Strategy is one of the most overused, yet misunderstood, words in leadership circles. And the biggest danger is that the members of your leadership team have different views about what it means. In other words: there is no clarity and alignment.

Are you a gritty leader, or a lazy one? How we act (not what we say) day in and day out will make the difference to the culture, the churn rate, the engagement of your people and lead to changes in productivity, effectiveness, creativity and innovation and, ultimately, our credibility and success as a leader.

A colleague and I interviewed 30 middle managers and asked them: “How are you judged as a leader?” Their response was fascinating and alarming in equal measure.

The world we live in now is volatile and uncertain; we’re balancing health issues and our businesses and we’re faced with moral dilemmas daily. Leaders face a massive task.

One day you are a manager and the next you’re asked to be a leader. I’ll explain the key differences between the two.

Our people don’t know what to believe and which way to turn. They are looking for guidance, they are looking for inspiration, they are looking for leadership!

If you want a life that is worthwhile, find your purpose and make sure your dream is big enough to really make you stretch!

When our people have a purpose bigger than themselves to bring to work, they will put their whole selves in.

The three words that are equally important are ‘inspire,’ ‘shared’ and ‘vision’. You need a vision, you must share it – not only with your leadership team, but with your whole workforce – and it needs to inspire your people to go for it.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could change the way your staff think and act today to create business performance change?

Trust is essential if you want to create a winning culture, and it must start from the top. When you have trust in your organisation, anything is possible.

Leading change means really understanding how to engage with all your people. Here are some key steps.