Published in Globe and Mail - May 8, 2006
Report On Business
Harvey Schachter - Monday Morning Manager
First Item: Five tools for a great leader

You can't win at golf with only one club. Similarly, managers can't succeed with a single approach to leadership but must use five dimensions, according to Toronto-based consultants Scott Campbell and Ellen Samiec:

1. Commanding
At times, as Rudolph Giuliani demonstrated in the wake of 9/11, a leader must take charge and seek immediate compliance to attain a desired result. The commanding approach allays people's fears in a crisis or turnaround, renews hope, and provides them an emotional anchor.

2. Visioning
To gain long-term commitment, you must go beyond commanding to pointing the way. That means creating and effectively communicating a clear and compelling vision for the group to achieve. "Visioning is the leadership club that senior leaders use most often," the consultants note in Leadership Excellence magazine.

3. Enrolling
At times, leaders must create buy-in and commitment by genuinely seeking input or employing democratic decision-making processes since, as management theorist Margaret Wheatley has noted, people only support what they create.

4. Relating
Leaders must create and sustain strong relationships with staff members and among staff members, to create harmony, trust and respect.

5. Coaching
Leaders must develop people's performance and potential while aligning their goals and values with the organization.

"Just as great golfers use all the clubs at their disposal, so too great leaders use all five leadership dimensions—the choice of dimension governed by the context and desired outcomes they wish to achieve." --Scott Campbell and Ellen Samiec

Read source article in Leadership Excellence magazine