First tool of its kind to explore the key components of leadership style within the context of an organisation
Developed based on unique leadership research from Adastrum Consulting and Kingston Business School
Executive search and leadership advisory business, Adastrum Consulting, today launches a revolutionary new leadership and organisational development tool.
The tool is based on unique, groundbreaking research into the role of purpose in leadership, carried out by Adastrum Consulting and Kingston Business School’s Wellbeing at Work Research Group.
The tool is the first of its kind to explore a leader’s sense of purpose and how their leadership style and organisational context act as a facilitator or barrier to achieving successful outcomes.
The ‘Leaders with Purpose’ tool collates insights and responses from managers, peers, key stakeholders and those directly reporting to an individual, based on a range of questions. As well as identifying an individual’s sense of purpose, these questions explore five key components of their leadership style - Trust, Adaptability, Influence, Vision and Fortitude as well as the organisational context in which they are working.
The results show not only how well individuals lead but also to what extent their organisation aids or hinders them in being successful, combining leadership development and organisational diagnostics in one unique tool.
Used over time, the ‘Leaders with Purpose’ tool will demonstrate a leader’s growth and development. Used in a team setting, it provides a data-rich baseline for the team leader to use in their journey towards high performance status. Used across teams, it gives Business Units or Functions unparalleled insights that go deeper than employee surveys or traditional feedback mechanisms.
Much of the current thinking around leadership focuses on static sets of characteristics and the notion of leaders and followers, rather than successful outcomes and the role an organisation can play in achieving them.
The new development tool is based on research that turns this thinking on its head, by identifying that:
• A sense of purpose, not a specific set of characteristics, is the key to successful leadership. However, characteristics as well as timing and context can act as barriers or facilitators to purpose
• A sense of purpose is time bound and there will come a point when a leader’s sense of purpose within a role is fulfilled and their job is done!
• Leaders with purpose define success as more than business and financial objectives – for example leaving a legacy
• A leader’s sense of purpose is more likely to translate to success if certain key facilitators are present, and if certain key barriers are absent/overcome
• Facilitators and barriers exist both within (internal) and outside (external) of the person
• The key internal facilitators are mainly concerned with EQ and value components of a leader’s style (their behaviours, thought processes and emotions; their ability to develop Trust, Adapt to change, Influence others, create Vision have the Fortitude to see things through)
Chris Underwood, managing director at Adastrum Consulting comments:
“While traditional development and feedback tools tend to focus on specific sets of characteristics taken in isolation, ‘Leaders with Purpose’ takes a unique, holistic approach that looks at how success is defined and achieved as well as the role the organisation itself plays in facilitating or acting as a barrier to leadership success.
“The research we carried out with Kingston University clearly showed that a whole new approach to identifying, assessing and validating success in leadership is needed. For too long the spotlight has been on specific sets of static characteristics and a focus on ‘leaders’ and ‘followers’, without taking into account the vital role that a sense of purpose plays and the barriers to success an organisation itself can create.
“We have long felt that without a strong sense of purpose, leaders cannot be successful, and our research appears to validate that assumption. With this new tool, organisations can, for the first time, rethink their approach to leadership development, to include a renewed focus on the importance of purpose and providing facilitators and removing barriers to success.”