Over the past year or so I have been reading and thinking a lot about leadership. The catalyst for this came from a number of sources. Firstly our company invests a lot of money on performing employee engagement surveys. My team’s level of engagement was terrible and it seems that no matter what I did it would not improve. Secondly it became apparent to me that while I didn’t see myself as a leader (the whole concept made me quiver with fear) other people did. So I thought best I find out some more about this. The short results of my search to date:
The Essence of Leadership
- Play to peoples strengths.
- Be a role model.
- Ensure everyone knows what’s important and what we are aiming to achieve then let them make their own decisions on how things are to be done to make this happen.
- Performance measures are a powerful way of showing people what is important.
a. Set the direction.
b. Celebrate progress.
c. Coach and mentor - Set expectations of trust based on demonstrated trustworthiness and an individual’s personal growth goals
- Support and coach people on their journey. Remember you can’t travel for them (or it’s not their journey)!
- Remember that ultimately great leadership is measured by the results achieved.
- Great leaders grow based on their extraordinary strengths not their lack of weakness.
So a starter for 10. Maybe I’ll add some more thoughts on leadership later.