What do you see in this photo?
It is not a staged shot, but actually took place last week. Three members of a team, helping the fourth to get up a hill?…….On the face of it at maybe just that, and quite touching perhaps.
Analyse it a little further and I think you can pick out the elements of John Adair’s ‘Action-Centred Leadership’ approach.
There is a TASK to be achieved, that has been defined by the leader – a tough physical one in this case of riding 80 hilly miles, nearly all off road in a day that was one of 4 totalling 225 gruelling miles.
Understanding the team members as INDIVIDUALS, the leader knew that one might struggle towards the end of the day with the demands of the task, and put some mitigations in place.
Prior to this task, the leader had used a variety of techniques to develop cooperation, morale and team spirit within the TEAM.
This leadership approach culminated in the TEAM coming together spontaneously, when the moment required, to do what they instinctively knew was needed and was right to help the INDIVIDUAL up the final few hills, thereby ensuring the TASK was achieved.
Simple, practical and effective………….and it was a very tough day on the bike
