Do you have a personal leadership strategy?

Often we can focus on organisational strategies and lose our own purpose and intent along the way.

In this episode Carrie-Ann and Lee explore what it means to have a personal leadership strategy, why you need one and how you go about getting one. We discuss how:

• your personal strategy differs from an organisational one
• we've approached and developed our own strategies during our careers
• your strategy can help you in your career development and job search
• it can help you to build diverse teams
• to align your strategy with the bigger picture
• to get clarity about the type of leader you are and how you position yourself
• to develop your personal leadership strategy
• measurement and evaluation is an important part of your strategy
• your leadership strategy sits alongside self-leadership and communication as the core cogs to be impactful
• to create time to be intentional in your leadership approach

We also shared our one How To to help you get clarity in your leadership strategy.

Let us know what recommendations you want from us in 2024. Comment on YouTube, instagram or via our Substack community.

Resources and helpful links

• NHS Orkney Chief Executive 100-day report
• Leaders with impact podcast (Lee's new podcast)

About How to Take the Lead

How to Take the Lead is a show exploring all things leadership.

Every episode we explore a different part of life as a leader, questioning everything we've ever learnt and sharing a few of our own stories along the way.

If you want to learn how to do leadership your own way, join hosts Lee Griffith and Carrie-Ann Wade as they debunk myths, tackle stereotypes and generally put the leadership world to rights.

Get involved

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Lee Griffith: 00:00:02

So we're back for another episode of how to take

Lee Griffith: 00:00:05

the lead. Good afternoon Carrie-Ann How are you feeling

Lee Griffith: 00:00:08

this fine week?

Lee Griffith: 00:00:09

Carrie-Ann Wade: I am good thank you very much Lee

Lee Griffith: 00:00:11

I'm feeling all right.

Lee Griffith: 00:00:13

Carrie-Ann Wade: I feel like time is whizzing by faster than

Lee Griffith: 00:00:16

the speed of light. But otherwise I'm feeling good. How

Lee Griffith: 00:00:20

are you feeling?

Lee Griffith: 00:00:21

I thought you when you first started talking I

Lee Griffith: 00:00:23

thought you're gonna say I feel like chicken tonight. I don't

Lee Griffith: 00:00:25

know why that was very nice reference there. Yeah,

Lee Griffith: 00:00:29

Carrie-Ann Wade: and we're always shown our age on this

Lee Griffith: 00:00:31

bloomin podcast with our niche weird references to stuff on TV

Lee Griffith: 00:00:35

and magazines and things board games. I don't actually I'm

Lee Griffith: 00:00:41

having chicken tonight if you're interested. But not the chicken

Lee Griffith: 00:00:46

tonight

Lee Griffith: 00:00:47

tonight if that makes sense. Do they still even

Lee Griffith: 00:00:49

do those? That's a thing.

Lee Griffith: 00:00:50

Carrie-Ann Wade: No idea. I've got it lined up with things like

Lee Griffith: 00:00:53

Fray Bentos pies Do they still I feel yeah sort of easy. Some

Lee Griffith: 00:00:59

INEC jar just use it and go yeah chicken by

Lee Griffith: 00:01:03

someone reference smash the other day and I

Lee Griffith: 00:01:05

definitely thought that that was an eight is like left in the 80s

Lee Griffith: 00:01:09

but someone was definitely this

Lee Griffith: 00:01:11

Carrie-Ann Wade: powdered mashed potato vibes. Did not know that

Lee Griffith: 00:01:15

was a thing. Everything. Everything from our youth is

Lee Griffith: 00:01:18

having a comeback. It would seem it cares what I'm having for

Lee Griffith: 00:01:24

dinner. How's your week been? Lee?

Lee Griffith: 00:01:26

My week has been good. It's been a good week

Lee Griffith: 00:01:29

we're it's kind of hump day today isn't recording this. So

Lee Griffith: 00:01:32

we're at mid midpoint of the week where it's either gonna go

Lee Griffith: 00:01:37

up or down. Who knows?

Lee Griffith: 00:01:40

Carrie-Ann Wade: I love on a cliff edge. We've not got a

Lee Griffith: 00:01:43

sense which way it's gonna go. So you've left us hanging there,

Lee Griffith: 00:01:46

Lee. So next episode I'm gonna be checking in didn't go up or

Lee Griffith: 00:01:50

did it go down. So

Lee Griffith: 00:01:52

if you are new to the podcast, or you're watching

Lee Griffith: 00:01:57

us for the first time on YouTube Hello, please do hit subscribe,

Lee Griffith: 00:02:01

follow whatever the button says on your device so that you keep

Lee Griffith: 00:02:05

getting this fantastic leadership chat that we are

Lee Griffith: 00:02:08

demonstrating so clearly as we open this episode. Join us upset

Lee Griffith: 00:02:14

community if you haven't already. That's where we kind of

Lee Griffith: 00:02:18

old school blogging style just having a bit of a nonverbal chit

Lee Griffith: 00:02:23

chat about leadership stuff. So if that's if that's your thing,

Lee Griffith: 00:02:26

come and join us there are reading lists still available?

Lee Griffith: 00:02:30

We love a leadership recommendation leadership book

Lee Griffith: 00:02:33

recommendation, I

Lee Griffith: 00:02:33

Carrie-Ann Wade: should say that's available if you sign up

Lee Griffith: 00:02:35

to the community. Absolutely. There might be some new lists

Lee Griffith: 00:02:39

come in for a new year potentially. Just Just things up

Lee Griffith: 00:02:43

a little bit. Keep things exciting.

Lee Griffith: 00:02:46

Yeah. Tell us tell us if we would do a leadership

Lee Griffith: 00:02:48

list what would you want us to list? That's that could be a

Lee Griffith: 00:02:52

good challenge. Yeah. So

Lee Griffith: 00:02:53

Carrie-Ann Wade: I had in my head TV programs that are

Lee Griffith: 00:02:56

weirdly about leadership without being that leadership but you

Lee Griffith: 00:02:59

know, I know what that was just in my head but we want to

Lee Griffith: 00:03:03

respond to listeners need to her style of listening and, and

Lee Griffith: 00:03:07

engaging and understanding what our stakeholders want. Let's

Lee Griffith: 00:03:10

let's throw it open to the listeners.

Lee Griffith: 00:03:12

I mean, I could do a whole list of of TV

Lee Griffith: 00:03:15

recommendations just based around Murder She Wrote that

Lee Griffith: 00:03:19

might be too niche for this audience. But if there is, if my

Lee Griffith: 00:03:22

fellow keener out there and want that, let me know. I mean,

Lee Griffith: 00:03:25

Carrie-Ann Wade: if there are fellow kin out there for you,

Lee Griffith: 00:03:27

I've got the sense there might be a third podcast on the

Lee Griffith: 00:03:29

horizon. Oh, just very niche Lee about that. I'm gonna have this

Lee Griffith: 00:03:35

in my I'm going to be distracted all episode now while I try and

Lee Griffith: 00:03:38

think about what that podcast needs to be called.

Lee Griffith: 00:03:41

Jessica does leadership. Now that sounds like

Lee Griffith: 00:03:44

a poor? No, no. Let's move on. Move on today's episode, right.

Lee Griffith: 00:03:51

So we've kind of I think, touched on this already in the

Lee Griffith: 00:03:55

two episodes that have already been happened, but it happened

Lee Griffith: 00:03:59

great English there. The two episodes that we've already

Lee Griffith: 00:04:04

broadcast and published in this series have touched on this

Lee Griffith: 00:04:08

topic, but I want to delve a little deeper into leadership

Lee Griffith: 00:04:11

strategy. And I don't mean your organizational strategy, though.

Lee Griffith: 00:04:16

Obviously, you do need one of those two. And that's a whole

Lee Griffith: 00:04:19

other topic. I'm talking about your personal strategy as a

Lee Griffith: 00:04:23

leader. So this is one of the three core books I'm gonna go

Lee Griffith: 00:04:27

for call this cogs, this series with a buckets before now. Yeah,

Lee Griffith: 00:04:32

cooks love it. This is this is one of three cogs that I think

Lee Griffith: 00:04:36

is essential for leaders to consider if they're going to

Lee Griffith: 00:04:40

make the right impact in their role. So for me, having that

Lee Griffith: 00:04:44

clarity in your leadership strategy is like the most

Lee Griffith: 00:04:49

important thing because it's how you determine how you operate in

Lee Griffith: 00:04:54

your post, how you operate in your organization. It's how you

Lee Griffith: 00:04:59

define what your approach is going to be what your style is,

Lee Griffith: 00:05:02

what your values are, is basically your vision for what

Lee Griffith: 00:05:06

you want to achieve and how you're going to achieve it as a

Lee Griffith: 00:05:08

leader. And as I say, we've kind of touched on this already in a

Lee Griffith: 00:05:12

couple of the past episodes. But I really wanted to focus in on

Lee Griffith: 00:05:16

this because I think we can get too caught up in organizational

Lee Griffith: 00:05:20

strategy and all of that kind of stuff, and that you lose the

Lee Griffith: 00:05:23

essence of view and what you want to achieve as a leader. So

Lee Griffith: 00:05:27

carry on, what's your views? Does, does having a personal

Lee Griffith: 00:05:31

leadership strategy vary from from an organizational

Lee Griffith: 00:05:34

leadership? One? And you know, is it something that you've

Lee Griffith: 00:05:37

seen?

Lee Griffith: 00:05:39

Carrie-Ann Wade: It's definitely different. So having a

Lee Griffith: 00:05:41

leadership strategy is definitely different from having

Lee Griffith: 00:05:43

an organizational strategy. And where the organizational

Lee Griffith: 00:05:47

strategy is there to set the direction of travel for the

Lee Griffith: 00:05:51

organization, the goals, the targets, kind of where the

Lee Griffith: 00:05:54

organization is heading. For me, if you are a leader in that

Lee Griffith: 00:05:59

organization, having your own personal leadership strategy is

Lee Griffith: 00:06:03

really important. Because I feel like that's very much part of

Lee Griffith: 00:06:06

the how you get there, like, how is that going to be delivered?

Lee Griffith: 00:06:11

It's almost for me, like the human part of that. And

Lee Griffith: 00:06:15

actually, you could move to a different organization that's

Lee Griffith: 00:06:19

got a different organizational strategy. But actually, your

Lee Griffith: 00:06:22

personal leadership strategy might not change that much,

Lee Griffith: 00:06:26

because it's really about who you are, and your approach as a

Lee Griffith: 00:06:28

leader, and being really clear about that, and how you're going

Lee Griffith: 00:06:32

to implement that. So that was definitely my kind of first

Lee Griffith: 00:06:35

thoughts in that space.

Lee Griffith: 00:06:37

Yeah, one of the things that I often talk about

Lee Griffith: 00:06:39

with leaders and if anyone's listened to my my other podcast,

Lee Griffith: 00:06:44

you will have heard me mentioned like their love it, leaders of

Lee Griffith: 00:06:48

impact cost, he then put cost Yeah. But as a leader, you're

Lee Griffith: 00:06:53

going to be suited for certain types of either situations or

Lee Griffith: 00:06:58

certain types of organizations. And over time, you will figure

Lee Griffith: 00:07:01

out where you thrive. And all of that, I think becomes part of

Lee Griffith: 00:07:05

your strategy. When you go for new roles. For example, The this

Lee Griffith: 00:07:09

is who I am, and this is this is what I offer, which is kind of

Lee Griffith: 00:07:13

what you were saying there carry on. So how consciously Have you

Lee Griffith: 00:07:17

thought about your personal leadership strategy and

Lee Griffith: 00:07:21

approach? I

Lee Griffith: 00:07:23

Carrie-Ann Wade: would say, I've been thinking about this. And I

Lee Griffith: 00:07:25

would say I probably probably for longer than I would

Lee Griffith: 00:07:29

initially recognize, but I probably wouldn't have seen it

Lee Griffith: 00:07:33

at the time as being consciously focused on my own personal

Lee Griffith: 00:07:38

leadership strategy. So I think probably from my point of view,

Lee Griffith: 00:07:43

now looking back with hindsight, where some of that started, was

Lee Griffith: 00:07:48

recognizing and learning from other leaders that I've worked

Lee Griffith: 00:07:53

with and been around. So as I've been progressing through my own

Lee Griffith: 00:07:56

leadership journey, maybe thinking about, like the styles

Lee Griffith: 00:08:00

of leader that have really got the best out of me. And maybe

Lee Griffith: 00:08:04

those who've, inadvertently or maybe even on purpose, got the

Lee Griffith: 00:08:08

worst out of me, and kind of reflecting back on my own

Lee Griffith: 00:08:11

leadership approach and style and going like, oh, yeah, for

Lee Griffith: 00:08:14

me, like that resonates. And I'm going to be intentional in terms

Lee Griffith: 00:08:18

of being more like that, because that seats me as a person. And

Lee Griffith: 00:08:21

I'm going to intentionally do less of that, because I don't

Lee Griffith: 00:08:25

think that is really particularly motivational. But I

Lee Griffith: 00:08:28

don't think when I was thinking those things at the time, I

Lee Griffith: 00:08:30

thought, oh, that's about my personal leadership strategy.

Lee Griffith: 00:08:35

But I think as I've become more experienced, and you touched on

Lee Griffith: 00:08:39

sort of understanding maybe what your strengths are, as a leader,

Lee Griffith: 00:08:43

I think there's something in there about understanding sort

Lee Griffith: 00:08:45

of your own values, and what's important to you, I think I have

Lee Griffith: 00:08:49

been more intentional with the leadership strategy, mostly

Lee Griffith: 00:08:52

focused on trying to get the best out of the people that I'm

Lee Griffith: 00:08:55

leading for the organization that I'm in. So that's probably

Lee Griffith: 00:09:00

been about thinking about what's important for me and how I feel

Lee Griffith: 00:09:05

like I can be the best leader. So things that are important to

Lee Griffith: 00:09:08

me are around collaboration, compassion, authenticity,

Lee Griffith: 00:09:13

integrity. And I've been looking to create those conditions, I

Lee Griffith: 00:09:18

guess, as I've evolved and developed as a leader. And then

Lee Griffith: 00:09:22

I've made some conscious decisions about actually, where

Lee Griffith: 00:09:26

sometimes my leadership, style and approach doesn't fit. That

Lee Griffith: 00:09:30

may be that's not the right place for me. And that's not to

Lee Griffith: 00:09:33

say you can't be adaptable as a leader. But I do think there are

Lee Griffith: 00:09:36

some things that are really intrinsic to how you might

Lee Griffith: 00:09:40

approach your leadership strategy and what feels good for

Lee Griffith: 00:09:44

you that you're actually going to be able to deliver on which

Lee Griffith: 00:09:47

means sometimes you will make these different decisions, which

Lee Griffith: 00:09:49

is actually this isn't the space for me now. And, and for

Lee Griffith: 00:09:52

example, I know part of my personal leadership strategy is

Lee Griffith: 00:09:56

always about growth and development of the team that I'm

Lee Griffith: 00:09:59

leading. I feel like that's actually what I'm really good

Lee Griffith: 00:10:02

at. I'm good at growing and developing people and teams and

Lee Griffith: 00:10:06

sometimes doing that from scratch. So actually, I've been

Lee Griffith: 00:10:10

naturally drawn to roles and organizations where that

Lee Griffith: 00:10:13

opportunity has been there to enable me to enact that that

Lee Griffith: 00:10:16

kind of leadership strategy, I guess. So yeah, that's some of

Lee Griffith: 00:10:19

my own initial thoughts and reflections around that space.

Lee Griffith: 00:10:23

For me personally, how about? Oh, you've got question?

Lee Griffith: 00:10:27

Yeah, no, I was gonna say, I was just say, How

Lee Griffith: 00:10:30

is it driven? That your job search, I suppose, because I do

Lee Griffith: 00:10:35

think this is part of the positioning that you do. When

Lee Griffith: 00:10:38

you're applying for roles. And you're thinking about career

Lee Griffith: 00:10:40

development, your strategy is about aligning up your USP with

Lee Griffith: 00:10:45

what an organization might be seeking. So yeah, so how's that

Lee Griffith: 00:10:48

worked?

Lee Griffith: 00:10:49

Carrie-Ann Wade: I think that's something about the research

Lee Griffith: 00:10:51

that you do in today's organizations, isn't it? And so

Lee Griffith: 00:10:54

there's something for me about some of my personal sort of

Lee Griffith: 00:10:58

drivers and valleys definitely align themselves better to

Lee Griffith: 00:11:03

public sector, voluntary sector more. So that kind of service

Lee Griffith: 00:11:08

based space rather than maybe a more cutthroat or my perception

Lee Griffith: 00:11:12

of that's terrible, isn't it, but maybe a more corporate

Lee Griffith: 00:11:15

sector that's perhaps more financially driven. So I feel

Lee Griffith: 00:11:19

like my leadership is maybe better suited to organizations

Lee Griffith: 00:11:24

that are more about providing service for people than perhaps

Lee Griffith: 00:11:28

anything else. So that's definitely maybe driven some of

Lee Griffith: 00:11:32

my career choices and my professional growth. And then I

Lee Griffith: 00:11:36

think there's also been something about really, under

Lee Griffith: 00:11:39

trying to understand as best you can, you don't really know this

Lee Griffith: 00:11:42

until you go into an organization, do you but

Lee Griffith: 00:11:45

understanding what the leadership team and the culture

Lee Griffith: 00:11:49

and the ethos of the organization that you're going

Lee Griffith: 00:11:52

to be a leader in is, is really like, as best you can, like,

Lee Griffith: 00:11:56

sometimes you might be, you know, bit blindsided by

Lee Griffith: 00:11:59

something that you weren't expecting, but actually being

Lee Griffith: 00:12:01

able to kind of understand what are other people's perceptions

Lee Griffith: 00:12:04

of this organization? You know, how do people feel about working

Lee Griffith: 00:12:09

there or receiving a service from that organization? And then

Lee Griffith: 00:12:13

kind of weighing up, like, what's my value add gonna be in

Lee Griffith: 00:12:16

that space? Because sometimes there won't necessarily feel

Lee Griffith: 00:12:21

like there is one, and then you kind of think, Okay, well, I'd

Lee Griffith: 00:12:23

be able to have impact. And there is something for me about

Lee Griffith: 00:12:27

understanding that everyone in that leadership space that

Lee Griffith: 00:12:30

you're going into is probably got their own leadership

Lee Griffith: 00:12:33

strategy and approach and style. And while you want the

Lee Griffith: 00:12:35

alignment, personally, for me, I don't want to work with a whole

Lee Griffith: 00:12:40

set of people who are exactly like me, because I feel like

Lee Griffith: 00:12:43

that challenge won't be there. And that diversity of thinking

Lee Griffith: 00:12:46

won't be there. So as much as there might be certain other

Lee Griffith: 00:12:49

types of leaders that I definitely wouldn't want to work

Lee Griffith: 00:12:53

with, because I would find it far too challenging. I don't

Lee Griffith: 00:12:56

want to work with lots of people who just gonna operate and have

Lee Griffith: 00:12:59

the same leadership strategies I've got, because that might

Lee Griffith: 00:13:02

feel like there's no sort of grit in the oyster, or I don't

Lee Griffith: 00:13:06

know if I've got the right set now, am I deadly? But you know

Lee Griffith: 00:13:08

what I mean, you need that bit of challenge to kind of keep you

Lee Griffith: 00:13:12

motivated and energized, I think and thinking differently.

Lee Griffith: 00:13:15

Yeah, I think that's why you, it doesn't

Lee Griffith: 00:13:18

matter if there is a misalignment, I suppose between

Lee Griffith: 00:13:22

an organizational strategy and your leadership strategy, as

Lee Griffith: 00:13:25

long as you aren't fundamentally opposed. I think that's the

Lee Griffith: 00:13:31

thing you can have. I'm trying to think of an example where

Lee Griffith: 00:13:38

there has been a mismatch a little bit. And there isn't one

Lee Griffith: 00:13:42

that's coming immediately to mind. But I'm thinking of there

Lee Griffith: 00:13:45

can be leaders. I don't know, maybe maybe an organization's

Lee Griffith: 00:13:50

really into growth, but your leadership strategy is around

Lee Griffith: 00:13:54

how do I get growth through nurturing? So I don't focus on

Lee Griffith: 00:13:57

the growth per se, I focus on how do I get the best out of

Lee Griffith: 00:14:02

people, and a byproduct of that will be growth? I don't know

Lee Griffith: 00:14:05

that. Yeah, probably not the best example. But I do think

Lee Griffith: 00:14:08

Carrie-Ann Wade: I had a similar one in my head about change,

Lee Griffith: 00:14:11

like if the organizational strategies about like a

Lee Griffith: 00:14:13

turnaround or a change, but actually your leadership

Lee Griffith: 00:14:16

strategy is something about trying to keep things more

Lee Griffith: 00:14:20

settled and on an even keel and like balanced for people that

Lee Griffith: 00:14:23

that might be quite, that's not quite the right description. But

Lee Griffith: 00:14:25

that might be quite challenging, because you're probably not

Lee Griffith: 00:14:28

going to be operating in a space where that feels comfortable and

Lee Griffith: 00:14:32

that you're able to have impact.

Lee Griffith: 00:14:34

Yeah, and I think that's that's the nuance you

Lee Griffith: 00:14:37

need to be mindful of, of the scale of misalignment. So, we've

Lee Griffith: 00:14:44

talked about different leaders suited for different situations.

Lee Griffith: 00:14:48

So part of your strategy is that awareness of knowing what type

Lee Griffith: 00:14:52

of leader you are and where you're going to thrive in what

Lee Griffith: 00:14:54

types of conditions and then that becomes your USP. So some

Lee Griffith: 00:14:58

leaders are people who will Well, I'm the turnaround leader,

Lee Griffith: 00:15:02

I'm just going to come in, I'm going to do short, sharp action,

Lee Griffith: 00:15:04

and I'm going to get results. But then I'm going to exit

Lee Griffith: 00:15:06

pretty quickly, because I'm not the one that's going to stick

Lee Griffith: 00:15:09

around and nurture you, there's a cold shower. Yeah. And you

Lee Griffith: 00:15:12

will need a different kind of leader for that. So part of your

Lee Griffith: 00:15:14

positioning of your leadership strategy is understanding, well,

Lee Griffith: 00:15:20

I'm this kind of person versus that kind of person, and

Lee Griffith: 00:15:23

aligning how you talk about yourself with what the goals

Lee Griffith: 00:15:28

might be of an organization and identifying, I suppose, what the

Lee Griffith: 00:15:32

extent of risk they want to take on you as your leadership

Lee Griffith: 00:15:37

approach, if that makes sense.

Lee Griffith: 00:15:38

Carrie-Ann Wade: Yeah, absolutely. And there will

Lee Griffith: 00:15:40

always be that level of risk involved right there, like for

Lee Griffith: 00:15:42

the organization, and then you personally, but also, for you

Lee Griffith: 00:15:46

going into a group of leaders who may be might be more

Lee Griffith: 00:15:49

established in that organization, or you might be

Lee Griffith: 00:15:52

challenging some of their thinking. And like I said, you

Lee Griffith: 00:15:55

know, you were talking about what, what the approach has been

Lee Griffith: 00:15:57

that have worked for us as much as you can try and do your

Lee Griffith: 00:16:00

research and understand where that fit might be or where that

Lee Griffith: 00:16:04

misalignment potentially might be, and work out whether that's

Lee Griffith: 00:16:07

okay, just sometimes you just won't know, you're in that in

Lee Griffith: 00:16:11

that space. And it's all working itself through because sometimes

Lee Griffith: 00:16:14

that misalignment like you say, if it's not a huge amount,

Lee Griffith: 00:16:17

doesn't matter, because there's someone else in that leadership

Lee Griffith: 00:16:19

team with you, who can do the bit, that's, you know, their

Lee Griffith: 00:16:23

skill or their expertise, or where their strengths lie, where

Lee Griffith: 00:16:26

yours don't, and that's okay. And I think sometimes you have

Lee Griffith: 00:16:29

to think about that when you're building your own team. So I

Lee Griffith: 00:16:33

think about that a lot when I build teams, and I'm thinking

Lee Griffith: 00:16:36

about who might be the right fit to be in a deputy position for

Lee Griffith: 00:16:40

me, for example, because there will have to be some alignment.

Lee Griffith: 00:16:43

But actually, their leadership strategy can be different to

Lee Griffith: 00:16:46

mine, it doesn't have to be the same because again, you want

Lee Griffith: 00:16:49

that bit of rub sometimes and that bit of constructive

Lee Griffith: 00:16:52

challenge that that will bring. So

Lee Griffith: 00:16:54

if someone's listening to this, and they're

Lee Griffith: 00:16:57

knowing that perhaps they're not being very clear with their

Lee Griffith: 00:17:00

people, so maybe they're not bringing people together around

Lee Griffith: 00:17:03

vision, they might be giving mixed messages about who they

Lee Griffith: 00:17:07

are. And they may be struggling to define what sets them apart

Lee Griffith: 00:17:12

from from other leaders. How do you start to go about getting

Lee Griffith: 00:17:17

that clarity around you and your strategy?

Lee Griffith: 00:17:21

Carrie-Ann Wade: I think for me, if you're thinking about how you

Lee Griffith: 00:17:24

start to work out what your leadership strategy should be,

Lee Griffith: 00:17:27

you do have to do that in a sort of self work, if I'm honest, I

Lee Griffith: 00:17:33

think you do have to be clear, for example, on what your values

Lee Griffith: 00:17:37

are, and how you might be demonstrating those values.

Lee Griffith: 00:17:42

Because it's really easy to say your values are like no one,

Lee Griffith: 00:17:45

collaboration, compassion, all of those things. But actually,

Lee Griffith: 00:17:48

you probably have to start questioning and seeking

Lee Griffith: 00:17:52

something I've talked about this before seeking some feedback to

Lee Griffith: 00:17:55

work out whether that is actually how you are coming

Lee Griffith: 00:17:57

across. And it's not just a tick box and me saying all these

Lee Griffith: 00:18:00

things, actually, do I deliver on those things, from a values

Lee Griffith: 00:18:04

point of view? I think you have to think about how you are

Lee Griffith: 00:18:07

articulating your vision and test that out with people find

Lee Griffith: 00:18:13

out if that's London, I mean, first of all, you have to

Lee Griffith: 00:18:15

obviously be clear what your vision is. And I think that's

Lee Griffith: 00:18:17

really linked to your purpose. And I think we talked in a

Lee Griffith: 00:18:22

previous episode, even in this series about your why

Lee Griffith: 00:18:25

understanding your why I think is quite important. But it's

Lee Griffith: 00:18:29

also important to be able to articulate that to people in a

Lee Griffith: 00:18:32

way that matters to them. And it's something that we've talked

Lee Griffith: 00:18:36

about before when we've entered teams as new leaders, but there

Lee Griffith: 00:18:40

is something about understanding the sort of stakeholder needs

Lee Griffith: 00:18:43

and and Testing, testing that out through the lens of your own

Lee Griffith: 00:18:49

leadership strategy. So actually, what you know, and

Lee Griffith: 00:18:52

that's the conversation, I think we were just starting to have

Lee Griffith: 00:18:55

around, you know, what do these people need from me as a leader?

Lee Griffith: 00:18:59

And is that something that I'm able to deliver on or not, and

Lee Griffith: 00:19:03

be unable to accept that maybe it's okay, if it isn't a

Lee Griffith: 00:19:07

different type of leadership is required that might not sit

Lee Griffith: 00:19:09

comfortably with you. So that's how you make some of these

Lee Griffith: 00:19:12

decisions. But I think once you're starting to think about

Lee Griffith: 00:19:16

those things around your personal values, Vision purpose,

Lee Griffith: 00:19:21

the next step is then to create that intent. So are you is

Lee Griffith: 00:19:26

everything that you're doing? Intentional in terms of

Lee Griffith: 00:19:30

demonstrating and delivering on that leadership strategy that

Lee Griffith: 00:19:33

you're starting to define for yourself? Because if it isn't,

Lee Griffith: 00:19:38

then something doesn't feel quite right there. I would say,

Lee Griffith: 00:19:42

yeah, yeah,

Lee Griffith: 00:19:43

I do. I call them intensive days with, with people

Lee Griffith: 00:19:50

on I know how, but we work on what someone's strategy is and

Lee Griffith: 00:19:57

their messaging and all of that kind of stuff with view of

Lee Griffith: 00:20:00

where, where do they want to get to whether it's over the six to

Lee Griffith: 00:20:04

nine months, whether it's with a particular project, and it can

Lee Griffith: 00:20:08

sound really grand or what's your leadership strategy, but

Lee Griffith: 00:20:10

it's just it is just like an organization or program

Lee Griffith: 00:20:14

strategy, you know, you need to have that vision, you need to

Lee Griffith: 00:20:17

have objectives, you need to be clear on what your measures are.

Lee Griffith: 00:20:19

So you know, what your outcomes that you're seeking to, you need

Lee Griffith: 00:20:22

to have some tactics, you need to be clear on your messaging,

Lee Griffith: 00:20:26

you need to be able to then map that out and go, right. Well,

Lee Griffith: 00:20:29

you know, if, for example, if you are starting in a new role,

Lee Griffith: 00:20:34

and it could be well, my leadership strategy for the my

Lee Griffith: 00:20:37

first 100 days is going to be by that, by the end of the 100

Lee Griffith: 00:20:41

days, I want to have heard and understood the concerns of my

Lee Griffith: 00:20:47

organization, I want to have a clear roadmap of how we're going

Lee Griffith: 00:20:50

to define what the organizational strategy is going

Lee Griffith: 00:20:53

to be, I want to have met the key stakeholders or whatever it

Lee Griffith: 00:20:56

could be, and then that broken down. So it's really, really

Lee Griffith: 00:21:01

intentional to the point that you will be able to measure the

Lee Griffith: 00:21:04

impact that you're having. And I

Lee Griffith: 00:21:05

Carrie-Ann Wade: think there are a couple of things that came

Lee Griffith: 00:21:07

into my head as you were talking there, and one is about that

Lee Griffith: 00:21:10

measurement. So actually, you also have to build in those

Lee Griffith: 00:21:13

opportunities to evaluate how it is going. And actually, does

Lee Griffith: 00:21:18

something need to tweak Have you been too focused on one part of

Lee Griffith: 00:21:21

your leadership strategy and ignored another bit that

Lee Griffith: 00:21:24

actually needs you to invest some more time and energy in it?

Lee Griffith: 00:21:27

How is it landing with people? How are people feeling about the

Lee Griffith: 00:21:31

way in which you're leading them? Are you? Are they getting

Lee Griffith: 00:21:33

the results you wanted them to get through your leadership? So

Lee Griffith: 00:21:36

I think that evaluation and sort of measurement point is really

Lee Griffith: 00:21:40

important. And then, you know, I know, you talk about it a lot,

Lee Griffith: 00:21:43

Lee with your 100 day plan, conversations, but I think, you

Lee Griffith: 00:21:48

know, there's something for me, and I was gonna say, there was

Lee Griffith: 00:21:50

an example of the chief exec who I know, you know, well, in the

Lee Griffith: 00:21:54

NHS, Laura escaped knight who started a new job in a new

Lee Griffith: 00:21:58

organization and talked about her intentions for her first 100

Lee Griffith: 00:22:03

days quite publicly on her social media channels, and then

Lee Griffith: 00:22:07

published her 100 Day report, which was her findings from what

Lee Griffith: 00:22:10

she set out to achieve. And, and I think that's the other bit,

Lee Griffith: 00:22:13

there is absolutely no point. And this does not matter if it's

Lee Griffith: 00:22:17

your own personal leadership strategy, and organizational

Lee Griffith: 00:22:20

strategy or any other form of strategy in between, if you're

Lee Griffith: 00:22:24

not able to communicate that strategy, and you're not

Lee Griffith: 00:22:28

signaling to people that you are operating with intent to deliver

Lee Griffith: 00:22:32

on that. What's the point in having one, it just becomes a

Lee Griffith: 00:22:35

document or thoughts in your head or whatever, that's just

Lee Griffith: 00:22:38

filed away, and you've done a huge amount of work invested in

Lee Griffith: 00:22:41

it, but then you're not actually keeping it alive. So that could

Lee Griffith: 00:22:45

be unable to communicate what your strategy is, is as

Lee Griffith: 00:22:48

important as when we've talked about communicating your vision,

Lee Griffith: 00:22:51

you know, giving clarity around direction of travel, like I

Lee Griffith: 00:22:55

think it's as important to be able to get comfortable in

Lee Griffith: 00:22:58

talking about what your leadership strategy is with the

Lee Griffith: 00:23:00

people that you are working with.

Lee Griffith: 00:23:04

That's, that's absolutely why I see it as a

Lee Griffith: 00:23:06

cog. Because for me, the three cogs are that that complete

Lee Griffith: 00:23:10

clarity on what your leadership strategy is, then that piece

Lee Griffith: 00:23:14

around self leadership. And I, I mean by that, how are you

Lee Griffith: 00:23:19

executing your leadership strategy? What are the

Lee Griffith: 00:23:24

boundaries you're setting? How are you working? How are you

Lee Griffith: 00:23:26

organizing in yourself and the people around you? And then the

Lee Griffith: 00:23:31

communications being the third cog. So if if you're not

Lee Griffith: 00:23:34

communicating those other two things, and you're not giving

Lee Griffith: 00:23:38

clarity around those things, then you're not going to take

Lee Griffith: 00:23:41

people with you. And you need all three of those to be moving

Lee Griffith: 00:23:44

in harmony for you to have the right impact in leadership role.

Lee Griffith: 00:23:49

Carrie-Ann Wade: Yeah, absolutely. I don't disagree

Lee Griffith: 00:23:51

with you. I think that's really important. Like you say they

Lee Griffith: 00:23:54

don't like none of that really works. If you take one bit out,

Lee Griffith: 00:23:57

no, it's so interwoven, isn't it? And we've talked a lot

Lee Griffith: 00:24:01

about, you know, clarity, you need to give us a leader and how

Lee Griffith: 00:24:05

to communicate better as a leader. So absolutely, I can see

Lee Griffith: 00:24:08

how that will work. So definitely, for me, it's about

Lee Griffith: 00:24:11

that, you know, once you've done that work, to determine what

Lee Griffith: 00:24:15

your leadership strategy might look and feel like and what it

Lee Griffith: 00:24:17

actually is. It's that kind of delivery of it and acting within

Lee Griffith: 00:24:21

it, you know, being intentional to operate in the way that

Lee Griffith: 00:24:24

you've set out from the point of view of your leadership

Lee Griffith: 00:24:28

strategy.

Lee Griffith: 00:24:29

Getting really practical, I suppose, and using

Lee Griffith: 00:24:33

you as the example. But

Lee Griffith: 00:24:35

Carrie-Ann Wade: how about me on the spot, I'm in the hot seat,

Lee Griffith: 00:24:38

how much we talked about intentionality. We talked

Lee Griffith: 00:24:42

about awareness, we talked about all this stuff, how much time

Lee Griffith: 00:24:46

and space are you given to the development and evolution of

Lee Griffith: 00:24:52

your leadership strategy?

Lee Griffith: 00:24:54

Carrie-Ann Wade: If I'd be really honest, because what's

Lee Griffith: 00:24:56

the point in having this conversation? If not, not as

Lee Griffith: 00:24:58

much as I probably should? Be. And I think that's probably one

Lee Griffith: 00:25:02

of the challenges that leaders face. Because they get so caught

Lee Griffith: 00:25:05

up in everything else that's happening in their organization

Lee Griffith: 00:25:09

that they may be, don't feel like they are able to, or often

Lee Griffith: 00:25:14

don't feel like they should, because maybe it feels a bit

Lee Griffith: 00:25:17

selfish, because you're talking about you as a person, aren't

Lee Griffith: 00:25:19

you like individually? Making the space to do that reflection

Lee Griffith: 00:25:24

that monitor in that checking in? On my date? I think

Lee Griffith: 00:25:27

sometimes you feel a bit of guilt about making that time to

Lee Griffith: 00:25:30

do that. But I think it is absolutely crucial to do, I have

Lee Griffith: 00:25:35

to say, I probably do it better. And I don't know if this is

Lee Griffith: 00:25:40

going to make sense when I say I probably do it better in the

Lee Griffith: 00:25:44

space in which I operate through cat's pajamas as my business

Lee Griffith: 00:25:48

than I do maybe in my day job. And I think and I don't know, I

Lee Griffith: 00:25:52

think I carve out more time in that space to be intentional

Lee Griffith: 00:25:55

around, you know, being really open about trying to demonstrate

Lee Griffith: 00:25:59

what my values are, for example, as part of my leadership

Lee Griffith: 00:26:03

strategy. So people are clear, like what I stand for as, as a

Lee Griffith: 00:26:07

leader and as an individual. And I think maybe on reflection, I

Lee Griffith: 00:26:11

could do more of that in my day job space, because actually,

Lee Griffith: 00:26:15

that would be helpful for for my team and my team's own growth,

Lee Griffith: 00:26:19

and obviously, the broader organization. So I think, yeah,

Lee Griffith: 00:26:22

as you've said it and put me in the hot seat, I'm starting to

Lee Griffith: 00:26:25

think like, How can I weave this more into just how I operate as

Lee Griffith: 00:26:28

a leader, rather than it being? Right, next, you know, once

Lee Griffith: 00:26:32

every four or whatever it is, once a month, I'm going to set

Lee Griffith: 00:26:35

time aside to spend a good chunk of time being focused on that

Lee Griffith: 00:26:39

it's about how do you actually make it part of your business as

Lee Griffith: 00:26:42

usual. So every day, you're kind of checking in on this, and

Lee Griffith: 00:26:45

there probably a subconscious ways that you are doing that

Lee Griffith: 00:26:48

through feedback from other people where you think, Oh, that

Lee Griffith: 00:26:51

reflects on me, because I clearly haven't articulated my

Lee Griffith: 00:26:54

vision properly, or whatever. And so you do make those small

Lee Griffith: 00:26:57

tweaks and adjustments, and you're probably not aware that

Lee Griffith: 00:27:00

you're doing it. But we've talked a lot helped me in how to

Lee Griffith: 00:27:03

take the lead about carving out that time to deliver as a

Lee Griffith: 00:27:08

leader, and I understand what you're all about and reflect and

Lee Griffith: 00:27:11

learn and grow. And so I think it's definitely important to do,

Lee Griffith: 00:27:15

and I am conscious that I make time to do it. But I guess it's

Lee Griffith: 00:27:19

about flipping that to go shouldn't be making time to do

Lee Griffith: 00:27:22

it. It should just be part of how you operate every day. Yeah,

Lee Griffith: 00:27:26

yeah. It can feel a bit grandiose can't let go, I

Lee Griffith: 00:27:29

need to work on my leadership strategy.

Lee Griffith: 00:27:32

Carrie-Ann Wade: Actually, people watching that was a great

Lee Griffith: 00:27:34

expression there for those on the podcast. Sorry, but that is

Lee Griffith: 00:27:37

a brilliant face me.

Lee Griffith: 00:27:39

But it's it's that sense of you know, it doesn't

Lee Griffith: 00:27:42

need to be this you don't you don't need a document that you

Lee Griffith: 00:27:46

put on your shelf never to look at again, it is it is all about

Lee Griffith: 00:27:50

intentionality of showing up. And it could be as simple as,

Lee Griffith: 00:27:54

like, what's what's, what's my end game? And what are the

Lee Griffith: 00:27:58

stepping stones I'm going to do to get to the endgame, whatever

Lee Griffith: 00:28:01

that might be over the and then reflections at the end of each

Lee Griffith: 00:28:06

week around? How am I showing up as a leader this week? Do I feel

Lee Griffith: 00:28:10

comfortable with this? And

Lee Griffith: 00:28:11

Carrie-Ann Wade: we do lots of things don't we generally in

Lee Griffith: 00:28:13

life around things like gratitude journaling, and all of

Lee Griffith: 00:28:16

that kind of, you know, what three things am I grateful for

Lee Griffith: 00:28:18

this week, this day, whatever. But actually, you could very

Lee Griffith: 00:28:21

easily build into a daily practice something around

Lee Griffith: 00:28:25

leadership for sure. And, and there's even things where I have

Lee Griffith: 00:28:28

started to think about how I manage my time during the week

Lee Griffith: 00:28:33

and have in my life three non negotiables of the week. And

Lee Griffith: 00:28:36

actually, if other stuff doesn't happen, those three non

Lee Griffith: 00:28:38

negotiables are really important. And actually, they

Lee Griffith: 00:28:42

don't those three, non negotiables don't have to be

Lee Griffith: 00:28:44

really operational things they could be about, okay, this week,

Lee Griffith: 00:28:48

I need to prioritize working with my team and being really

Lee Griffith: 00:28:52

clear on setting out my vision because I feel like I haven't

Lee Griffith: 00:28:55

done that very well recently, or that things have shifted, and

Lee Griffith: 00:28:58

I've not articulated that. So those sorts of things should be

Lee Griffith: 00:29:01

part of like what you want to achieve in a week. It shouldn't

Lee Griffith: 00:29:04

just be like, make sure I've got the budget set in sorted. You

Lee Griffith: 00:29:07

know, like all the really operational stuff that might be

Lee Griffith: 00:29:10

part of your role.

Lee Griffith: 00:29:12

But then you say, like budget setting? Why would

Lee Griffith: 00:29:16

you be focusing on budget setting, if you're not clear on

Lee Griffith: 00:29:18

what the outcome you're trying to achieve? Like, if we could

Lee Griffith: 00:29:20

jump into the execution of the operational detail without ever

Lee Griffith: 00:29:25

tying it back up? And this is where I think your leadership

Lee Griffith: 00:29:27

strategy is, is the anchor that you can keep returning back t

Lee Griffith: 00:29:31

because your game right, you know, the decisions I've made

Lee Griffith: 00:29:35

this week, are they aligned with where we need to go to and if

Lee Griffith: 00:29:39

they're not aligned to or the types of things I don't need to

Lee Griffith: 00:29:42

be making decisions about then I've got a bigger question

Lee Griffith: 00:29:45

around how am I prioritizing my time? What am I focusing on all

Lee Griffith: 00:29:48

of that kind of stuff.

Lee Griffith: 00:29:49

Carrie-Ann Wade: And I think that can be part of your

Lee Griffith: 00:29:51

leadership strategy content about actually doing that check

Lee Griffith: 00:29:55

in that you are spending your time as a leader on what you

Lee Griffith: 00:29:58

should be spending your time on. As a leader, and that's part of

Lee Griffith: 00:30:01

being intentional as well, isn't it? And, and I've definitely

Lee Griffith: 00:30:04

noticed that recently for me, I have been, I have shifted my

Lee Griffith: 00:30:09

strategy around that because for various reasons, I have found

Lee Griffith: 00:30:12

myself and others in my own leadership team, that thing we

Lee Griffith: 00:30:16

hate getting into the weeds, that stuff and being far too

Lee Griffith: 00:30:20

operational, and having to do that self checking, actually,

Lee Griffith: 00:30:23

that's not what I'm here for. I'm not here to be solving the

Lee Griffith: 00:30:26

problem. I've got trusted people whose job it is to do that I'm

Lee Griffith: 00:30:30

here to be up here thinking about the longer term strategy

Lee Griffith: 00:30:33

and actually, those weedy things that people are dealing with

Lee Griffith: 00:30:36

down here, what's the impact they're going to have into the

Lee Griffith: 00:30:39

future, for example. So I think you can do those check ins for

Lee Griffith: 00:30:43

yourself, can't you where you might just go, I'm drifting away

Lee Griffith: 00:30:46

from my leadership strategy a bit here. And I just need to

Lee Griffith: 00:30:49

pull myself back into it. And there might be actual actions

Lee Griffith: 00:30:53

you have to take to do that, like, delegate more give

Lee Griffith: 00:30:56

decision making to other people when it's not a decision you

Lee Griffith: 00:30:58

need to be involved in. So and some of that will be really

Lee Griffith: 00:31:02

complex, because there might be a whole host of reasons in the

Lee Griffith: 00:31:04

background, why that creepos, or shift away from your strategy

Lee Griffith: 00:31:09

started to happen. But actually being conscious of that and

Lee Griffith: 00:31:12

aware of it, and being able to start having those

Lee Griffith: 00:31:14

conversations, even just with yourself is quite helpful space

Lee Griffith: 00:31:18

to be in.

Lee Griffith: 00:31:19

Yeah, great. Well, we're getting to the end of our

Lee Griffith: 00:31:22

time. And I could be talking about this for forever. Well, I

Lee Griffith: 00:31:25

do talk about this every day, because it's my job. But that

Lee Griffith: 00:31:30

aside, we need to wrap up this episode because people need to

Lee Griffith: 00:31:33

get on and do the doing. So hack into our how tos, I suppose.

Lee Griffith: 00:31:38

What one action do you think someone could take following our

Lee Griffith: 00:31:42

conversation today to help them to get clarity on defining what

Lee Griffith: 00:31:48

their leadership strategy is?

Lee Griffith: 00:31:50

Carrie-Ann Wade: Does there have to be one? Or can I have to be

Lee Griffith: 00:31:53

like, sorry, I'm not following the rules. I definitely think

Lee Griffith: 00:31:58

there's something for me about taking some time, to yourself

Lee Griffith: 00:32:04

initially, to start, particularly if you've maybe not

Lee Griffith: 00:32:07

considered yourself as having a leadership strategy before to

Lee Griffith: 00:32:10

actually do some of that work about defining what that might

Lee Griffith: 00:32:13

need to look like for you. And I think you will need to get input

Lee Griffith: 00:32:17

into that. Some points on that, that will be the testing it out

Lee Griffith: 00:32:20

with people, some of it might be through a coach like yourself,

Lee Griffith: 00:32:22

Lee or a mentor, just to kind of maybe support you to think a bit

Lee Griffith: 00:32:28

differently if leadership strategy hasn't been something

Lee Griffith: 00:32:31

that you've really dealt with before. So I think it would be

Lee Griffith: 00:32:34

about, you know, posing some of those questions to yourself and

Lee Griffith: 00:32:37

really challenging yourself about what that might look like.

Lee Griffith: 00:32:41

And I also think, maybe identify, because it's a bit for

Lee Griffith: 00:32:46

me, it's about the acting with intent. So maybe look to

Lee Griffith: 00:32:49

identify some leaders, maybe who are high profile in the public

Lee Griffith: 00:32:53

sphere, or maybe people that you work with yourself, where

Lee Griffith: 00:32:57

actually, when you consider it, you can see that they are

Lee Griffith: 00:33:00

actually enacting their own leadership strategy, because I

Lee Griffith: 00:33:02

think you can tell who those people are that you work with,

Lee Griffith: 00:33:05

or that you see in the public domain, and maybe start to get a

Lee Griffith: 00:33:08

sense from them about how they might be actually doing it. What

Lee Griffith: 00:33:12

like, how are they showing up? Why, why do you get the sense

Lee Griffith: 00:33:15

that they're very clear on what their leadership strategy is?

Lee Griffith: 00:33:18

And how are they acting with intent? And they might be people

Lee Griffith: 00:33:21

you have the opportunity to have a conversation with about that.

Lee Griffith: 00:33:24

But if not, maybe just observe some of that and see what that

Lee Griffith: 00:33:27

looks like and feels like for you. So that you can start to to

Lee Griffith: 00:33:31

think about you operating in a similar sort of space. Yeah,

Lee Griffith: 00:33:35

fantastic. I think that's really useful. The only

Lee Griffith: 00:33:39

thing I would add to build on what you've said is, it goes

Lee Griffith: 00:33:44

back to impact for me, so ask yourself, What's the impact I

Lee Griffith: 00:33:49

want to make in my role in my organization, whatever it might

Lee Griffith: 00:33:54

be, and then compare that against what's the impact you

Lee Griffith: 00:33:58

think you're having and test that a little bit and to see

Lee Griffith: 00:34:00

where the gap is? And start, then you can be more conscious

Lee Griffith: 00:34:04

and intentional in trying to close it. And

Lee Griffith: 00:34:06

Carrie-Ann Wade: I think that's a really good one for people who

Lee Griffith: 00:34:08

have have been a leader somewhere for a long time,

Lee Griffith: 00:34:11

because I guess it's easy, isn't it to focus on that if you're

Lee Griffith: 00:34:13

new in this space, what's your strategy going to be? But

Lee Griffith: 00:34:16

actually, even if you've got one or you've never had one, there's

Lee Griffith: 00:34:19

always opportunity as a leader to revisit and refresh. So I

Lee Griffith: 00:34:23

think that's really good. good piece of advice, Lee.

Lee Griffith: 00:34:26

Perfect. Well, thank you. That was a quick

Lee Griffith: 00:34:28

quick whizzed through, but we will be back next week with more

Lee Griffith: 00:34:32

how to take the lead in stuff