Politicians need to lead through managing personalities and policies

I arrived in government with some appreciation of management issues, writes Baroness Virginia Bottomley. My father, John Garnett of the Industrial Society, adopted Professor John Adair’s renowned leadership and management model: achieve the task by developing the individual and building the team.

Recently, it has become fashionable to distinguish leadership from management. The two are not mutually exclusive. Gone are the days when managers ‘do things right’ while leaders ‘do the right thing’. The 21st century politician needs to lead through managing personalities and policies.

It would be misleading to talk of ‘managers’ and ‘politicians’ as if they were entirely different. We see Cabinet Ministers behaving like directors and directors taking on the characteristics of politicians. The perception that politicians are dynamic with the ability to inspire others whereas managers are seen as administrators who just focus on the task in hand is archaic – leadership is complex, multifaceted and requires critical self appraisal. It’s important to know your limitations but not be bound by them – thinkers need doers and vice versa.

Little in a working life is achieved in isolation. It is essential to work alongside other people – to motivate and inspire them but also to know when to relinquish the lead and take a back seat. Many great leaders possess exceptional professional will but also personal humility. Strength of resolve may be universally admired but it is important to remain pragmatic and flexible – dogmatism causes discord.

Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, acknowledges business managers no longer have all the answers, and neither do politicians – much of what makes a good politician, as in business, is drawing ideas for new directions out of your best people. Sam Rayburn, American politician and lawyer (responsible for the New Deal legislation), famously put it: ‘You cannot be a leader, and ask people to follow you, unless you know how to follow, too’.

Parliamentarians with a career in business and management are now relatively rare. There is a trend towards politics being seen as a career rather than a call to public service. One study indicated that more than a quarter of the candidates chosen by Britain's political parties to fight this year's general election had no experience of any career other than politics. Bright young university graduates proceed from parliamentary researcher, special advisor to Member of Parliament – having little or no career other than politics. Neither business nor politics should draw its talent simply from people who share similar backgrounds and experiences. Diversity matters in politics, as in business.

This is an extract from the Westminster column in the July issue of Professional Manager by Baroness Virginia Bottomley of Nettlestone, Conservative Peer. Member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Management, and Chair, Board Practice, at Odgers Berndtson

* CMI supports the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Management, which aims to promote debate and foster a closer understanding between Parliament and UK managers.

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