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LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY TEMPLATE
What is a leadership philosophy?
A leadership philosophy is a written declaration by leaders communicating leader specific
expectations and idiosyncrasies. It empowers followers and leaders by succinctly communicating
leadership and team expectations, standards, priorities and other key information. It is a personal
document, drafted by a leader to clearly and honestly communicate with their team.
Leadership philosophies are individual in nature and can include, exclude and structure content
according to the leader’s preferences. However, commonly it acts as a leader’s vision. It includes sets
of beliefs, values and principles. It does not intend to act as a strategy, outlining how work is to be
achieved. Instead, it intends to guide decision making and performance.
Why is a leadership philosophy important?
A leadership philosophy is both a powerful influence tool and useful communication document for
leaders. It has the potential to act as a foundation for leader-follower relationships. It empowers
groups through communicating critical information. The end documents has the capacity to inform
and influence decision making and follower behaviour, adding consistency to the group. A powerful
leadership philosophy not only informs followers, but also attracts them by appealing to intrinsic
motivators.
What is commonly included?
Leadership philosophies are structured to communicate information the leader believes is critical for
the team to achieve high performance and critical professional team and leader goals. To achieve this,
they commonly include:
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The leaders vision.
Critical personal values and beliefs.
How the leader will lead (such as their personal leadership style).
Expectations, both of followers and what they can expect from you.
Leadership priorities, critical leadership objectives.
Personal idiosyncrasies, both positive and negative which could impact on relationships.
A statement of, and appeal for, commitment.
Putting one together:
There are a number of methodologies leaders can utilise to draft a leadership philosophy. However,
critical to drafting a leadership philosophy is the analysis which goes into it. Leaders need a strong
understanding and appreciation of the following:
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Their own personal leadership strengths and weakness, values and beliefs.
The idealistic leadership required to achieve high performance with their team.
The task expectations of the group.
The environment in which the leader and group exist.
The group itself.
The time available and period of time it covers.
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When drafting a leadership philosophy the leader needs to consider two critical components, what do
they want to convey and how do they effectively convey it. Understanding what the leader wants to
achieve from the document directly dictates the content of the philosophy. Understanding how to
effectively convey it dictates how the philosophy is structured and written, and who it aims to
communicate what to. Defining your message and audience are critical to a successful leadership
philosophy.
Writing your leadership philosophy:
Writing a leadership philosophy can be a confronting, despite their being broad ways to develop yours
and no wrong way. It is important, however, that it is succinct. A common assessment is that it should
aim to be within 1 – 3 pages. No more. To assist you in the drafting of your leadership philosophy we
have included the below template. It is designed to enable you to develop your leadership philosophy
as you fill it out. You should add and remove sections as you see fit, unless it specifically states that
they should be included. However, leaders should consider the requirement to match their
organisations existing or standard leadership philosophy templates.
We recommend a broad internet and/or workplace search to assist in helping you understand what
you want to communicate and how to be do it.
Please see our template below:
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<ORGANISATIONAL HEADER>
Introduction statement (headings are not required)
<The first segment of your leadership philosophy regularly includes an introductory statement. This
introduces the leadership philosophy and the leader to the audience. It should include the period of
time this philosophy has been written for. It may introduce the structure of the document.>
Vision
<Essential to leadership philosophies in the conveying of the leader’s vision for the group. It should be
established here before you can extrapolate from it to the key priorities and components of the
remainder of your philosophy. Your vision should be idealistic, but somewhat achievable, in nature to
attract and challenge followers. It should be easily articulated and relevant to your group and task.
Your intention should be for your vision to guide decision making and behaviours when you are not
present. Leaders can look to their organisational vision for inspiration, drawing from it and their work
areas efforts to support it to help guide and draft their own.>
Values
<Introduce your core values and your expectations regarding them. List the core values by which you
intend to lead and which you wish for your team to display in one list (no double standards). They
serve to guide behaviour and decision making.>
How you will lead
<Including a brief description of your leadership style informs your group of what they should and can
expect from you as their leader>
Expectations
<Expectations that you hold and that others can hold of you. This can be both in a paragraph, list form,
or both depending on your audiences, message and intention.>
Your leadership principles
<Not included in all, and may form part of your above expectations. Leadership principles convey your
leadership expectations and may be suitable for leaders to explain their own leadership style or their
expectations of more junior leaders within the organisation. You may choose to emphasise priority
leadership principles you share with the organisation (if it has common principles).>
Core issues / priorities
<Every leader and organisation has core issues and priorities they wish to address during their time in
their position and as a leader more broadly. Core issues / priorities can be broad in nature, however
should presented in priority order for the group. Leaders should introduce their core issue/priority
and explain why it is important for the group to address. Potential example inclusions include
leadership, diversity, professionalism (what it means to you), timework, safety, ethical leadership etc.>
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Personal idiosyncrasies
<Including personal, but professional, idiosyncrasies provides the leader with a platform to explain
key likes or dislikes (aka ‘pet peeves’) for their followers. The intention is to communicate key
professional issues which can trigger a response in you as a leader. Communicating these empowers
relationships with followers by providing them guidance on what they should and should not do.
Commitment
<End your leadership philosophy with a statement of commitment to your followers and an
expectation that they will be committed to the contents of your philosophy.>
Sign it.
<Using your professional signature block. Communicate it. Distribute it to your team. Make it available
for them to review and understand. Test your junior leaders on it to ensure they understand your
intent and have adapted their leadership approach to reflect yours.
Review it regularly. Update it. Thank your team for meeting your expectations when something is
achieved.>
For further information or assistance: Contact one of our executive, leadership, business or startup
coaches or consultants to discuss how we can assist you with understanding your leadership power.
Find more helpful leadership resources free to download on our website.
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