Essay On Leadership

 

Leadership plays an extremely vital role in impacting the overall work culture and work processes in an organisation. It also impacts on the employee behaviour and their attitude and the overall level of productivity in the work place (Strukan, Nikolić and Sefić, 2017). In this discussion the focus in on analysing the leadership strategies and impacts of Christine Holgate who has been associated with leadership responsibilities with various organisations across different industry sector and has also received several acknowledgments and awards for her fearless and bold leadership abilities and her constant passion to work for gender equality at workplace. Recently Christine Holgate has won the 2022’s Excellence in Women’s Leadership award. Therefore in this discussion the focus is to assess her leadership impacts on the top management teams in those organisations that she has been associated with, her strategic leadership in addressing human resource management and ethical practices within the organisation

 

 

Christine Holgate started her career with Allied Healthcare and BBC News and she began her international career as she joined in the telecommunication company Cable & Wireless. She projected her leadership skills in the company where she headed the marketing department and also conducted several projects across Caribbean, Europe and Hong Kong. She has been associated with J.P Morgan as the Managing Director or Marketing joined Energis as the Group Director of Strategy and Marketing and then she joined Telstra (linkedin.com, 2022) as the chief executive officer and managing director. Her primary focus has always been on ensuring that the top management is well aware of the needs and wants of the employees and the policies and processes confirm to the set business standards and goals of the organisation. As a visionary leader Holgate also focused on ensuring that right people are given the right responsibility to manage the organisation’s top positions (Schmidt, 2017). Like when Holgate joined Blackmores in 2008 she recognised that the operations in Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan were heavily neglected. This is exactly the reason why she appointed Peter Osborne to manage the operations of these countries and as brought in significant results with Balckmores’ annual sales rising to $234 million. It was her strategic leadership that Blackmores reached the position of being nominated to be amongst the top 200 most prominent companies in Australia in the year 2015 as it joined the ASX200 (theceomagazine.com, 2022). In 2017 Holgate joined as the CEO of Australia Post and she was the first woman in that role. As a leader Holgate focused on involving the top management in the overall decision making and never implemented any dominant style of leadership approach (Hanrahan, 2021). It was also in relation to her gifting Cartier watches to the senior managers and executives who backed a lucrative deal that brought in rounds of controversy and finally made her resign from the organisation. However it is clearly evident from the same how Holgate focused on maintaining a cordial relation with the top management and also was extremely open in appreciating or acknowledging the efforts of the executives and managers. Currently Holgate is appointed as the CEO of Toll Global Express. She has been equally effective as a leader in this organisation as well. Holgate has been quite vocal on the aspect of women leadership in this organisation and has been continuously working for building a remarkable turnover for logistics business.

 

 

Leadership has an extremely strong impact on influencing the human resource of an organisation. It is necessary for the leaders to understand how their behaviour and values tend to impact on the mindset and attitude of the human resource of the business. Holgate as a leader has been extremely responsive to the needs and demands of the employees and every staff of the organisation with which she has been associated with (Alembakis, 2018). Holgate as a responsible leader has also been quite vocal in recognising the needs and demands of its employees and staffs in terms of providing them with proper training as well as ensuring proper remuneration and acknowledgement of the staffs. When she was associated with Australia Post she had started several campaigns like “Every Matters” which focused on supporting postal workers of that region and also launched the several campaigns for ensuring equal pat for all employees and staffs in the organisation. She has emphasised on upgrading the existing parcel processing system and to integrate automation and tracking which will help the staffs to perform better as well as distribute work load (McIlroy, 2021). She has also been a strong voice behind upholding the status of women at workplace and has been extremely vocal on how more women should come forward to take leadership positions in business.

 

Holgate’s leadership and its impact on human resource is also equally visible how she completely change the fate of Toll Global Express by building passionate and high functional teams to help the business grab unique market opportunity and achieve a sustainable business growth. The business has achieved 35 percent improvement in the grade of service under Holgate’s leadership and strategic human resource management. She has always been equally concerned about the existing levels of employee satisfaction and a believer of recognising and acknowledging the staffs and members of the organisation (afr.com, 2021). This is exactly the reason why she chose to gift those Cartier watches in her former organisation to the executives who had backed a lucrative deal as a method of appreciating their effort whole heartedly. Hence it is extremely evident how Holgate has chosen to implement a situational leadership approach as whenever she had found the workforce incompetent she has provided them with the necessary training and coaching while allowing them to function is a democratic manner, focused on their personal and professional growth and most important on their overall wellbeing in the organisation. This is exactly the reason why she has won recognitions like Australian CEO of the year in 2015 by The CEO Magazine

 

 

Christine Holgate has always focused on maintaining an ethical leadership approach in business and this is exactly the reason that she has been parts of campaigns like “equal pay for equal work”. She has also played an extremely important role in ensuring workplace gender diversity by voicing her opinion regarding how more females should be encouraged at the top of the organisation or to manage leadership positions in the business. However she as a woman has been severely humiliated and has faced extreme criticism in her former office that is Australia Post which actually compelled her to resign. Therefore as she joined Toll Global Express as the CEO she has been constantly building several initiatives that will emphasise on protecting the female workforce, ensuring their professional growth without compromising on their personal space and facing any humiliation at work.  However it is also on the grounds of ethics that her act of giving super expensive luxury Cartier watch was questioned owing to the fact that it did not comply with the policies of gifts and benefits existing in the organisation (theguardian.com, 2021). Moreover the board of Australia Post also discussed how Holgate did not inform the same to them or else they would have not allowed for the same. Yet the investigations have also proven that the funds of the organisation were not used for any unethical activity or were not wrongly accounted. She definitely focused on maintaining proper transparency and ethical approach in her actions with a pure intention of acknowledge the great amount of hard work the managers and executives had put in winning the deal. Therefore it is quite evident how Holgate as a leader has always prioritised on maintaining an ethical business approach where the focus has been predominantly on controlling disparities and ill-treatment which often female employees are exposed to. This is also the reason that Holgate had won the national award for the Australian Award for Excellence in Women's Leadership in the year 2022 for her resilience and her unparallel passion for justice (abc.net.au, 2021). It is also her ethical approach to business that Toll Global Express has been able to achieve significant market growth since Christine Holgate stepped in as the CEO.

 

 

The leadership strategy and impact of Christine Holgate clearly states how an independent and morally driven leader helps a business organisation flourish. The leadership principles and values that Christine Holgate has brought in the business has actually set in high standards of leadership and how women should be encouraged to take such roles of responsibility as they have the ability to lead efficiently. She has been an example of how leaders should prioritise on the wellbeing of the employees which plays an extremely important role in building the organisation culture. Strategic leadership has a vital role in influencing the overall work culture and the productivity at workplace which is again quite evident from the aspect of how Holgate’s guidance and support hence Toll Global Express to regain its lost market position. Altogether the discussion quite appropriately summaries how irrespective of sever crisis and complexities strategic business leaders always prioritise on organisational success.

 

 

abc.net.au, 2021. Holgate calls for Aus Post chair to be sacked over Cartier watch scandal, chair says he won't resign. [online] Abc.net.au. Available at: <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-13/christine-holgate-cartier-watches-scandal-committee-hearing/100064972> [Accessed 11 August 2022].

 

 

afr.com, 2021. Christine Holgate takes on one of the toughest jobs in Australia. [online] Australian Financial Review. Available at: <https://www.afr.com/companies/transport/christine-holgate-takes-on-one-of-the-toughest-jobs-in-australia-20210510-p57qgt> [Accessed 11 August 2022].

 

 

Alembakis, R., 2018. Diverse strategies. Investment Magazine, (150), pp.22-24.

 

 

Hanrahan, P., 2021. Directors' counsel: The ABC of GBEs. Company Director, 37(6), pp.28-29.

 

 

linkedin.com, 2022. Christine Holgate. [online] linkedin.com. Available at: <https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-holgate-538a1b1/> [Accessed 11 August 2022].

 

 

McIlroy, J., 2021. Australia post CEO sacking deflects from privatisation plan. Green Left Weekly, (1305), p.6.

 

 

Schmidt, L., 2017. The CEO dilemma. Company Director, 33(11), pp.47-49.

 

 

Strukan, E., Nikolić, M. and Sefić, S., 2017. IMPACT OF TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP ON BUSINESS PERFORMANCE. Tehnicki vjesnik/Technical Gazette, 24.
theceomagazine.com, 2022. Toll Global Express CEO Christine Holgate celebrated as influential leader. [online] The CEO Magazine. Available at: <https://www.theceomagazine.com/business/management-leadership/christine-holgate-award/> [Accessed 11 August 2022].

 

 

theguardian.com, 2021. Australia Post board did not approve purchase of Cartier watches worth $20,000. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jan/22/australia-post-board-did-not-approve-purchase-of-cartier-watches-worth-20000> [Accessed 11 August 2022].