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General leadership resources

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Results for Self-Leadership

Results for Leadership Theories and Styles

  • Leadership This CIPD factsheet provides a brief introduction to leadership and explains the differences between leadership and management.
  • Leadership theories The website Leadership Central, provides a snapshot of some historical and contemporary leadership theories.
  • Transformational leadership In their video 'What is leadership?', James Manktelow and Amy Carlson talk about the four skills of transformational leadership. The attached article provides additional detail.
  • The perils of confusing leadership and management In this video John Kotter gives and overview of the difference between leadership and management.
  • Authentic leadership In this video Bill George shares his view of leaders being chosen for character rather than charisma and of the importance of being authentic in your leadership role with others.
  • Situational leadership In this video Ken Blanchard talks about adapting leadership style for different situtions, and the stages people move through from 'enthusiastic beginner' to 'self-directed achiever'.
  • Action centred leadership This article gives a practical overview of John Adair's Three Circles model of leadership involving task, team and individual.
  • System leadership Publications on Systems Leadership are available from the Kings Fund.
  • Collective leadership This NHS publication argues that collective leadership 'entails distributing and allocating leadership power to wherever expertise, capability and motivation sit within organisations' and that everyone needs to take responsibility.
    You may also like: Leadership and Leadership Development in Health Care: The Evidence Base 2015.
  • Altocentric leadership This video identifies the key skills of altocentric leaders.
  • Building collaborative leadership across health and social care This video from the Kings Fund explores why collaborative leadership is important now.
  • What is…enabling collaborative leadership Workforce Scotland offer a short animation about enabling collaborative leadership.

Results for Leadership within Organisations

Depending on your role, you might be thinking ‘why should I be concerned about management and leadership?’ At work and in life generally, we’re all affected by the leadership and management of those who have connections to us. This might be felt through central or local government directives, the effect of NHS targets and priorities on local services we access, or the operation of a day care of children service you use or work in. Your experience of leadership and management will be influenced by:

  • the scope of your own work role
  • the structure and culture of your organisation
  • how you are supported and how you support others to achieve desired goals.

You may or may not have a formal management role in your work, but you will have a view on how you experience management practice in your organisation. There will also be elements of self-management and managing relationships in how you work with colleagues and the people who use your service, as well as tasks you are required to manage in your daily work. This also applies to leadership in terms of the leadership capabilities you exercise in your practice and how you experience and support the leadership of others.

Management and leadership qualities often overlap but there are distinct differences in the skills that each one requires. It is important to understand the difference between the two. Management typically concentrates on the processes which support an organisation to run smoothly. This may include planning, budgeting, staffing and solving problems. Leadership usually believes in establishing a vision and supporting people to achieve goals (Kotter, 2012).

Research identifying what good leadership looks like in Scotland’s social services (SSSC, 2016) highlights ‘there has been little discussion of how management and leadership interrelate’ and how it’s important not to forget the role of good management when thinking about what good leadership looks like (p28-29).

The Enabling leadership research proposes a theory of change and an associated Leadership Logic Model. These identify attributes and behaviours which characterise leadership and which can lead to the achievement of positive outcomes.

The strategy for enhancing the leadership capability of Scotland’s social services (SSSC, 2017), highlights that: ‘Managers and strategic leaders will be aware of the connection and difference between their management and leadership role and will use their knowledge and skills in these areas appropriately’ (p10).

Resources

If you can demonstrate what you have learned from this area of the website and how you have put your learning into practice, you will be invited to complete an interactive activity and earn an Open Badge. Find out more about the Open Badge here.

Capabilities Positive plans for the way ahead Finding different ways of thinking and doing Recognising, exercising and improving your own leadership Leading in partnership and taking others with you Supporting others to be the best they can be Enabling people to develop and use their leadership capacity Guidance on how the organisational capabilities of the Continuous Learning Framework and other resources can support the development of a leadership learning culture

Plan Your Pathway

Everyone's leadership learning is different.  We've put together a selection of tools to help you assess where you are now and what you want to achieve on your leadership journey.

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Codes of Practice

These set a clear benchmark in standards for professional skills, honesty and integrity. Whilst they do not mention leadership specifically, many of the Codes relate to aspects of leadership capability.

Codes of Practice

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