meredith Belbin, in

which a less talented team of colleagues, given a series of
challenges to deal with, outperformed a team that was perceived to
be of higher calibre.
His point was that levels of co-operation within a team have more
influence on outcomes than do levels of intelligence among team
members.
Both stories illustrate that learning can happen anywhere when

the learners are motivated to perform better. You don’t necessarily
need to get experts in to tell you how to improve if you have the
will and application to succeed.
‘Did the Pedestrian Die?’ by Fons Trompenaars

published by Capstone Publishing, Oxford, 2003
p112 & 185. ISBN: 1-84112-436-2
In ‘Everyone’s A Coach’, Ken Blanchard and Don Shula say there

are five steps to ensure that people learn from what they do:
1. Tell people what you want them to do Good Ideas

2. Show them what good performance looks like
3. Let them do it
4. Observe their performance
5. Praise their progress or redirect their efforts.
From ‘Writers on Leadership’

by John van Maurik
published by Penguin Books, London, 2001, p26
ISBN: 0-14-029305-1
How to stop people learning
There are probably quite a few ways in which one can stop people from
learning, but for our purposes, the obvious ones are:
• Not giving people any feedback on their performance

• Never leaving enough time to reflect on lessons learned
• Making people too scared to experiment or use their own initiative.
When people are over-stressed, one of the first things to go is the ability
to stand back and think calmly about the situation. Obviously, this curtails
people’s propensity to learn and improve performance.
Margaret Thorsborne, an Australian expert on restorative justice,

discusses the concept of a ‘toxic workplace’ in which the following types
of behaviour can be observed:
• Criticism and abuse

• Bullying and harassment
• Lack of explanation and engagement
• Little or no clarity of expectation
• Poor management processes
• Poor management of performance reviews
• People being let down
• Gossip and backstabbing.
Thorsborne says that these behaviours lead to fear, distress and shame
among the workforce, which are generally defended against in one of four
ways:
• People attack and blame others, or put them down

• People withdraw emotionally and go into their shells
• People put up a façade, and pretend there’s nothing wrong
• People blame themselves and become despairing and depressed.
The only kind of learning people can do in this kind of environment is

about how to escape notice or censure.
Further Reading
‘Integrity’ by Margaret Thorsborne
in ‘The Seven Heavenly Virtues of Leadership’,
edited by Carolyn Barker and Robyn Coy
published by McGraw Hill
Australia, New South Wales, 2003.
ISBN: 007471258-6
Section Eight How to stop people The importance of caring for
learning: previous page ‘followers’: next page but one
How to overcome workplace stress

Dattner’s survey of thousands of Australian employees ranked the factors
thought to undermine an organisation’s effectiveness:
• 76% of respondents said a lack of – or poor – leadership

• 66% said a lack of visionary objectives
• 45% said a lack of aligned purpose and values
• 41% said a mismatch between leaders’ behaviours and the stated values of
the organisation.
Dattner, an Australian social entrepreneur, went on to comment:
‘Change is fermenting in every corner of the modern world…This demands a

new and flexible kind of leadership; alert to people’s needs [and]
compassionately responsible for others.’
Beverly Alimo-Metcalfe and John Alban-Metcalfe, in their recent study of

British statutory agencies, say that three kinds of activity by leaders can
provide a powerful antidote to stress:
• Setting clear priorities and objectives for both organisation and individual
• Giving people greater levels of autonomy and control over how they do
their jobs
• Affirming people promptly and unaffectedly – saying thank you, giving
feedback, acknowledging effort and handling problems.
There are powerful clues in both studies about what leaders can do to
enhance the positive working experiences of employees.
‘Compassion’ by Fabian Dattner Further ‘Leadership in Public Sector

in ‘The Seven Heavenly Reading Organisations’ by B
Virtues of Leadership’ Alimo-Metcalfe and J Alban-
Metcalfe
edited by Carolyn Barker and
Robyn Coy in ‘Leadership in Organisations:
published by McGraw Hill Current Issues and Key
Australia, New South Wales, Trends’, edited by John Storey,
2003 published by Routledge, London,
2004, pp173-202
ISBN: 007471258-6
ISBN: 0-415-31033-4
‘The beatings will continue until morale improves’
The bosses of a not-for-profit environmental consultancy in

The Home Counties were almost in despair that none of their
projects came in on time and to budget. They progressively
clamped down on their employees, getting people to fill in
detailed timesheets and making each individual into a ‘cost-
centre’ with his/her own budgets and billing codes. Even so, Case Study:
employees were still missing their targets. A time to learn
Eventually, in exasperation, several people were sent on
project management training courses. This did not have the
desired effect either. Instead, the employees had access to
the accumulated experience of other project managers, which
said that deviations of anything up to 50% on experimental
projects should be expected, and even on familiar types of
project, there could be a 15% variance. Had the bosses of the
agency invested in training earlier or even asked their staff to
extrapolate from their experiences, they could have
discovered and learned from these norms far sooner.
The importance of feedback
US consultant, Ken Blanchard, says that if there are no consequences,

people can’t learn and their performance won’t improve. He suggests that
there can be three kinds of consequences, each with different
implications, but he counsels managers to be positive and consistent in
Good Ideas
their approach because predictability is also important for motivation.
Negative consequences: people will try to avoid repeating their faults if

the result is a reprimand or a demotion.
Positive consequences: praise for good performance is motivational and

will lead people to try to replicate that behaviour.
Redirection: if a person is quickly stopped and refocused on the right

way to do something, the learning will be powerful.
‘Putting the One-Minute Manager to Work’ by Ken Blanchard

quoted in ‘Writers on Leadership’ by John van Maurik
published by Penguin Books, London, 2001
ISBN: 0-14-029305-1
Looking for ‘positive intentions’ to generate change
‘All behaviour has a positive intention. It always serves a purpose. People

always act in the belief that their behaviour will achieve something for
Key Concept them.’
‘Try to separate in your mind unhelpful or unproductive behaviour from
what motivates it.’
‘If you act as if there is a positive intention, and seek to understand
what [someone] wants to achieve, you will be better able to influence
them.’
‘Alpha Leadership’
by Anne Deering, Robert Dilts and Julian Russell
published by John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, 2002
pp109 – 110. ISBN: 0-470-84483-3
The importance of caring for your ‘followers’
An interesting perspective on leadership comes from a few authors who

have suggested that we can understand the concept better by
understanding ‘followership’. After all, people cannot be leaders unless
they have followers. Does your VCO care about its people?:
• Do you know what do the people in your organisation want from their
leaders?
• What can the leaders of your VCO do to improve both the performance
and the working lives of staff and volunteers?
• What can you learn now from the people in your organisation? What
could you gain from learning alongside them?
One of the most recent theories is about ‘SuperLeaders’ who
‘strive to develop followers who are effective self-leaders ........ by

helping, encouraging and supporting followers in the development of
personal responsibility, individual initiative, self-confidence, self-goal-
setting, self-problem solving, opportunity thinking, self-leadership and
psychological ownership of their work tasks and duties.’
‘The New SuperLeadership’

by CC Manz and HP Sims
published by Berrett-Koehler
San Francisco, 2001, pp23-24.
Section Eight – Summary
• Old-fashioned attitudes say that Leaders should be know-it-alls, but

Leaders need to be learners, people who appreciate that they will learn
through trial and error, and by being humble enough to listen to advice
from others.
• There are all kinds of ways to learn about your subject, many of which
are cheap or free, but the really important thing is to give yourself the
time to observe yourself - or others - in action, reflect on the
meaning of what you see, draw lessons from your thinking and apply
your learning in order to ensure the new skills are practised and
perfected.
• You don’t necessarily need experts to tell you what to do; you can learn
from your own experiences. Just be sure to go through the ‘learning
cycle’ – or get others to – to ensure the learning ‘sticks’, remembering
that feedback is critical for successful learning.
• In stressful or ‘toxic’ workplaces, people will be too scared or

demotivated to learn. Defensiveness or backbiting can be signs that
people are ruled by fear or stress. People will perform better in an
environment governed by clear values and vision, clear purpose and
objectives, higher levels of autonomy and generous affirmation.
• An important part of leaders’ learning is to understand and appreciate

what ‘followers’ want and need, and to be able to see things from the
point of view of the people who work for the organisation. Some
modern theories about good leadership suggest leaders should learn
from and alongside their staff, and that they should set out to foster
‘self-leadership’ throughout their teams.
• It can be helpful to think in terms of the legacy you will leave your
organisation, but you must also think in the shorter term about how to
invest in your learning – in particular, how you will give yourself - and
others - the time and space to learn.
Glossary and Jargon Buster
We have tried to write these Toolkits in plain English, but inevitably in any specialist
field, technical language can creep in, and might need further explanation.......
Access The methods by which people with a range of needs (eg people
with disabilities, children, a first language other than English)
find out about and use services and information
Accountability Providing effective ways of explaining how power is or has
been used
Acronym Using the initials of something instead of its full title: VFM
instead of Value for Money, LA instead of Local Authority
Active Community Part of the Home Office; exists to promote the development
Unit of the Voluntary/Community Sector
ACU Active Community Unit
AGM Annual General Meeting, open to all members and allowing
them to hear about the VCO, to ask questions and to vote
Appraisal A periodic review of the performance of a person
Audit A systematic review or assessment of a system
Awayday Where a team undertake some form of development day away
from their normal workplace
Beneficiaries The people who are helped by an organisation or programme.
BME Black and minority ethnic
Board The committee ultimately responsible for the VCO
Capacity Building Anything that helps an organisation to perform better,
generally training and support to strengthen the organisation
Champion Someone who takes on particular responsibility: thus
‘Community champion’, ‘Board Equalities champion’
Charity Organisation set up for exclusively charitable purposes which
carries out activities to achieve these purposes
Chief Executive The most senior paid staff member in an organisation; might
Officer be titled director, manager etc.
CEO Chief Executive Officer
Community Groups Part of the Voluntary/Community Sector; although similar to
voluntary organisations, they may not have paid staff nor
written rules
Compact A framework agreement between statutory organisations and
the Voluntary/Community Sector in their area
Constitution See ‘ Governing document’
Cross-sector A project, group or initiative that contains organisations from
at least 2 of the Public, Private and Voluntary Sectors
Demographics The study or record of a particular population in terms of
gender, age, ethnicity etc
Discrimination Treating people less favourably than others solely because of
their race, ethnicity, disability, gender, age, faith etc.
Diversity The concept that organisations and systems benefit from the
richness that comes from the differences amongst people.
Society benefits from the diversity of the
Voluntary/Community Sector
Empowerment Within an organisation, giving volunteers or staff a licence to
act without frequent recourse to a higher authority. As
regards a beneficiary, enabling them to take more control
over their life or more influence in the organisation that is
helping them
Equalities Used as a short hand term to refer to all work addressing
issues of discrimination and disadvantage, particularly as it
relates to race equality, disability, gender, sexuality, faith and
age
Evaluation Assessing and putting a value on what’s been done already;
measuring impact
Frontline VCOs VCOs engaged in direct work with the public or their cause,
used to distinguish them from infrastructure VCOs which
work primarily with organisations
GOSE Government Office of the South East: sometimes called ‘The
voice of Whitehall in the Region and of the Region in
Whitehall.’
Governance A way of setting and keeping an organisation on the right
course
Governing Any document setting out a VCO’s purposes and, usually, how it
document is to be run. It may be e.g. a trust deed, constitution, or
memorandum and articles of association
Grassroots VCO An alternative term for frontline VCOs
Health Check A check list that fairly rapidly identifies where an
organisation needs to pay further attention to certain issues
Honorary In the Voluntary/Community Sector, just implies a volunteer
eg Honorary Secretary
Impact All changes brought about by a VCO (intended and unintended,
negative and positive, long and short-term)
Incorporation The status of being a Limited Company
Induction The introduction of a person new to a role to the people,
systems and circumstances they will need to be familiar with
to carry out that role effectively
Induction loop A coil of wire, temporarily or permanently installed in a room,
which allows those using hearing aids to hear without the
distraction of background noise
Informal Has been used to describe the state of affairs where a
Representation representative is asked to represent a person, group or
sector, but the representee has had no real hand in the
selection of this representative
Infrastructure Usually used just to mean VCOs which exist to support other
VCOs – e.g. Councils for Voluntary Service
Leadership The ability to motivate and guide the people connected to a
voluntary/community organisation to meet its goals
Local Strategic An alliance of local statutory organisations, VCOs and business
Partnership interests formed to give a strategic direction to improvement
for the local community
LSP Local Strategic Partnership
Mandate The authority given by a representee permitting a
representative to take certain actions on their behalf
Marginalisation The process by which certain groups of people are, through a
process of social exclusion, pushed to a position on the
margins of society
Members Used by VCOs to mean their clients/users, and by
infrastructure bodies to mean their member organisations.
But, often used in statutory organisations to mean the elected
members of the Council
Membership VCOs who are composed of individual members, who normally
organisations elect the Board
Mentor A supporter and coach helping someone carry out their role
Micromanagement Where a person in a senior position over-controls and over-
scrutinises the work of another
Mission The aims and reasons for which a VCO was set up; often
summarised in a brief mission statement
Monitoring Collecting information to determine progress of e.g. a project
NCVO The National Council for Voluntary Organisations
Palantypist A speed typist who types an almost simultaneous transcript of
what is being said at events and meetings, the text being
displayed on a public screen
Private Sector See ‘Sector’. Profit-making is core to organisations in this
Sector, profit being distributed to owners, or shareholders
Probity Acting in a way which cannot lead to any possibility of an
accusation of a conflict of interest
Public Sector See ‘Sector’. Organisations in the Public Sector, such as
GOSE, have to exist by law, and their rules and
responsibilities are determined by law (or statute). Also
‘statutory organisations’
Quorate Used to describe a meeting attended by at least the minimum
number of people required to make a decision (see ‘Quorum’)
Quorum The minimum number of people needed to make valid decisions
at a meeting; can be a fixed number or a percentage of those
entitled to attend and vote
Region, as in The South East of England, comprising:
"South East • Kent (including Medway)
Region" • Surrey and East and West Sussex (including Brighton and
Hove)
• Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (including Southampton
and Portsmouth)
• Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire (including
Milton Keynes, West Berkshire, Reading, Wokingham,
Windsor and Maidenhead, Bracknell Forest and Slough)
Representation The process where one person or group of people is acting,
speaking or being present on behalf of another person or
group
Representee The person or group of people who are represented
by a representative
Sector Any organisation can be defined as belonging to one of three
sectors: ‘Public’, ‘Private’ or ‘Voluntary/Community’. ‘The
Sector’ often means ‘voluntary/community organisations’.
Shadowing Sitting in with a person going about their daily work, to
understand the role
Social A high priority concern of the European Union and the British
inclusion/exclusion Government : relates to the fact that people can be prevented
from accessing normal community life because of disability,
prejudice, unemployment. Etc
Specs Short for specification, as in the characteristics need by a
person in a particular role
Stakeholders Anyone that has an interest or involvement in an organisation.
The Stakeholders of a VCO could be its staff, Board,
volunteers, service users, relatives of service users, funders
Statutory Organisations which the law declares must exist – local
organisations authorities, police authorities, and others
Statutory sector All the statutory organisations considered as a whole
Succession Where a person is about to take over the role another has
performed. Succession Planning means helping the incoming
person link with the outgoing one, so they can learn the ropes
Toolkit An accessible set of implements, instructions and ideas for
busy voluntary/community sector workers to dip into
Transparent A system that is open, honest, has clear procedures and does
not make decisions in secret, is ‘transparent’
Trustees People responsible for controlling and governing a VCO.
Sometimes called committee members, governors, directors,
or by some other title
VCOs Voluntary and community organisations
Voluntary and The wide range of voluntary and community organisations,
community sector considered as a whole. All VCOs meet three criteria:
• They’re free to decide their rules, their purpose and
whether they exist at all
• They must be controlled by volunteers (so their directors /
trustees / management board are not paid)
• They must not exist to make a financial profit (so any
surplus they do make is incidental and re-invested in the
organisation)
Voluntary Part of the voluntary and community sector, voluntary

organisation organisations are similar to community organisations but do
have paid staff and written rules
This Toolkit has been produced by RAISE in partnership with
Caroline Clark, published in February 2006.
This series of LARGE toolkits have been edited by Justin Bateman.
RAISE is a registered charity number 1080583 and a

Company Limited by Guarantee, registered in England
number 3932854.

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Executive Summary

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or visit the website at www.raise-networks.org.uk

Collectively termed LARGE, the five keys are:

Existing RAISE Toolkits

• The Step by Step Guide to Successful Partnership Working

Section One: Understanding Leadership 11

Section Two: Leading People to a Destination 23

Section Three: Leading People 33

Section Four: Leading Change 41

Section Five: Leadership Roles in VCOs 53

Section Six: Making Time to Lead 57

Section Seven: Communication Skills for Leaders 67

Section Eight: Learning from Experience 77

Glossary and Jargon Buster 88

• Understand the concept of Leadership and why it is important.

• Explore the roles and responsibilities usually associated with Leaders.

• Undertake some exercises to enhance their understanding and that of their

The toolkit is divided into eight main sections:

Section One: Understanding Leadership Page 11

Section Two: Leading People to a Destination Page 23

Section Three: Leading People Page 33

Section Four: Leading Change Page 41

Section Five: Leadership Roles Page 53

Section Six: Making Time to Lead Page 57

Section Seven: Communication Skills for Leaders Page 67

Section Eight: Learning from Experience Page 77

Case Studies. Throughout the text, illustrative case

Further Reading. This symbol highlights where you

Key Concept. Where a particular concept is really

Activity. These are designed to be done either alone or with

Bright Idea. Quotations from key thinkers and good

Occasionally, stray thoughts or comments

What is What does a Leader Why do we need

What are the characteristics of

How do you learn to be a Leader? Leadership and

Undertaking Key Leadership Tasks

Mapping the environment Scenario

Being creative and innovative: p64-65

Creating a Vision Risk assessment and

Summing up your mission: p26 Preparing a strategy: p29-30

The duties of the Board and the Chief Executive: p54-55

Building an emotionally Understanding your audiences:

Creating a supportive culture: p39 Being representative

Reinforcing positive values and beliefs: p35

Symptoms that values and Workplace stress and how

Leading on Review, Change and Problem-Solving

Checking if your mission Following the Clock or

How to stop people

This Section looks at what Leadership means in the

In this toolkit we define leadership as:

‘The ability to motivate and guide the people connected

There are hundreds of books about leadership, and dictionaries provide

If we are to be purposeful, we need to know where we are going and how

So ‘good’ leadership has to be about:

• Knowing the goals and the mission of the organisation

• Being able to work out how to achieve those goals

• Having the ability to take everyone with you

• Having the skills to deal with the obstacles that emerge

• Being able to communicate and explain what is happening