Tag Archives: leadership

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Arrogance/Humility

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Many organizations prize leaders with an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions.

Typically the quality or state of being unassuming or moderate in the estimation of one’s abilities (i.e., humility) is considered negatively.   When acquiring an organizational leader they need to be the best.

Perception versus Reality

While we perceive the need for a leader to be not only highly skilled and capable but to project the right image, that is not necessarily the case.

One definition of a leader is a person who holds a dominant or superior position within their field, and is able to exercise a high degree of control or influence over others.

This often get misinterpreted as needing some who is superior.  Arrogant people come of as superior, so they fit this interpretation of what a leader is.

In fact the key to effective leadership is the ability to  to exercise a high degree of control or influence over others.  Those with the ability to display  humility tend to earn their respect rather than force it (through arrogance).

Earned Power

Power that is earned, as opposed to granted or usurped, usually leads to better results.  Intuitively the militarily leader who commands the troops to charge because they say so (possibly to their death, as in the charge of the light brigade) is far more likely to fail than the leader who fights in front or at least along side the troops (i.e., setting the bar)

So build your earned power base, show a little humility.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

WIC

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Acronyms can make a simple thought or activity seem more meaningful than it is.  They are also not bad for grabbing attention.  Today I an going to explore WIC.

What is that you say.  Whose In Charge? (WIC).  This can be the bain of collaboration.  Even for the most effective collaborative efforts, failure is on the horizon if WIC is unknown.

Everyone or No One

The extreme cases are the issue, as is so often true.  If the answer to WIC is at either extreme (everyone or no one) little will be accomplished.

To be clear, without a full understanding of the leadership model there might be a lot of churn and burn and as a result solutions or outcomes will be etherial.

This is not to condem either dictating or anarchical approaches, both might have some validity in some context (although I can’t imagine when).

Rather, as is so often the case, a balanced approach is needed.  Albeit the question as to who is in charge, whether shared or through consensus or even a third party, must be clearly understood and bought into by all.

Everyone is important

Understanding who is in charge does not overrride the key principle of collaboration, that is “Everyone is Important”.  The key is focusing the energy and drawing out the best in everyone.

This is not to imply the leader is better or more important than anyone else but rather just to say the action of “herding the cats” is critical to achieve results.

The cat herder is necessary but not of special importance.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Why me?

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Confidence is a critical skill for those that aspire to be exceptional leaders.  That is not to say with a high level of confidence you will be a great leader, other behavioural skills are needed.

However, the ability to practice confidence with an optimal balance to other leadership attributes is a foundational behaviour without which you can never achieve greatness.

Believe

Ask not “why me”, rather accept, analyze and trust your ability to rely on yourself to succeed.  Each of us have the capability to achieve our goals.

For the individual,  a key first step to positive results is full confidence in yourself.  If you don’t believe in yourself or your abilities others will sense it.

Without confidence your leadership capabilities (no matter how well developed) cannot be effectively utilized as others sense the indecision and question your leadership.

Arrogance

To be effective confidence must not be interpreted by others as conceit, pride. self importance, egotism, etc.  While demonstrating  confidence is crtical skill for leaders it must be done in a balanced way.

The use of self awareness skills to ensure the behaviour is not negatively interpreted is needed otherwise the effect can be more detrimental and thus lead to negative results.

Why Not Me?

Ultimately, in any set of circumstances the  best mental approach to start with is “why not me” as opposed to why me.  This simple shift in thinking moves you from insecurity to confidence and can make a huge difference in defining your leadership abilities.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

What do people think about you

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Your reputation is basically what others think about you.  Over the last couple of posts my key postulate has been about the value of  managing your reputation (in marketing terms, your brand).

The basic framework for personal reputation management is to first understand what you want your reputation to be, then what it is and finally craft a plan to either maintain it or change it.

Maintaining,changing or a combination, is both audience and current state dependent.  The key here is to not submit and hope but to be proactive.

So, what is my reputation?

Asking others this question directly usually does not work.  Most people are conscious of thier own reputation and treat the question more as an opportunity to advance their own agenda.

The best way is anonymous surveys overseen by an independent party that does not know you and has research based experience to craft and interpret insightful questions.

The internet offers a variety of options for this kind of service from free to costly and of course their are many consulting agencies you can pay to do this for you ( of varying quality).

Observation

Independent feedback is not always practical or feasible.  Do not give up, personal observation is a tool that can be just as effective.

This entails activities like:

  • watching  how people behave around you or in context of activities you are involved in.  Peoples body language and they things they do and say in the normal course can be very telling.
  • indirect probing about things that appear to be about something else. ( e.g., How are you enjoying this project?) As a project participant you can leverage the reponses as indicative of your own reputation.
  • gently guide various people you interract with to share what they hear others saying about you, albeit indirectly.

In short observe how people behave relative to things you have involment in and course directly toward you.  Don’t be superficial in your self assessment.  Think deeply.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Embracing Change

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Yesterdays post laid a foundation for a bit of a continued discussion about change.  Given that change is inevitable, the question arises, how can you leverage change to your benefit?

Time proceeds and change occurs whether you acknowlege its happening or accept the results.  A reactive or passive stance basically yields the default results.

By default, whatever the change is aimed at will occur unless you embrace the change, making it your own and thus shaping the results, most likely in a way pleasurable for you.

It is what it is, it just is!

An example of a response to changes response to changes percieved to be outside your control is evidenced by the mantra “it is what it is”.  In essence this is a way of accepting the change by acknowledging its qualities.

Pragmatically,  this can be a good way of moving through difficult changes (e.g., the death of someone close) for which you probably   had no control.  Acknowledging and accepting the event allows you to continue on the path toward future events without getting bogged down or trapped within the changing circumstances.

This is one example of embracing a change, that is practicing a particular  personal behaviour to enable you to work through a change without being overcome.

The practice of recognizing significant impactful changes when you encounter them is a practical way to use the enevitable to your benefit.

The example of using the “it is what it is” is just one behavioural attribute you can leverage, there are many.  The real point of this post is conciously and proactively recognize and deal with the impactful changes that will continue to confront you as you move through your life.

Don’t be complacent, the results can be deadly.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Leading through Ambiguity

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Sometimes things are not clear and can be open to more than one interpretation.  These situations are ambiguous and the resulting confusion can be challenging to work through.

I often comment about leaders as facilitators and being a catalyst to group success rather than directive; however, ambiguity is a circumstance where effective leadership can make a real difference (and lack thereof a real detriment).

Leading from the bottom of the pyramid

I strongly believe, as a broad practice, leaders should not be in front most of the time.  I subscribe to  the inverted pyramid, where the tip of the pyramid, representing the heads of a organization, is at the bottom .

This concept focuses on releasing the power and capabilities of everyone in an organization (represented by the pyramid) rather than focusing on the few so called leaders.

Leading from front

That being said there are times when  leaders should live up to their title and lead, that is get out in front (i.e., flip the pyramid).  When an ambiguous situation needs to be addressed, typically confusion reigns.

By definition ambiguity includes  multiple views and perspectives largely leading to analysis paralysis.  If no one takes charge, successfully achieving the intended goal will probably only result by accident.

Leading directly, providing clarification and defining the course of action is sometimes the best approach.  This behaviour should be used sparingly, the power of the group should be leveraged most of the time, but when the group is in dissarry, the leader must guide.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Measuring Leadership

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A multitude of behaviours are needed to be a successful leader.  The balance exercised around which actions to use, how and when is key to achieving success.

Leadership behaviour and being in a leadership role can be distinctly different.  In in leadership roles the expectation is you will exercise the optimal balance, but being in the role does not guarantee that will be the case.

Use leadership behaviours anywhere, anytime.

Behaving in a way that results in others perceiving you as a leader is not context, location or role specific.  The only distinction is the outcomes are achieved because of the way you behaved.

Unfortunately the outcomes leaders inspire and are accountable for initiating  can be good (e.g, Martin Luther Kings achievements) or bad (e.g. Adolph Hitlers achievement) but the leadership behaviour accountable for the achievement (good or bad result) is actually the same behaviour.

Behaviour

Being a successful leader is always associated with strong behavioural skills.  The key behaviours of communication, empathy, self awareness self confidence and self motivation are practices that can be executed at a variety of levels of competence.

Typically, if you think of a leader you know and admire and consider their behaviors together with the level at which they practice these behaviours, it will most likely be very skilled.

The Ultimate Level of Leadership

Leadership is not necessarily aligned with your role and having a leadership role is not indicative of anyones level of leadership skills.  A powerful measure of whether others considered you a great leader during your lifetime is not what you achieved during your life,  but rather how many people attend your funeral.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Oh behave!

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One of my favorite movie scenes is from Austin Powers International Man of Mystery.  It is  Austins response to the movies femme fatales offer to slip into something more comfortable.

“Oh behave, baby!”

Defined by our Behaviour

How do each of us assess others?  Basically, you start with the apparent, appearance, grooming and so on, moving on to speech, actions and non verbal communications.

All these things, from grooming to non verbal communication queues are derived from a persons behaviour.  So it is not a stretch to conclude how well you control your behaviour is key to achieving your goals.

Self Awarenes

Self awareness is the practice of being intimately aware of both your and others behaviours at any point in time, constantly analyzing the impacts and outcomes of your own behaviour (within context of those around you) and molding your actions to achieve the desired results.

To lead others, whether via the traditional “in front” practice or more innovatively from virtual or pheripheral places where physical positioning is irrelevant, the ability to behave in a self aware way is foundational for success.

In the simplest terms everything you do from how you dress, walk or talk to your written communications, facial expressions, emotional vibrations (what people sense about you) must be conciously managed.

Everything is carefully orchestrated to realize planned outcomes.  You know what you want to achieve and through awareness of your own and others strengths and weaknesses (expressed behaviourally) you get what you want.

The practice of strong and effective self awarness behaviours alone might not make you a great leader but it undoubtedly frames you for success.

 

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Top down

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Traditional theory categorizes group management as top down or bottom up.  In this model bottom up is considered a weaker approach and indicative of lack of cohesive strategy or direction.

Sadly, for those that consider this concept viable, it is in fact an ancient and outmoded perspective. Today’s management philosophy is clear, effective and proactive  leadership is neither bottom nor top centric.

The approach chosen, leading from behind or in front, coaching results or directing results, ( to compare two extremes ) all work.  It is the context that leads to success, that is choosing the best approach based on the circumstances.

Show me the way

Traditional group concepts place a leader in front.  The expectation is that the group will behave in a sheep like manner, expecting the leader to get in front and set the direction for all to follow.

The modern perspective revolves around strategic leadership.  Although intrenched in the English language,  in fact, leader is no longer a relevant word.

The catalyst for group success lies with expert facilitation.  Channeling the energy of a group, team or organization does not require anyone to be in front, nor is it neccesarily the best approach.

Bottom up/Top Down

From an organizational perspective these are obsolete concepts.  High performing groups look within and cooperate seemlessly without boundaries and preconcieved notions.

In these cases the exercise of power lies with everyone.  You earn it and use for the good of all.   You are not granted the power of leadership.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Self Awareness/ Confidence and Arrogance

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The ability to focus on yourself separate from the environment and other individuals, is the basic concept underlying the emotional intelligence attribute of self awareness.

Typically this requires an internal belief in the abilitiy to rely on yourself and your judgement.  You believe and trust in yourself.

Combined these behavioural traits can appear to others as an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions (i.e., arrogance)

Avoiding the Arrogance Label

While confidence and self awareness are powerful personal attributes, valued and invaluable tools for you to achieve your personal goals, being percieved as arrogant is something to avoid.

The ability to be both self aware and confident in a way that is not percieved as arrogant requires concious effort.  By default these behaviours can send the wrong message.

As you travel down the road of winning friends and influencing others (to quote Dale Carnegie) make sure you use your sensitivity to balance the way you are percieved.

That is, use your self awareness of others reactions toward you to influnce and change those reactions.  Manage your personal behaviours in a way that those you are interracting with like.

This is not a natural or unconcious approach.  Be fully aware of how you are behaving, constantly judge how others percieve it and change as needed to get the desired reaction.