Each organisation today strives and aspires to succeed in its operational realm, but the number of organisations achieving this greatness is few and far between. What sets organisations apart is the unprecedented and dynamic role played by astute and farsighted leadership and management. People at its helm are the rudder that steers and directs the organisation in challenging times, with the onus of fostering a genial and collaborative workplace culture.
The leadership and management give a sense of purpose to individuals, thereby increasing their productivity in attaining the organisation’s goals in complete harmony with its mission and vision. These reasons have necessitated the organisations to forge an ecosystem, acting as an incubator (Fortune, 2022), to foster management and leadership expertise and skill set.
Leadership and Management
Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.
– Stephen Covey, Author of “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”
Whilst leadership encourages a set of behaviours and conduct aligned to the organisation, focusing on relevant skills and mindset to execute decisions ensuring organisational revitalisation, management deals with handling and directing people, who move in harmony, to realise the goals established by it according to the identified methods.
Role of the Employees
As much as organisations would like us to believe otherwise, the adage- a chain is only as strong as its weakest link holds merit. Each year organisations like Gallup remind us that 70 per cent of employees are actively disengaged (Forbes, 2018).
On the other extreme are GE (Forbes, 2012) and many more organisations that foster their employees to step up and lead. According to the Best Companies for Leadership Survey (Forbes, 2012), not only does GE nurture leaders, it endorses innovation, making it number one. The following points could assist employees in becoming better at leadership and management.
- Participate in mentorship programmes.
- Volunteer for external training programmes.
- Explore networking opportunities.
- Participate in stretch projects.
- Seek regular feedback.
Role of the Management
Poor decision-making skills, coupled with a lack of interpersonal skills among senior leadership, can harm a business causing high turnover rates and poor performance in the organisation. Global studies show that 79% of employees cited a lack of appreciation as a reason for quitting (Forbes, 2018). Research by CareerBuilder.com cited fifty-eight per cent of managers not receiving any management training (Forbes, 2018). It brings back the oft-repeated lines that people do not leave organisations but bosses as they have leaders who do not know how to lead (Forbes, 2018) sharply into focus.
An organisation is as strong as its leadership. Some of the strategies recommended below could assist organisations in strengthening their senior leadership’s management skills.
- Encourage the art of meaningful delegation.
- Inspire leaders to focus on out-of-the-box thinking.
- Reviews conducted by management.
- Boost two-way communication with employees.
- Focus on building leadership and management skills.
- 360-degree appraisal of senior leadership (Forbes, 2021).
Advantages of Integrating ESG
Leadership and management that eschews a robust ESG framework could fall prey to reduced employee productivity, with the most glaring examples being strikes, worker slowdowns and other labour actions. A resilient ESG framework can assist the leadership and management in generating the interest of and retaining quality employees, enhancing employee enthusiasm by instilling a sense of purpose and increasing productivity overall. As per a study by Alex Edmans, employee satisfaction is positively associated with shareholder returns, and companies posted 2.3 per cent to 3.8 per cent higher stock returns per year than their competitors over a greater than 25-year time purview (McKinsey, 2019).
It is abundantly clear that an organisation which is over-managed and under-led will not be able to attain the benchmarks set. Astute leadership accompanied by able management gives an organisation a new direction by using resources efficiently to accomplish its goals. Both leadership and management are essential for individual and organisational success.
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