What Kind Of Leader Are You?

 

 

 

 

It seems there are about as many resources and models on leadership as there are automobiles buzzing about on our well traveled roads.  Each one designed for the same general purpose but with differing colours, shapes and prices created to appeal to its market.  In some cases, we find ourselves driving a model that isn’t particularly appealing, but it’s what we have to work with.  

 

Come to think of it, most of us probably spend a lot more time researching, choosing and maintaining our vehicles of choice than we do pinpointing, selecting and polishing our leader behaviours.

 

Interesting, considering I’ll bet you intuitively know that how you show up as a leader, whether that’s within your organization, family or communities of interest, has a much greater impact on your ability to achieve meaningful personal and professional goals.  It has a much greater impact on your ability to complete what really matters to you and your ability to make a difference in the lives of others.

 

Few among us wouldn’t agree that at the end of the day, it’s not about the cars we drive, or the homes we live in, or how much money we have in the bank.  It’s about the relationships we build with people that matter to us.  And with every single one of these relationships, we have the opportunity to lead, in a small or significant way, at one point or another.

 

For some, the people that matter are those that work with and for us.  For others it’s about family, friends, community and/or the less fortunate a continent away. For some, it's about all of the above. And yet for something so vital to our sense of self and accomplishment, we pay so little heed.  We spot and/or take so few opportunities to manage the many moments of truth and to ‘touch’ the life of another soul.

 

Why is this?  Is it because we are too busy?  Is it because of competing priorities?  Is it because we don’t know how?  The answer might lay in all of the above, but I’m betting my money on the primary reason being we simply don’t know how.  We haven’t defined, specifically, the leader behaviours we want to embody personally.  We haven’t made it our business to acquire and integrate a framework and set of behaviours into our being so that they just become the way we think and show up in the world.  We don’t even know where to start – so we don’t.  In fact, we probably don’t even know that we need to start.

 

We haven’t measured, in any significant way, the impact we are having on others, so our level of self awareness is lower than it could be.  We haven’t uncovered our blind spots and hidden strengths.  In short, we haven’t begun the journey of leadership; we haven’t even planned the route.  But oddly enough, we expect to arrive at ‘the’ destination – the destination being peace within ourselves for having lived a full life aligned with what matters most.

 

So you may be asking, “Where do I start?”  “With the volumes of leadership material and models in the marketplace, where does one begin?”  If you are asking this question, you’ve already begun.

If you have already adopted a particular leadership model, then make sure you are headed in the right direction and enjoy the journey.  Chances are that you will need to continually do spot checks, invest in ongoing maintenance and plan for an upgrade or two.

 

Regardless of where you are on the journey, here are 13 vital steps to manage:

1. Select Leadership Principles.  Identify the core principles and practices of leadership that match your values, expectation and culture.  If you are a team of one, you’ll do this alone.  If you are surrounded by other leaders and managers that you rely on to inspire and influence organizational outcomes, involve them in this process.
2. Select Leadership Framework.  Pick a leadership framework, philosophy or model that aligns with your chosen principles.
3. Speak Your Vision.  Articulate why the chosen principles matter – to you, to your people, to your organization or community.  Connect this to your vision.  Write it down and keep it in front of you.  Make sure everyone on your team sees, understands and buys into your vision and its alignment with leadership principles and behaviours.  If they don’t, they shouldn’t be on your team.
4. Invest in Knowledge.  Through self assessment and a 360 degree feedback process, become keenly aware of your hidden strengths, known strengths, known growing edges and blind spots.  Flow this activity out to the front line.  Done appropriately, you will reap many long-lasting rewards.
5. Be a Student of the Model.  Become so comfortable with the principles and behaviours of your leadership model that it feels like a favourite set of shoes from which you don’t want to part. 
6. Identify Critical Behaviours.  Pinpoint the key behaviours you most want to reinforce or develop – in yourself and others.  Be careful to identify the few that will make the biggest difference in your ability to reach your goals and focus there.  Don’t take on too much, else you will do so at the expense of all.  Lazer in on what is most important, to you, to your employees, and to the organization as a whole, and then focus there like a dog with a bone.  Once the desired habits have taken form, move on to the next level of critical behaviours.
7. Practice.  Practice, practice, practice until “its in your bones.”   Start with no more than a handful of very targeted behaviours and create opportunities to practice them.  Seek feedback.
8. Build Capacity.  Become a steward of outstanding leader ability by focusing on building capacity in others.  Model, mentor, coach and invest in leader learning opportunities for those around you.  Start at the top of your organization and cascade throughout every level the knowingness and ability to lead.  Understand that everyone has the potential to lead (and yes that means the receptionist and janitor as well as all others at the front line) – in the workplace, in their homes, in their communities.  The more effectively they build this capacity, the more valuable they will become to you and you to them.
9. Acknowledge Similarities and Differences.  Recognize that many people in your workplace and/or life will be at different places on the journey – or even taking a different route to get to the final destination.  Look for the similarities and create systems and processes for building upon them while, at the same time, acknowledging individual preferences, needs and approaches.  Create a sense of “community” and a desire for individualism.
10. Innovate.  Create and establish unique and fun approaches to becoming a master and creating mastery of best leadership practices at all levels in your organization.
11. Align Performance Management System.  Ensure that you reward yourself, and others, for integrating and applying the desired leader attributes.
12. Calibrate.  Identify what to measure, how to measure, and how often to measure and recalibrate to ensure you stay on track.  In other words, determine how you will know when you are on-route or not, and when you’ve arrived at your destination.  Make sure you measure the right things and then hold people accountable for delivering on them.
13. Recognize and Reward.  Catch people “doing” and “being” a leader and shower them with praise and rewards.  Make it fun.  In recognizing the desired behaviours, always link it back to the specific competency and why it matters.

Leadership is deeply personal, and as I said, it’s a capacity that lays within each of us.  Think about it. 

 

You may consider yourself a leader or you may not.  Whether you do or you don’t, I guarantee you that your life is, and will be, full of “leadership moments.”  It’s a matter of scale and perception.  You don’t have to own a business or head up a corporation to be a leader.  You can lead from wherever you are right now. 

 

This is the place to start.   Consider who influences you and who you influence.  Inventory it.  I’ll bet you’ll be amazed at not only your opportunity to influence, but at the degree of influence you already, and unknowingly, have.  Are you ready to take responsibility for it?  If so, ask us about our leadership development programs. One such program is profiled in this newsletter.

 

Our expertise will assist and encourage you on each leg of your journey.