For 7 years I was what's called a "network manager". That had nothing to do with computer or telecommunications networks. I managed something called The Yorkshire Stroke Research Network.

What this meant was that I was responsible for all of the stroke research that happened in about 25 hospitals, serving around 5.5 million people over 6,000 square miles. At its peak that meant about 30 different clinical trials were running with a few hundred people enrolled and under our care.

A lot can go wrong setting up and running clinical trials. You have to coordinate the work of hundreds of people: doctors, researchers, nurses, administrators and managers. It's pretty complex to manage.

And, when I started, I couldn't tell a single person what to do.

I mean that literally. I had targets and objectives for the whole system, but everyone who delivered the work answered to someone else, who had different priorities and goals. That's the network part. I was there to lead through coordination not control.

You learn some pretty funky leadership skills when this is your job.

It's all about the subtle art of leading beyond authority. Which isn't something you can easily find help with.

Me and the team I worked with got pretty good at it over the years. In fact, we won national awards for our work on service and systems improvement. That was cool.

Later in my career, I was lucky enough to formalise some of the skills I learned when I spent time at Ashridge Business School studying leadership. And then I went on to teach these skills nationally.

So, I know for certain that you can lead without being in control. Because I've done it, studied it, taught it and coached it.

If you (or someone you know) could do with learning some of these skills, come along to my workshop on Friday, which this week, not coincidentally, is called How to Lead Without Being In Control.

If you don't like it, you don't have to pay anything.

Which is pretty fair, don't you think?

Stephen