If your ultimate goal as an organisation is to deliver a service, you have to provide leadership that drives results. But what does this really look like?
I was recently talking to a former colleague about the leadership she was receiving at her relatively new organisation - or the lack of it as it turns out. She is an incredibly capable individual with extensive experience, great ideas and huge passion, but struggling due to a lack of direction from others.
She wasn't referring to day-to-day task management, she was talking about the high-level leadership that sets vision and strategy to shape her work; the direction that is essential to the successful delivery of any activity.
It made me reflect on myself as a leader and how I became one. I am a natural leader - I think my school reports reflected that - but I had to learn to be a good one through observation, training and practise. And I think it's taken me almost three decades of learning to get to the stage where I feel confident and I've made lots of mistakes along the way.
What organisations don't seem to appreciate is the knock-on effect of a lack of vision and strategy, as well as the day-to-day leadership that inspires people to be the best they can be. In my world, that knock-on effect is ultimately on visitors who receive a bad experience, don't spend their hard-earned money with you and never return.
So think about this:
What is your vision and how do you share it?
What is the role of your team in delivering that vision? What do they need to be inspired and to focus on the delivery of your goal?
What do those individuals need day-to-day to be success and how do you make it happen?
It's as much about you being a great leader as it is about supporting your team to become the same. It can make a huge difference to your business returns and although they can't always be seen, there has to be a connection between happy, upskilled teams and happy customers, doesn't there?
Thinking about my colleague, she will make her project a success because she knows where to find the support in her network and she will drive it, but what if she didn't? Would that organisation, which needs to deliver income as an outcome, achieve their vision as successfully? Food for thought.
I am supporting team leaders to be the best they can be to deliver great visitor experiences at their attraction.. Please get in touch if I can help you do the same.
