At these three key levels, strategic leadership provides the scope and direction to help drive success for the

organization.  A major part of this success is derived from effectively managing continuous change through

improvements to both people and processes. For that reason, all executives and managers must have the tools

necessary for strategy formulation and implementation, and they must be ready to use those tools at a moment’s

notice.  Managing in an environment of change and uncertainty requires strategic leaders to consistently maintain

a sense of direction, while simultaneously building ownership of goals and objectives for action within the teams

they are responsible for leading.

The fusion between an analytical point of view, utilized to build the processes for a successful strategy, and a

human element, which allows managers and executives to build successful, motivated, performing teams is

essential to strategic leadership success.

Strategic leadership often fails because the right balance between these two perspectives is not struck.  If there

is a high concentration on the execution of the process and the outcome, often with disregard for the human

dimension, a leader is seen to be a task master, and dispirited individuals will be unmotivated to perform, often

“voting with their feet.”  If leaders are most concerned about the human dimensions at the expense of the

process or the work ethic, work can take on the feeling of a “country club.”  A good place to go to work, but little

clarity about what people are there to do.