As classical scholars know, the god of the doorway is Januarius. At his annual reappearance, most of us begin to look to the year ahead with renewed optimism and ambition.
We are infected by a touching desire to take charge of our co-workers. But no sooner are we back at work than the door of reality slams in our face. Power struggles reignite and the sausage factory mentality reasserts itself.
Even if we’re hard enough to survive, it won’t make us better leaders. As Lily Tomlin said: “The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.” What is it about leadership that is so perennially fascinating, enticing and difficult? If you Google the word, you’ll get at least 1.7 gazillion references.
In the film running through our heads, leadership features as an activity beyond the grasp of mere mortals. It usually stars guys like Gandhi, Churchill or Kennedy. It’s an aspiration, not an occupation. In real life, the likelihood is that we will have worked under many more bad leaders than good ones. A bad leader is a ‘loser’. They will have lost any plot that was going, our loyalty and respect and most opportunities to have achieved anything worthwhile. So how do we tackle it?
Let’s first separate ‘leadership behaviour’ from the idea of leader. We are all capable of behaving like a leader because we work mainly within our comfort zone. This gives us the sure-footedness and confidence to fuel those resolutions each year.
We know the territory and have experience to fall back on. Behaviours might be:
• communicating to create a bond and describe a better future i.e. vision;
• encouraging others to perform beyond their previous best i.e. motivation;
• subtly directing people through difficulties or crises without getting too involved yourself i.e. influence.
Leadership behaviour is related to the jobs we do. But the world changes and pushes us every day. In accepting the consequences we sometimes have to leave our comfort zone and operate from positions of less certainty. Are there clues? Look at any leader we respect, to whom we give ready allegiance, who shows us a good example. They have an integrity which inspires us to follow them.
Study their kind of ordinary, day-to-day, low-key leadership style. Chances are it will involve:
• Trust (do others believe what I tell them?);
• Purpose (is there a point or a value to this?);
• Communicating (can I describe this vision?);
• Responsibility (am I right to get involved and take this on?); and
• Risk-taking (have I spent enough time thinking about this?).
The challenge of leadership is not always about ‘big’ or ‘important’. It’s more about continuity, holding things together. Every doctor is a potential leader - of individuals, teams or services. Fulfilling the role means balancing responsibility for serving the immediate needs of patients with bringing through the next generation of practitioners.
In between is the small matter of working within the organisation - those who set out the protocols, organise the resources, pay the salaries and so on. That’s the real challenge, not the status and position of the comfort-zoned day job.
This is the first article in a three-part series on leadership.
Bob Mathers provides non-clinical training for health professionals. Email him on bobmathers@btinternet.com.

