Leaders are always working with tension. Success comes from an ability to become and remain creative in the midst of uncertainty and tension. One of the keys to success is having clear and strong intention – knowing what you want. Along with creativity a leader needs a high level of resilience – “intension” is the strenuous exertion of will, the ability to persist and, by exercising will-power, succeed.

So, what does that say about developing leaders?

An effective leader might be said to be one who can create and maintain an environment where people feel safe (empowered) and able to perform their ‘work’ (achieving the vision or purpose) to the highest possible levels.

The first step in this process might be to have a ‘vision’ of what that environment would be like.

Once we’ve described the environment then we can ask:

• What behaviour must a leader demonstrate, consistently, to generate and maintain such a space (environment)?
• What capabilities (unconscious competence) must the leader have in order to be able to generate consistent behaviours?
• What beliefs would enable the leader to generate and maintain the required capabilities?
• What identity generates the beliefs? (Who do I have to be?)
• How will my creation of this space (through my leadership) benefit the greater good?

Then we design a leadership development system that focuses on the Vision, Values and Beliefs required to generate and sustain the behaviours we need to display, as leaders, in our environment. Our people will then be unable to do anything but follow.