I feel sorry for Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats at the moment as they seem to be between a rock and hard place. This is the time that Nick Clegg really needs to show strong and decisive leadership.
This follows the day when more than 90 prominent Liberal Democrat councillors, including the leaders of 18 local authorities, have criticised the scale and pace of government cuts.
In a letter to the Times, they say cuts will have "an undoubted impact on all front-line council services, including care services to the vulnerable".
The Labour Party must be thanking their blessings as there doesn't appear to be a better to time to be in opposition. In attempting to clear the largest deficit in living memory whoever was in Government and tasked with tackling this mountain of debt would be cast of the bad guy no matter who they are. So you can image the thoughts of the Lib Dems back in May last year when they were offered the opportunity of governing, albeit as part of a coalition, for the first time in living memory since 1914. What a poisoned chalice that may prove to be for Nick Clegg, damned if he did and damned if he didn't!
So can he do anything to ensure his party aren't cast into the wilderness for another century! Leadership has been described as the skill of influencing people towards the achievement of goals or objectives. With the scale of cuts being proposed and the frequency of the negative announcements it seems difficult for him to positively influence peoples thinking with so much negativity around. This was illustrated by the debate concerning tuition fees for students when he said that he feared that young people were making decisions not fully understanding how the system would work for disadvantaged students.
Leading involves getting people on board and giving them direction. That is certainly what he needs to do with his own party to ensure they don't implode over the next few months. One of the main roles of a Leader is to promote unity and give that direction.
Leadership is also about building trust and it was interesting again in yesterdays debate that he was continually accused of lying and going back on election promises. This is an area that he needs to address in seeking to rebuild that trust.
I think he also need to adopt a more of a situational leadership approach by altering his leadership style depending on the circumstances and the audience. Will circumstances conspire against him no matter how effective a leader he his? Will it be a case of damage limitation in terms of the reputation of his party? It will be interesting to follow events over the forthcoming months.
For more information on leadership development visit the Call of the Wild website.
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