As we’ve been setting up the Future Leaders Network, we’ve been reflecting a lot on who and what a leader is. There are, of course, lots of theories about leadership and how to be a good leader, and skills and knowledge certainly play a part. But we also know that what it means to be a leader, and who we each regard as a ‘good’ leader, can be highly personal, and it’s been interesting to reflect on our own thoughts and ambitions as we’ve been setting up FLN.
For some of us, our ambition may be to rise to a traditional senior leadership position in terms of hierarchy; to become a Chief Executive, senior Director or Chair of Trustees. We shouldn’t be afraid to be honest if we have these ambitions and, equally, if we don’t. We should encourage people to talk openly about their career aims and development, and what is clear is that we need to broaden conversations about leadership beyond traditional senior roles.
Between the three of us behind the FLN, one of us wants to be a Chief Executive, one of us doesn’t, and one isn’t sure either way. Yet we all see ourselves as developing or future leaders.
This is because, at its most simple level, we see leaders as those with ideas or a vision and the ability to take others with them to achieve it. As such, we believe leadership comes in many shapes and sizes and – crucially – levels of seniority and that this needs to be nurtured right from the start of our careers.
There are many incredibly talented people in our sector, full of passion and commitment to help people and make the sector the best it can be. Some of them are Chief Executives and senior Directors, doing a brilliant job for our sector. But many aren’t, and if the only route to real influence and leadership is through traditional routes, we will be losing out.
These thoughts have got us thinking about some big questions: How can we, as a sector, empower and support people to show leadership at different levels throughout their career? How would de-centralising power and influence throughout organisations change our understanding of leadership? Where are there good examples of this being done already? For those of us who do want to be Chief Executives, does having brilliant leaders throughout the organisation take the pressure off somewhat – meaning more people might consider such roles, and traditional leadership roles might be filled with more diverse candidates?
We don’t pretend to have all the answers, but we think there’s lots of interesting conversations to be had, and we’re looking forward to exploring this more through the FLN.
Shortly, we’ll be running a series of blog posts from leaders within our sector sharing their experience and thoughts on what it means to be a leader. And we’d love to hear what you think too – particularly on some of the questions we’ve raised here.
Ultimately, whatever your ambitions, the aim of the network is to support people to develop, to have a voice and to shape the sector we all care about. We’ve been heartened by the comments of our members so far, highlighting the need for what we want the network to offer. If you haven’t signed up so far, we’d love for you to join us to.