Best Practice
Leaders – are
you future fit?
Sam North, founder of Inflection Point
Coaching & Consulting, explores the new
styles of leadership needed (most of the
time) in today’s challenging world
E
“Your talented
executives and
managers just
won’t stick around
at a business where
they aren’t on a
mission that they
believe in”
vents are a melting pot of excitement,
anticipation and tight deadlines, and its
leaders are required to instruct quickly and clearly
in high-pressure environments. Sometimes you
just have to decide – A or B. Yes or No.
Being onsite is the perfect example of this
situation – firefighting issues from left and right,
while dealing with that exhibitor who hates the
show before the doors even open means clarity
and decisiveness rules. Away from delivering
an event, though, there’s a compelling case for
developing another leadership style.
The markets our events serve are changing
faster than ever, and using a purely directive
leadership style puts the boss in the position of
needing to know all of the answers. Hard at the
best of times, next to impossible now. Adding to
this continual regeneration is an inexorable rise in
customer expectations – more nuanced packages,
clearer ROI, activities that fit their goals like a
glove. These things all add up to needing your
whole team engaged and ‘on point’ to collaborate
with your clients and deliver great service.
The final driver for change is generational –
your talented executives and managers just won’t
stick around at a business where they aren’t on
a mission that they believe in. Links between
staff engagement, customer service and the
resulting boost in performance as results grow are
becoming clearer and clearer to the trained eye.
As well as helping event industry leaders
effectively prepare for and transition to new roles,
a theme in my coaching practice is helping them
achieve a shift from a stressful, pressurised and
often low-performing ‘command and control’
mindset into a ‘coaching culture’, which allows
everyone involved to thrive and gives the leader
the succession they need to achieve future goals.
It requires a real and consistent change in
approach to take effect, and the key steps are:
• Delegate: Early and clearly, even when it feels
easier/faster to keep it to yourself
• Shift ownership: Asking questions – ‘so, remind
me what the goal is?’ and ‘what’s my role in
helping you achieve this?’ should help
• Check in, don’t jump in: There may be missteps
but keep at it – questions like ‘what have you
tried already’, ‘what needs to happen next?’ or
‘what do you need from me?’ will keep you on
track and you’ll be amazed what you learn too
• Commit: Keep at it. It’s not an overnight fix
(sorry) but the more you work at it the more you
will get back – again, if they’re up to it
I won’t lie to you; you will have to invest time
and effort to get the ball rolling, which may seem
daunting at first and hard to stick to before the
results come - but it’s always far more enjoyable
and effective than my clients initially imagine.
And the facts don’t lie. According to a 2018
study by PwC, shifting to a coaching culture leads
to these big wins:
• 16 per cent profitability uplift
• 44 per cent boost in staff productivity
• 31 per cent greater ability to execute large scale
strategic change
• 77 per cent higher employee engagement scores
• 64 per cent more employees ready for promotion
to senior leadership
• 70 per cent rise in retention of high performers
• 51 per cent higher employee of choice
So, by all means – direct, instruct and command
when the moment calls for it, but driving this shift
outside of those times will keep you future fit. Are
you up for the challenge?
August — 35