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"Are You Leading Your Organisation Or Building Your Organisation?"

    - by Simon Hazeldine MSc BA (Hons) FInstSMM
 

(c) Simon Hazeldine. All Rights Reserved.

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ARE YOU LEADING YOUR ORGANISATION OR ARE YOU BUILDING YOUR ORGANISATION?

Jim Collins led a team of researchers who identified a group
of eleven elite companies that made the leap from good to
great and sustained that greatness for fifteen years.

The companies had to have experienced a fifteen year period
of stock returns that were at or below the general stock
market performance and then at a certain point have
delivered returns of at least three times the stock market
over a further fifteen years.

In a nutshell the company had to transform itself from
being good company that was delivering a satisfactory level
of performance to a great company delivering an exceptional
performance

Collins and his team set out to identify the characteristics
 and practices of these good to great companies.

One of the results from the research was the discoveries
Collins and his team made about the type of leadership that
was required to transform a good company to a great one.

In his book “Good to Great” Collins describes five levels
of leadership:

Level 1 Highly capable individual

Makes productive contributions through talent, knowledge,
skills and good work habits.

Level 2 Contributing team member

Contributes individual capabilities to the achievement of
group objectives and works effectively with others in a
group setting.

Level 3 Competent Manager

Organises people and resources toward the effective and
efficient pursuit of predetermined objectives.

Level 4 Effective Leader

Catalyses commitment to and vigorous pursuit of a clear and
compelling vision, stimulating higher performance standards.

Level 5 Executive

Builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of
personal humility and professional will.

The term Level 5 refers to the highest level of executive
leadership that Jim Collins and his team identified during
their research.

Collins describes them as “..a study in duality: modest and
wilful, humble and fearless.”

This fascinating research flies in the face of the concept
that successful companies have to be led by the high profile,
charismatic, celebrity leader with the big personality to
match!

If you want your organisation to achieve great success
organisation you need to ensure that as well as leading the
organisation you are simultaneously building the o
rganisation so that it will succeed into the future, long
after you have completed your time as it’s leader.

The pages of history are littered with organisations that
have failed following the departure of a particular leader.
Whilst the talented (and often larger-than-life) leader is
at the helm the organisation delivers a good (or even great)
performance.  As soon as the leader departs the organisation
performance declines. Sometimes following the departure of
such a leader the organisation collapses and falls apart
like a house of cards.

Are you setting up your organisation for on-going long term
success?  Do you, as Collins describes, “set up your
successors for even greater success”?

Don’t just lead your organisation – build your organisation.
Not for you and your success but for the organisations
on-going success. 

Leaving an organisation that can deliver continued success
without you is a great legacy for a leader to leave behind
them.

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Simon Hazeldine is a best selling author, professional
speaker and performance consultant. He is passionate
about helping individuals and organisations improve
their performance.

Simon has run leadership development programs in over
15 countries across 4 continents.

Simon is the bestselling author of Bare Knuckle Selling,
BareKnuckle Negotiating, Bare Knuckle Customer Service
and The Inner Winner

For more valuable information on improving your
sales, profits and performance (including sample chapters
from all of Simon's best selling books) at zero cost to you
visit: http://www.simonhazeldine.com today!


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