Is new X Factor judge a natural leader?

Watching X factor last night was an interesting example of leadership. Louis Walsh, the only remaining judge from previous seasons could reasonably have been expected to take the 'head judge' place at the table and show the 'newbies' how it is done. However, from the first audition it became apparent that Gary Barlow was the true leader of the judges, with a range of actions and behaviours that led all of the other judges, Louis included, to follow him:
- He sat in the end seat previously occupied by Simon Cowell
- He sat back from the table, turned slightly away from the stage and towards the other judges in a casual gesture that indicated he was in control of the situation. This was in marked contrast to the other judges who all sat straight to the table facing the stage.
- When he disagreed with the views of the other judges he asked 'what are we doing' indicating that he expected their judging to fit with the previously stated objective of finding a 'global superstar' and indicating disdain for their childish endorsement of a clearly tone deaf Tai Chi instructor.
- He voted against the other judges in this situation clearly defining his willingness to be 'his own man' and not be swayed by the group
- During the breaks the other judges looked to Gary for leadership when returning to the stage much as the judges had previously waited for Simon Cowell to be ready before going back on stage.

Leadership is authority and control of a situation. You can decide if you want to take a leadership position in any given situation but your role will only be confirmed if others involved in the situation decide to follow you.

If you want to know about leadership, especially in the context of leading change within your organisation sign up for our change management course http://www.maventraining.co.uk/course-detail/_/change-management-foundation-practitioner/7/ and develop your leadership ability to rival that of Gary Barlow (even if your singing is not up to much!)

Business Transformation

I went to a meeting of the Change Management Institute on Tuesday night which included a presentation from Simon Moran, the Head of Process and Change at London Underground. imon described how over the last 6 years he had been building an internal capability for managing and effectively implementing change. Simon and his team support change initiatives by helping staff understand how people react to change, and providing them with a lifecycle model so that they can clearly see the steps that will take them from the current state to delivery of the change vision. I thought it was really interesting that London Underground have had this team in place for so long, because many organisations that Maven are working with are just beginning this journey. There is definitely a demand from organisations to get better at implementing change, and a realisation that this capability does not happen by accident. If you are facing a similar challenge, have a look at this Quick Guide for ideas on how to get started in managing change: http://www.maventraining.co.uk/media/39/639-how-to-get-started-managing-a-change-initiative.pdf If you are interested in formalising your knowledge about change management, have a look at this Quick Guide: http://www.maventraining.co.uk/media/73/573-change-management-quick-guide-2-0.pdf

Creating the right environment for change

So much of the work that I am currently doing is about transformational change - helping programme managers to define their programmes of transformational change, and helping to establish what needs to be in place for change to happen. One of the critical success factors to effective change is encouraging an environment that encourages everyone to participate and ensures that they are supported during the stress and difficulties of learning to do things differently. To summarise some of the most important criteria for this environment, I have written a new web page:

http://www.maventraining.co.uk/principles-of-prince2-msp-mop-and-change-management/

If you are interested in transformational change and are in London this week, come to my free briefing on Thursday afternoon - http://www.maventraining.co.uk/course-booking-form/?id=662