Leadership Styles
There are a wide range of approaches or styles of leadership and many different ways to lead people. Here we explore some leadership frameworks and styles, which can help us to reflect on the way we lead, recognise our strengths and identify how we want to grow and develop, to be even more effective as a leader.
Leading with values
In the VCSE sector, we will often think of our work as being driven by certain values.
“Values are the things that are important to us: They are deeply held principles that guide our choices and behaviours and influence our emotions and they help define who we are, what we believe and how we live.”
The UK Values Alliance.
We can think of values as operating at a personal, organisational and societal level.
This workshop recording explores what we mean by leading through values and values-based leadership. What does being guided by your values feel like and is it something that anyone can do?
Jackie Le Fevre has specialised in values for over 20 years and explores these questions (and more) in conversation with:
- Adil Mohammed Javed, CEO, Founder and Artistic Director of Alchemy Arts and
- Jackie Richardson, Services Manager (Multiple Disadvantage) at Back on Track two speakers from Greater Manchester’s VCSE sector.
In this blog, Jackie Le Fevre explores how a deeper connections with our values can enhance both our work practices and our lives. She shares insights and findings from her research into the benefits of consciously connecting with our values.
In this blog, Mary Beth Lepkowsky shares ways that leaders can develop self-awareness, including through developing awareness of our personal values.
The Common Cause Foundation has a range of information about values, why they are important and what we mean by intrinsic and extrinsic values. You can find toolkits and useful research reports on their website.
Systems Leadership
Systems leadership is an approach which is particularly effective when tackling complex and messy problems, where there are lots of different factors involved and where no one single organisation or sector alone has the answer. You can find more information about systems leadership training available in Greater Manchester in the Leadership Learning Opportunities section of the VCSE Workforce Hub.
“Systems leadership is not about your job role, your position, your status or how much power or authority you have. Systems leadership is a network of people from different levels and places, working collaboratively around a shared vision to create change. Systems leadership is all about relationships, behaviours, values and trust”.
Greater Manchester Moving
In this workshop for Greater Manchester Moving, Debbie Sorkin from The Leadership Centre provides an accessible introduction to Systems Leadership including:
- what Systems Leadership is and how it works
- what you can do and what to watch out for
- tools and techniques.
The NHS NWLA has a range of resources and information that explain what system leadership is and leadership behaviours that are supportive of this approach. There is also a self-assessment you can complete to identify your strengths and development areas.
The NHS NWLA has a podcast exploring different aspects of systems and transformational leadership.
Servant Leadership
The Greenleaf Centre describes Servant Leadership as “a non-traditional leadership philosophy, embedded in a set of behaviors and practices that place the primary emphasis on the well-being of those being served.” Greenleaf described the “best test” of servant leadership as being whether the people a leader serves grow as people themselves. Do they become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous for example? And what is the impact on inequalities, as a result of this leadership?
In this blog, Carol Malinski explains what we mean by “lead from the heart” and the practical steps that leaders can take, to lead in this way.
In this video, Markus Greenwood talks about how Salford Mind are working to create a culture of radical caring within the workplace.
In this short short TedX talk, Liz Theophille explores what it means to lead from the heart, and the behaviours of servant leadership.
In this article, Larry C. Spears describes the common characteristics of servant leadership including:
- Listening
- Empathy
- Healing
- Awareness
- Persuasion
- Conceptualisation
- Foresight
- Stewardship
- Commitment to the growth of people
- Building community