Leadership is the most important issue going on in our organisations and institutions today.

Leadership guru, John C Maxwell reckons “everything rises and falls on leadership” and I believe him!

After a 30 year professional career, the first 20 working in a range of organisations and the last 10 as a business consultant, I believe I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly.

One thing I know for sure is that there is a direct link between the success or failure of the organisation and the quality of the leadership. Organisations that are dynamic, kicking goals and happy have good, strong leadership. By contrast, organisations that are struggling to perform, losing customers and finding it hard to hold on to staff usually have ineffective leaders.

So here’s the thing ‚Ķ most people want to do better at leadership, but they just don’t know where to start in order to improve.

Before you get a licence to drive a car, you have to do several things. First, ask for one – that is, go to the authorities, prove your age, fill in some paperwork, pay a fee, and importantly, demonstrate that you know the rules of the road.

Driving rules such as giving way, what to do at roundabouts, staying on the correct side of the road, adhering to speed limits, wearing a seat belt and more. This last step of understanding the road rules is necessary to getting your licence, because if you drove straight out onto the road without knowing any of the basic dos and don’ts, there would be carnage.

What about leadership? Many of us don’t ask for leadership responsibility – we get pushed into it, inherit it or get it by default, because there was no one else. Having said this, some of us do actively seek out becoming a leader.

Where are the ‘rules of the road’ for leadership?

Where are the three weeks of close supervision by an experienced leader to give us guidance and advice?

In fact, many of us have only had hoons and drunk drivers as leadership role models. Some of the people we have learnt ‘leadership lessons’ from have been unlicensed, unregistered and possibly asleep at the wheel.

I’ve developed 21 ‘road rules’ that can guide your leadership journey. Each rule has practical, straightforward advice that you can put into action immediately to improve your leadership. The rules are group into five key areas representing the core competencies of the Licence to leader Leadership Development Model. They are

• Vision | connecting people with your commonly shared goals
• Authenticity | becoming a leader that you team members trust
• Action | driving activity in the right direction to achieve results
• Responsibility | accepting what we need to do and getting it done
• Inspiration | finding your personal ability to lead and inspire others

These guidelines are covered in more depth in a book I have just launched ‘Road Rules for Leadership’ which you even have the chance to win just by liking my Facebook page.