Abstract
This chapter focuses specifically on one aspect of the fourth building block – the broader contextual awareness a leader or manager must cultivate; that is, an awareness of the policy drivers and rationale which shape the environment in which they and their organisations operate. Managers not only have to be able to balance the everyday requirements of their organisation and team, using their leadership and interpersonal skills; they also have to understand why other demands are being made of them. From the 1980s, the trend of equalising wealth was reversed through policy changes implemented by the Conservative government. A new political agenda emerged, focused on marketisation, competition, individuaksation and home ownership and the concentration of public spending on people most in need. The New Labour government in 1997 introduced what was labelled ‘the third way’, revising the typical social democracy model to include the concept of economic efficiency.