Leadership… is the Central Nervous System of the Enterprise.

It provides the neural network for purpose, coordination, resourcing, and boundaries of the enterprise’s capabilities as well as the heartbeat, breathing and responses to thrive.

Managerial leadership is about the relationship between a leader and their team, at any level of an organization. A Managerial leader is a person in a role or roles, in which they are held accountable for their own effectiveness and outputs, plus that of their team. That is a double set of accountabilities i.e. for themselves and their own unique value, plus that of their team’s unique value add.

At its most generic, effective managerial leadership is about delivering outcomes from teams.
Leaders are accountable for building and developing their team and ensuring the team is clear on why work is necessary, its priorities; that they are committed and capable of delivering what is agreed by when. The Leader is also accountable for the continuous improvement of methods and agility of work and decision taking.

So all leaders at a generic sense must be accountable for tasking (work, authority / accountability / role clarity), trusting (decision making with understanding) and tending (coaching, feedback, development, flow) to ensure empowerment, transparency and experimentation and continuous improvement.

To support these generic functions of leadership, RE has a proven set of managerial leadership competencies all leaders need to understand and practice as basic skills.

Leadership of a work system requires continual focus on building trust, context, and clarity of purpose, as well as an understanding of no harm and compliance with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Leadership requires understanding how to design, operate and lead effective enterprises. The CEO is the key integrator.

At the macro scale of systems, leadership requires a different set of skills. The ability to seek and create shared understanding and tolerance necessary for international and regional cooperation (think COVID19 responses, peacekeeping, global governance, UN SDGs) is essential. Leadership is required to create the conditions for trust and a shared understanding of the work involved and how to deliver the optimal outcomes, even where animosity and intolerance exist.