Purpose, make it a Constant

Leaders have two sets of problems to face;

The immediate, the problems of now – these are usually management issues that leaders take on themselves and try to ‘lead’ their way out of them.  Mistake, leave these problems to managers, these sorts of problems are best dealt with by those charged with making good on the organisations promise to deliver on what was agreed.

The managers job is to make sure the agreement is fulfilled and deliver on time, to the right standard and without harm to person or environment.

The second kind of problem is what to do in the future.  Now this is where the leader comes into play.  The future is uncertain at best so the leader develops a plan, provides a purpose.  These plans, strategic plans are by their very nature are speculative and if they don’t reflect the nature of the business are destined in most cases to fail.

The purpose of the organisation must remain constant and easily explained for the people in the organisation to follow and understand it.

Philip Dawson MBA