Leadership

6. Point the Way

6.1 Everyday leadership focuses mainly on deciding priorities and setting objectives.

• It helps if any objectives that are set are SMART (specific, measurable, agreed, realistic and time-limited).
• Leaders lead the search for ideas and improvement. For example, they ask questions like: 'Who do we know who does this well?' or 'Whose brains can we pick about how to tackle this?'

6.2 The managing director usually decides the strategy and direction for the business. In some companies, this role is shared by the chairman, or the board of directors.

The classic formula for defining strategy has four parts:

• Where are we coming from?
• Where are we now?
• Where are we going?
• How are we going to get there?