ABSTRACT
It is perhaps an appropriate time in the text to clarify what I mean by ‘operational leader’. There is an increasing diffi culty within the increasingly ‘fl at’ business organisations of today to distinguish between those who are primarily responsible for the development and management of strategy on the one hand and those who are operationally responsible for its implementation and achievement. Indeed, because many executive positions increasingly include both areas of responsibility it is increasingly important to defi ne and distinguish each distinct
role, this in order to clarify where it is imperative that leadership attributes and capabilities must occur rather than where it is assumed that they lie within the organisation. My previous book Collaborative Wisdom goes into this question in some depth and suggests that true and effective leadership characteristics, attributes and capabilities, if they exist at all within a business organisation, tend to exist within what are generally termed ‘middle management’, which is in practice those roles where operational leadership takes place. Specifi cally, those roles which require an ability to motivate and energise large numbers of individuals on a daily basis and direct them on a cohesive trajectory. These roles require a professional competence in and emphasis on the human and behavioural element of leadership in order to effectively resolve business issues which fall onto their table. As a result, there is a primary dependence for effective decision making, issue resolution and effective implementation on direction, persuasion, coordination, cooperation and collaboration among a large number of individuals with diverse personal objectives, perspectives and priorities, this in order to engender ongoing allegiance, dedication, cooperation, proactive participation and advocacy. This link between effective leadership through people seems like a ‘no brainer’, yet it seems to have become lost among the plethora of ‘urgent’ tasks and priorities of organisational management.
