Leadership is universal. The climber who strides to the front on a tricky ridge is a leader. A parent who organises and drives a charity fund raising event is a leader.

Leadership is no longer the preserve of the few – it is an essential role in business that can be learned by those at all levels to use in a range of different situations. Whether it be pharmacy or the wider commercial world, leadership is all-important.

We have seen significant changes in what is required of good business leaders over recent years. Indeed, those business leaders who have not been aware of changing consumer demands have found themselves in serious trouble.

An interesting insight into the changing business environment and the requirements for leaders came in a government review of how innovation in UK business could be increased. The research (a DTI Innovation Review) showed clearly that high performance, innovative businesses (large or small) require:

• Inspirational leadership
• Stronger management skills
• A highly-trained and motivated workforce
• Use of a flexible labour market that promotes diversity and fair treatment
• Workplaces that recognise environmental issues.

However, this combination of attributes is all too rare. In particular, further research reveals significant shortages in leadership skills that relate to:

• Creating a sense of vision for business within a fast changing environment
• Motivating people and having the ability to lead them through change
• Being innovative in products and services and ways of working.

A major survey of nearly two thousand managers by the Chartered Institute for Leadership and Management and political think-tank Demos revealed a significant inspirational gap in the leadership across UK organisations and has been the basis for much work since.

In the survey, the single most important factor that people wanted to see in their leaders was ‘inspiration’. However, only 11 per cent actually saw the ‘ability to inspire’ in their leaders.

The key question, therefore, for business managers and pharmacy leaders is: ‘How do I close this critical inspiration gap in my pharmacy to achieve high levels of staff motivation, engagement and work place performance?’