CFE presentation Leadership from Beyond the FE Sector event - 1 May 2014

1. Insights from leadership
discussions in other sectors
Tristram Hughes,
Senior Research Manager, CFE Research

2. Key challenge for all leaders
Making decisions in
a world of
complexity…
http://exceljockey.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/complexity_network.jpg

4. Leadership needs to talk about
more than individual leaders
 Move beyond “heroic” ideas of leadership
 Recognise the importance of interactions across the
organisation to achieving objectives, and the limits of
looking at individual jobholders
 Leads us to consider the importance of collaboration
and the context in which leadership operates

5. In practice “leadership”
activities happen widely in
organisations.
People at all levels should
know how they can lead
and effect change.
Allows for greater
adaptability, and better
responses to complexity.
Hilton, K., Lawrence-Pietroni, C., Leaders Everywhere: The Story of NHS Change Day, (2013)
Distributing Leadership

6. Where should
the boundaries
of leadership be?
Organisations as
“ecosystems
within
ecosystems”
A need to lead
beyond just
those you
employ.
http://onmovements.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/attweb.gif
Leading beyond one organisation

7. The importance of context to
leadership
 Good leadership adapts to context
 Detail of employees, objectives, stakeholders, influences
on success – by nature complex
 Understanding and interpreting context is difficult
 Context sensing skills, and relevant tools, are useful
 Any insights from other sectors need to be understood
and interpreted in your own context

8. Summary
 Increasing complexity require leadership that moves
beyond individuals
 Distributing leadership across one organisation
 Sharing leadership beyond single organisations, moving
towards systems leadership
 Always adapting to the specifics of your context and
objectives