Developing leadership skills
Leading the future of business in our country will be down to group of very special individuals. Great business leadership is the correct application of a set of leadership tools. The tools are applied in a way that suits the individual leaders style. When done really well, the leader achieves the aims of all of the business stakeholders. We know good leaders learn how to get the best from these tools from other good leaders.
That’s why we were really pleased to be part of the initial BEIS Peer Network which comes to a close at the end of March. We have had the joy of running two cohorts for the Cumbria LEP
Peer groups to share leadership experience
The twenty businesses we worked with had eight action learning sets to learn from each others experiences. They were all held online and facilitated by the wonderful Jacqui Jackson and Tina Cook . Over fifty topics were covered:
| Barriers and Enablers for 2021 | |
| Brexit impact on farming | |
| Building confidence | |
| Building new opportunities without face-to-face relationships | |
| Cashflow and Financing growth | |
| Closing deals under COVID. How much virtual work v face to face can be done ? | |
| Communication internal and external | |
| Continuous Improvement approaches | |
| Creativity using SCAMPER | |
| Delegation | |
| De-risking and scoping options for growth | |
| De-risking new initiatives | |
| Difficult decisions in partnerships | |
| Entrepreneurial Leaders and the role of good managemet | |
| Family business issues | |
| Finding the right role as a Director in an SME | |
| Forward planning and what COVID Lockdown 3 has done to that plan | |
| Future planning | |
| Getting staff engagement and ownership | |
| Home v office working | |
| How and when to change accountant | |
| How to make inroads into new market/sector with existing capabilities | |
| Improving productivity using technology and taking your customers with you | |
| Leadership & management | |
| Leadership & management (balancing urgent and important) | |
| Leadership Styles | |
| Letting go and developing a new role | |
| Managing relationships in a family business | |
| Managing staff | |
| Marketing ;brand, usp ,social media | |
| Marketing and launching new product into marketplace | |
| Marketing and using external providers | |
| Measuring people performance effectively | |
| New technology | |
| People and team accountabilities (right bum on right seat) | |
| People, retaining motivated employees through delegation and autonomy | |
| Pivoting | |
| Planning for growth but need to fix internal systems (CRM) | |
| Pricing | |
| Prioritising decisions | |
| Prioritising tasks | |
| Promoting someone to managerial role in an SME | |
| Quality standards | |
| Quality systems | |
| Recruitment | |
| Recruitment (Kick Starter Scheme) | |
| Restructuring | |
| Restructuring and digitising sales systems | |
| Risk management ; communication and transparency in Tier 5 situation | |
| Situational leadership | |
| Skills & confidence | |
| Social media | |
| Staff benefits | |
| Succession planning | |
| Time management and prioritising | |
| Use of good open questions | |
One to one conversations to develop the use of business tools
The one to one sessions were ran by Jacqui Jackson and Keith Jackson. In the sessions we gave the businesses focused time to explore the opportunities open to them.
The sessions were built around five types of conversations:
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Business Focused Coaching
We worked with the business to help develop/improve the business skills they felt needed attention.
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Mentoring
We acted as an honest confidential mentor. This allowed us to work with the business leader to develop and improve their leadership style within their business.
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Business Model Canvas
We used Strategyzers Business Model Canvas to help reassess or develop their business plan.
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Value Proposition Canvas
We worked with the business on their Value Proposition to help develop a product idea or scope a market.
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Vision (BHAG) and Objective Setting
This was for some real open future thinking, we used a mixture of tools to help the business define their ‘Big Hairy Audacious Goals’ and set objectives on how they could get there.
Towards the future
It was a joy to work with these businesses as we all moved in and out of lockdowns in the transition from 2020 to 2021. Leadership is about learning from your surroundings and having the confidence to take people forward. We have learned from the cohorts and are sure they have learned from 2020 and 2021. Thomas Jardine & Co is looking forward to the future and we would be happy to share your journey with you.
To find out more contact us Hello@thomasjardineandco.co.uk
