CELEX is a consortium of organisations working with the Centre for Leadership Studies and Lancaster University Management School to explore the challenges of organisational performance and leadership development in complex and changing environments.
In previous years we have explored how factors such as social identity and distributed leadership influence the ways in which corporate leadership systems impact upon individual and collective performance, concluding that their narrative function, in expressing 'who we are' and 'what we value', is equally, if not more, important in determining their impact (positive or negative) than their corrective or developmental capacity per se.
Despite the volume of theory and research on leadership and performance the ways in which they are accomplished on a day-to-day basis remain elusive. Over the past six months, therefore, we have been conducting a series of interviews in collaboration with CELEX members to explore questions such as:
1. Where and how is leadership accomplished?
2. Who (and what) contribute to this accomplishment, and how?
3. What are the common rhetorics, rituals, rules and routines of leadership, and what functions do they serve?
4. How is the work of leadership organised, communicated and consumed?
5. What outputs or measures of leadership performance are used?
Responses to these questions have significant implications for the ways in which leadership is recognised, rewarded and developed and its potential to facilitate or inhibit effective performance.
In this workshop we will present preliminary outcomes from this enquiry to stimulate a discussion around what counts as effective leadership in different contexts and what can be done to reduce the likelihood of dysfunctional outcomes through distortions caused by performance measurement and reward systems.
Richard is an experienced researcher and educator in the fields of leadership,
management and organisational psychology. He has worked at the Centre for Leadership Studies since 2000 conducting a range of applied studies of leadership and leadership development across different contexts and sectors (including small and medium enterprises, Higher Education, leadership competencies and international development). His current work explores the interface and interplay between individual and collective approaches to leadership and leadership development and how they contribute towards positive social change within organisations and communities. In addition to his research, Richard teaches and supervises students on a range of programmes including the MA in Leadership Studies, MBA and CPD scheme. Prior to this, Richard was involved in software development in France and as a research psychologist at the Institute of Work Psychology in Sheffield. He has an extensive publication history including numerous journal articles, book chapters, conference papers and research reports. His international experience includes sub-Saharan Africa, France, Egypt and the Balkans.
