How leadership is presented in the movies and how leadership should actually work are worlds apart from each other.

True people leadership is not about the ego. It involves a huge mind shift from being responsible for your own set of tasks and getting rewarded for completing them, to becoming the instrument that allows other people to thrive and grow.

An organisation, no matter what its size, needs good leadership. Poor leadership is as bad as no leadership, and can cause apathy and stagnation at best and resentment and dwindling performances at worst.

However, if you create a work environment where there is a proper focus on good people leadership, you have given your organisation a shot in the arm. This will have a profound effect on the business, and its people.

Good people leadership makes the journey towards the agreed goal, outcome or vision worthwhile, enjoyable, meaningful for those involved.

People need leadership. They need a sense of direction and shared vision and clarity on how they can help realise that vision. People respond so much more effectively when they are feeling empowered, responsible and accountable. Good people leadership can achieve this.

Whereas managers report, follow processes and make sure staff reach targets, leaders have a more influential effect. To a leader, a person isn’t a cog in a corporate wheel. They are a human being, with traits, skills, ideas and talents who can help move the company from where it is now to where they need it to go.

With this in mind, the leader can motivate, encourage and spur on that member of staff to achieve his or her potential.

The leader’s ability to do this creates shining examples of people who are happy, satisfied and inspired. This forms a ripple effect across the whole of the company and creates a positive environment in which everyone can thrive.

A company flourishes under effective people leadership. Minds are opened, ideas exchange, people are fulfilled. A new way of working is created which not only creates happy, motivated people but also a company that can adapt, evolve and grow in a fast-moving, chaotic world.