Welcome to this bi-monthly Blog.
Leading and managing teams successfully takes more than a title or a place in the hierarchy. Great leaders start by acknowledging this is a challenge that requires self-awareness and the deep interest in the growth and development of others.
There are many diverse management and leadership styles that are equally effective. After working directly with over 50 CEOs, I’ve concluded that it’s not what they do, but how they do it that impacts the outcome of their efforts.
The most effective leaders are those that master the ‘how.’ The ‘what’ is closer to the vision and everyone in a team is already drawn to it when they join an organization. But it is the journey that the large majority of employees want to enjoy and appreciate, the daily experience with their manager and colleagues.
The 3 guiding principles that serve as a foundation for this input are passion, compassion and integrity.
Principles are key to making trustworthy decisions because those that follow you must trust you, believe in you, and feel inspired by you. Passion not just for a mission but to develop and grow teams, compassion for people as human beings, and integrity to hold ourselves and others accountable for achieving our vision and business objectives.
What Makes a Good Leader
There are strategic and practical skills effective leaders have to master. Examples of strategic skills are knowing how to have difficult conversations regarding performance and how to engage in healthy conflict with team members, upper management, and peers.
Themes that are more complex – such as diversity and inclusion or communicating through a termination of employment – require an advanced understanding of how to balance clarity and sensitivity. Although the same communication skills apply to all relationships in our lives, in the context of work, the power structures play an important role that must be considered.
As leaders we are able to influence and facilitate business discussions and decisions where often there are many strong and conflicting opinions. Whether you choose to be a benevolent dictator (one form of leadership style) or a consensus driven leader – being able to draw intelligence from a team of individuals and drive the discussion to a conclusion of strategic or tactical nature is an important skill to acquire.
There are character traits that contribute to a more successful practice that are tougher to learn, such as empathy. We all have empathy within us because it’s part of the human profile – the learning for some of us is in how to manifest this emotion to others with sincerity so they feel that we care.
A visionary leader that lacks interest in showing empathy, can be effective as an individual contributor, motivating others with ideas and concepts instead of emotionally engaging. This can work when this type of leader partners with another that emphasizes and practices emotional intelligence.
Being a leader is a choice. Anyone can practice leadership skills when there is a shared mission and we feel compelled to accomplish it as a team. The most successful leaders are those that can influence others without having the explicit authority, such as a title and position in the hierarchy, to do so.
I look forward to learning from your questions and comments! Feel free to provide feedback or share your reflections.