‘Leadership in all organizations, institutions or society as a whole exists on different levels,’ I began suggesting. ‘At the first level the leader is responsible for a small team of about 10 people – team leadership. The operational leader is responsible for a significant part of the whole, and has more than one team reporting either directly or indirectly to them. The strategic leader is in charge of the whole, be it a working organization or a political community. That familiar word strategy is in fact an amalgamation of two separate Greek words: stratos (large body of people) and egy (leader).’
‘That’s interesting, this idea of levels of leadership,’ said the young chief executive. ‘The corollary must be that it’s no good just having a great leader at the strategic level if your organization is useless at the team and operational levels.’
‘Exactly. Apart from having effective leaders in office at all levels, you also need excellent communication and good team-working between them. It sounds simple, but it’s a truth that evades many organizations today. As Clauswitz once said, ‘In war what matters is doing simple things, but it is very difficult to do them’.
‘And in peace too,’ added the young chief executive, with a sigh. ‘And, knowing you, you would argue that all leaders need training for these roles, wouldn’t you?’ he asked.
‘Of course, I take that to be a basic principle. We know how to train team leaders, but we still have a lot to learn about how to develop leadership at operational and, still more, at strategic leadership levels.’
‘And does the Three-Circle Model apply only to training team leaders?’ asked the young chief executive.
‘By no means. In Effective Strategic Leadership (2002) I proposed that all groups and organizations are unique – each has a distinctive group personality or culture of its own – but all share in common the generic structure of the three overlapping areas of need.’
‘That’s clear, or at least it is to me. I suppose one becomes a strategic leader after being a team and operational leader…’
‘That is what could be called the natural progression,’ I agreed. ‘And one doesn’t cease to be a team and operational leader when one becomes a strategic leader. For instance, you have to create teamwork in the top group, which will include the senior operational leaders, so that it spreads out and infuses the whole organization.
‘Moreover, strategic leadership includes overall accountability for the operation of the organization – delivering the right goods or services, whatever they may be, at the right time and at the right price. For, as the proverb says, An acre of performance is worth a world of promise. With the three meta-functions – Achieving the Task, Building the Team and Developing the Individual – in mind, then, there seem to me to be seven generic functions of strategic leadership:
Providing direction for the organization as a whole – knowing where the organization is going; having a vision of what it ought to be like in, say, three to five years’ time; understanding clearly its end – the larger purpose it serves.
Getting strategy and policy right – strategy is the route to the longer- term destinations; it is concerned with what is important in the context of that longer-term state towards which the organization should be aiming. Strategy here encompasses both strategic thinking and strategic planning. Policies are general decisions that help others lower down to save time in decision-making.
Making it happen – the operational or executive function of strategic leadership, which includes getting out of the office to inspect what is happening, monitoring progress and reviewing performance against agreed targets in the strategic plan.
Organizing and reorganizing as necessary – ensuring that the relation of the whole to the parts of the organization is optimum for the task in hand.
Releasing the corporate spirit – encouraging and enthusing people at every level and, where possible, releasing the latent spiritual energy in people. The symptom of success here is high morale at every level and in every branch.
Relating the organization to other organizations and to society as a whole – finding allies or partners among other organizations, sometimes by mergers and takeovers, and creating a spirit of cooperative teamwork with them; promoting excellent relations between the organization and the local, regional, national and/or international communities.
Choosing today’s and developing tomorrow’s leaders – choosing the best operational and team leaders is a critically important function. The strategic leader should also ‘own’ the strategic plan (evolved with the head of human resources and the top leadership team) for improving leadership capability throughout the organization. Have a passion for developing leaders!’