In any organisation change is inevitable. Sometimes these changes will be universally welcome. More often than not however, they will present some very thorny challenges to both management and staff alike.
Perhaps the greatest upheaval comes when a much trusted and respected leader is succeeded by a new incumbent. Regardless of whether the successor is a complete unknown or reasonably familiar to many within the organisation, there will sometimes be a wary and defensive attitude expressed, either overtly or covertly.
For these reasons of course a management team will never appoint a new leader lightly; indeed, there may be some very important logistical reasons for deliberately seeking out a leader with a different personality and a different management style.
In order for the change to succeed however, any new leader must be able to immediately command respect and win over the doubters, regardless of his or her personal style and approach. This is doubly so if the organisation and its leader enjoy a high public profile.
At such critical junctures it can perhaps be said that an organisation needs to distinguish between the pedestrianism of a good manager and the dynamism of a great leader.
Of course, some leaders will always possess more natural charisma than others. Many companies faced with major changes however, say they have found that their managers have benefitted significantly from quality leadership skills courses.
Leadership and management training have been found to cover many areas such as emotional intelligence and assertiveness; along with many other skills which it is argued, are all key ingredients in the development of true leaders.
In particular favour are customised managed training services drawn up to meet an organisation’s specific needs; all perhaps pointing to the tantalising prospect that it might really be possible to create great leaders rather than waiting years for one to be born.