Why People Issues Matter
Leaders have it tough. They shoulder so much responsibility. They deal with ever-changing and increasing expectations of them, with little/no empathy for them as they contort in all directions in an effort to keep up.
Some of the things which undermine leadership effectiveness are systemic (e.g. strategy, design, institutional, structural, policy etc. constraints ). Others are personal to leaders themselves. Development investment for leadership has historically focused disproportionately on enabling leaders to be better at things (strategy, structure, product, money, risks, systems, policy, processes etc.)
This has by design, deprioritized people issues in relative terms. When the proverbial hits the fan, it's people issues that are ditched first. We now do a lot more to enable leaders to become better @ themselves & @ people, and these have climbed a rung or two up the priority ladder as a result. Not enough still. What would it take for it to be enough? I'll be happy when the consequences for leaders not making people contributions are as serious as consequences for leaders not making their contribution to things. I know there are instances where this happens, but this is a case of the exception proving the rule.
The good news is that the science of leadership has matured significantly over the years, and we no longer think of people issues in complex terms (for the most part). We now talk about people issues in accessible & consumable language. We all want empowered & accountable teams who go above and beyond to contribute to enterprise goals. Legitimate Leadership’s Wendy Lambourne gives us simple, practical steps to achieve that in this clip.