It’s a very exciting time for us at Aspire Leadership. In response to demand from our clients and wider contacts, we’re launching our first public courses, starting with Line Management, in June this year.

That’s fantastic news for us and I’m delighted – so why can’t I sleep and why am I feeling slightly panicky?

Well, I need a process and not just any process; It has to be perfect (isn’t that a song…?).

It’s probably my engineering background – my way of working is to sort out the system and the process and then we just follow it. So I’ve been surrounding myself with diagrams and lists, researching systems, fiddling with the back end of the web-site and writing documentation. The process is there but will it ever be perfect? And do we wait till it is perfect to launch?

Liz is spontaneous and creative with a great belief in serendipity. So Liz has been busily responding to clients with a can-do attitude, placing ads, writing blogs, making links and generally getting our name out there. If you’re new to our blog then you know it’s working!

Put the two together and we get a responsive system that deals with anomalies with great human warmth and flexibility. And it works.

The dates are in the diary and we have our first responses already.

If we followed just one of our ways of working the result would be nowhere near as successful – taken to the extreme it’s a choice between organized obscurity or charming chaos.

Which brings me to line management and how to deal with people who have a different way of working to you. If line management becomes about doing it ‘my way or the highway’, the chances are something is getting lost in the mix.

It may be that the person you are managing has a very different way of approaching tasks or of organizing themselves. I need lists, Liz doesn’t. If I insist on us using lists Liz will become resentful and unenthusiastic.

There’s no one right way of doing things – there may be many ways to skin the cat.

So it becomes about appreciating the gifts the other person brings to the party, recognizing the strengths of their way of working and allowing them the space to work as they choose to work to achieve the end goal.

That might mean some discomfort for you – not necessarily sleepless nights, but maybe the occasional feeling of not being in complete control of everything the other person is doing. That’s OK. As long as the goal is clear, letting them do it their way can be incredibly empowering.

As a line manager your role is to ensure the goal is met – to catch them if they fall, rather than to carry them.

Just so you know, we’re talking to some very exciting people about all the possibilities so on-line booking and credit card facilities are coming (watch this space) – the system.

It will be perfect!