The problem is the word “impact” tends to be intrinsically linked to size. Impact is only viewed positively when it’s big. In fact, big is often not enough. It needs to be bigger than big. It needs to be HUGE. A small impact is basically no impact. A tiny impact isn’t worth the paper it’s written on or the workplace it’s delivered in. You’ll rarely hear managers or leaders talk about the “medium-sized impact” they had on a business or on a team or on the performance of a staff member. But why not? When it comes to leadership impact, why should size matter? Isn’t the impact itself enough?
Take Bill Gates. Through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and its contribution of more than US$500 million, there is the possibility of eradicating malaria by the middle of this century. That’s leadership and that’s leadership impact.
But it’s true that for every Bill and Melinda Gates there are millions of managers and leaders in workplaces all over the world having an impact and making a difference. Equally, those same managers and leaders – and others – are making a difference outside the workplace – often using the management and leadership skills they have honed at work.
IML’s Leadership Excellence Awards…are for the unsung heroes, the leaders of today who don’t get the headlines, the managers who manage and who manage well, day in day out.
The finance department manager who leads a small team of accountants in Bendigo and also coaches the under-14s mixed netball team on a Saturday morning, and who talks the team “up” after a defeat, is instilling in tomorrow’s leaders the art of resilience. She has an impact. The small business owner who runs a coffee shop with a team of five, but also volunteers his business acumen and leadership skills to the local primary school’s Parents & Citizens Committee. He also has an impact. Both of these leaders make a difference.
And this is where IML’s Leadership Excellence Awards come in. These awards have been designed to recognise minute, small or even medium-sized impact. They are for the unsung heroes, the leaders of today who don’t get the headlines, the managers who manage and who manage well, day in day out. They are for the people who know that leadership matters.
