Leadership: Finding The Vision

We know that a leader is someone with vision, as well as the drive, determination and commitment to achieve that vision.

So, in order to lead, the leader needs a vision.  The leader has to perceive that something needs to be fixed or a goal needs to be reached. That “something” may not be recognized by others or it may be so challenging that no one else has the courage and confidence to tackle it. But it becomes the focus of the leader’s attention. The leader can imagine what the world will be like when the goal is reached or the problem solved. The leader can see it in bright colors.  That means they can set out on the path towards it with eyes clearly focused on the goal.  

The clear vision in bright colors in the leader’s mind is key to success. But the vision does not have to be one with all the detail filled in. Generally good leaders are not focused on details. What the leader needs is the ability to see the big picture. Leaders have open minds and feel comfortable asking open questions about that bigger picture. They know the detail will be filled in on the way.

Leadership and developing a vision requires creativity. And creativity is there somewhere inside each one of us. You may have to work quite hard to find it, of course. But it is there. If you don’t think you are creative, then go out of your way to do something new, go to new places and meet new people. You may be surprised by the new ides that spring up in your mind as a result.

Remember, it is finding the vision which stirs the passion, the inner sense of drive and the commitment that is required to be a leader.  

Wendy Mason  is a Career Coach and Life Coach helping you to solve difficult problems at work and at home
wendymason@wisewolfcoaching.com 
http://wisewolfcoaching.com

Becoming a Leader Today – Manifesto for a Servant Leader

In his essay The Servant as Leader, Robert Greenleaf said of servant leadership:

“It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.”

Larry C. Spears, who has served as President and CEO of the Robert K. Greenleaf Center  for Servant Leadership since 1990 determined 10 characteristics that are central to the development of a servant leader:

• Listening: A servant leader wants to listen to others and supports them in wanting to communicate.  This means in particular paying attention to what is unspoken. The servant leader relies on the inner voice and finding out what the body, mind and spirit are communicating.
• Empathy: A servant leader wants to understand and empathize with others.  Those the leader works with are recognised, respected and appreciated for their personal development. As a result, leadership is seen as a special type of human work that invests in others which in turn leads to advantage for the organization.
• Healing: A great strength of a servant leader is the ability to heal themselves and others. A servant leader tries to help people solve their problems and resolve conflicts in relationships as they develop their skills. This leads to a working environment which is dynamic and fun without fear of failure.
• Awareness: A servant leader needs self awareness and a more general awareness of others with an integrated, holistic approach that includes ethics and values.
• Persuasion: A Servant Leader does not coerce or threaten but tries to convince. This distinguishes servant leadership most clearly from traditional, authoritarian models and can be traced back to the religious views of Robert Greenleaf himself.
• Conceptualization: A servant leader can see beyond the immediate for the organization  and its day to day operations  A Leader constructs a vision of the future than be developed into goals and  strategies for implementation
• Foresight The leader needs the ability to foresee the likely outcome of a situation.  The servant leader should learn from the past to understand the present and identify consequences for the future.  This requires the leader to be blessed with good judgment!
• StewardshipThe servant leader holds the organization in trust for those with an interest in it and for the wider society.  The servant leadership understands the wider obligation to help and serve others. Openness and persuasion are more important than control.
• Commitment to the growth of people: A servant leader nurtures the personal, professional and spiritual growth of employees and involves them in decisions about the future of the organization
• Building community: A servant leader builds a strong community within his organization and is committed to contributing to the wider community beyond.

I would welcome you views on the servant leader and your experiences. Have you encountered a true servant leader to whom you would like to pay tribute?

I am Wendy Mason and I work as a personal and business coach, consultant and blogger.  I have worked with many different kinds of people going through personal  and career change. If you would like my help, please email me at wendymason@wisewolfconsulting.com or ring ++44(0)2084610114 or ++44(0)7867681439.  I will be very pleased to hear from you.

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Learning To Lead: A Workbook On Becoming A Leader

  

The late Vince Lombardi once asserted that leaders are made -- they are not born. "And they are made just like anything else that has ever been made in this country (the US) -- by hard effort and that's the price we all have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal." Bennis and Goldsmith agree. Theirs is literally a WORK book. The material is organized within these seven chapters:

• Leadership for a Successful Future ["Followers, who are often partners in an endeavor, look to leaders to interpret reality, explain the present, and paint a picture of the future."]
• How to Use This Workbook ["We are introducing a different path to leadership development -- one that has twists and turns. It may not take a reader on a direct route to a finite end-place."]
• The Leadership Crisis ["Where have all the leaders gone?...In the past two decades, there has been a high turnover, an appalling mortality -- both occupational and actuarial -- among leaders."]
• Knowing Yourself ["If we have a clear awareness of who we are, we can develop the habit of staying tuned to what we say and do."] NOTE: Bennis and Goldsmith agree with Shakespeare's Polonius ("To thine ownself be true") as does James O'Toole who, in The Executive's Compass and in Leading Change, has much of value to say on the subject of congruence of values and behavior.
• Creating and Communicating a Vision ["Vision animates, inspirits, and transforms purpose into action."]
• Managing Trust Through Integrity ["The leader has a vision for the organization that is clear, attractive, and attainable....has unconditional empathy for for those who live in the organization.....the leader's positions are consistent....and the leader's integrity is unquestionable."]
• Realizing Intention Through Action [Those who would be leaders "need to know where you begin and where you want to go....flesh out those routes, elaborate them, revise them, and map them, complete with possible pitfalls and traps as well as rewards"....also you must "look to see if the direct route is the most sound, or whether you should make a more circuitous approach....you plan your resources and identify your allies....examine your map objectively, as if you were not its maker....Finally, when you have finished the strategy, you set out to climb the mountain."]

The authors share a wealth of their own observations and suggestions in each of the seven chapters. 

What sets this book apart from others which address similar subjects is its inclusion of dozens of exercises for the reader to complete within the (WORK) book. 

The reader is also provided with "Books on Leadership: An Annotated Bibliography" prepared by Emmeline de Pillis, Anthony Khoo, and Hyepin Im. To their excellent suggestions I would add Tichy's The Leadership Engine because, as Goldsmith observes, "Our book proposes that in our world of startling changes and overwhelming challenges, leadership is needed at every level and in every nook and corner of our organizations. We can only have the leadership we need if individuals are encouraged, motivated and supported to create themselves as leaders on a day by day basis." 

I also recommend Fitz-enz's The ROI of Human Capital because, without effective leadership, no organization can possibly derive greatest benefit from its most valuable asset. Again quoting Goldsmith, "The insights, theories, exercises, and tools included within our book guide leadership explorations and discoveries by staff, managers and executives at all levels of their organizations and in all areas of their lives."

For whom will this excellent book be most helpful? First, for senior-level executives who are already leaders of others and feel the need for what could perhaps be called a "tune-up" of basic principles. Also, for those who aspire to be leaders and are willing and able to complete the exercises with both rigor and (more importantly) candor. Finally, for students of business now in preparation for careers which may soon begin. (This book would be an excellent holiday or graduation gift.) 

Bennis and Goldsmith conclude as follows: "We hope you will continue to develop what you have begun in the learning partnership we have created here together. We look forward to knowing you more directly in the future. Empowerment leads to quality and ultimately to love of ourselves, of our work, and of life. More we cannot wish you." Nor can I.

This review by Robert Morris is from: Learning To Lead: A Workbook On Becoming A Leader, Updated Edition (Paperback) If you would like to read the book follow the links below!

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Successful Leaders Know Who They Are!

According to “The 80 Minute MBA” successful leaders know who they are!  They understand their strengths but are humble enough and, dare I say it, confident enough to admit their own weaknesses. 

Understanding what they lack, they can then go on to select a rounded group of individuals who can work together in a strong team. According to researchers Robert Hogan, Gordon Curphy and Joyce Hogan, a realistic assessment of personal performance marks out leadership potential.  Leaders whose self appraisal matched the assessment made by those working for them were the ones most likely to succeed. 

But finding out what the assessments are requires real strength in personal relationships within a team and that can be hard to achieve.   

So, of course, successful leaders are usually those with strong social skills as well – they can communicate and be communicated with.

The chances are that if you are humble and confident enough, and have the social skills necessary, to deal with asking others to give you an honest view of your performance; you will have done so long before you reach the top slot. 

It is a very good habit to cultivate as you develop your career. 

Make sure you take on a range of views and be prepared to listen to some difficult messages and to adjust.  But don’t make changes based on just one view.  If you hear something challenging from one direction, test it out in another. 

Bear in mind that each person you ask will have their own perspective e g your family members will probably see you differently from your boss. 

But there will be some recurrent themes and these are things to take on board and work with.  Beware of asking one dimensional questions – don’t just ask what you are poor at!  Try to get a balanced view! 

Ask the people who like you but be brave enough to ask those who may have reservations – they might be biased but they will give you a new perspective.

There is lots of useful thoughts for leaders in The 80 Minute MBA by the way - see below

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How to Grow Leaders: The Seven Key Principles of Effective Leadership Development (The John Adair Leadership Library)

"Today's fiercely competitive business environment demands that professionals step-up and be counted if their company is to discover a recipe for success. Leadership qualities in professionals at all levels of the management hierarchy play a key role in business success. In this day and age when mediocre team management is a not an option comes the book How To Grow Leaders; another masterstroke by John Adair, the author of the best-selling classic - Not Bosses But Leaders.

Adair who transformed the understanding of how leadership works with his pioneering concepts and thoughts in Not Bosses But Leaders, marks a return with his latest work which explores exactly what we know about leadership and leadership development. Adair fittingly infers that the secret of business success is excellence of leadership at all three levels - strategic, operational and team, a nomenclature that is now beginning to catch on, much of the credit for which goes to him.

Adair has divided How To Grow Leaders into two parts, namely - 'Exploring leadership: A personal odyssey' and 'How to grow leaders: the seven principles'. In the first part of the book, he invites the reader to join him on a journey of discovery about the nature of leadership and how it can be taught. By the end of the first part one gets a unique insight into the heart of leadership following, in Adair's own words, 'three uphill paths - the Qualities approach (what a leader has to be), the Situational approach (what a leader has to know), and the Group or functional approach (what a leader has to do).' All of the three paths, according to the author must be thought of as whole, for when put together they constitute nothing less than the generic role of a leader.

In the latter part of the book Adair moves on to identifying the seven key principles of leadership development and answers vital questions on how to select, train and educate leaders at team, operational and strategic levels. Topics variously discussed in this book include: the manager as a leader, how people become leaders, training team leaders, how to manage leadership training, and learning to be a top strategic leader. The entire narrative is packed with motivational quotes from some of the greatest thinkers, innovators and leaders of our times.

This thought provoking and highly readable book underpins Adair's position as a world-renowned authority on the subject of leadership. How To Grow Leaders helps readers discover skills in themselves and those around them. The book does not harbour any pretences of transforming the reader, rather it makes one pause, think and appreciate the value of leadership skills and helps one to attempt to imbue certain qualities which are considered a prerequisite for succeeding.

The narrative is simple and the message is clear and concise; something which cannot be attributed to many of the myriad so-called leadership development programmes. Adair's book sets the record straight on readership development. It is one motivational course readers can undergo from the comfort of their own armchair provided the author's thoughts are read and appreciated fully. Absorbing as the book is, it would be hard not to." 

Gaurav Sharma (London, UK) 

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Are you a good leader? Time for a Mini- Stocktake!

  

We all like to think we are good at what we do, don’t we?

But I usually work on the assumption that most people do take stock of how well they are doing, at least occasionally.  (Sometimes I do wonder, though.)  

Anyway, here is my checklist for all you leaders out there.  I do hope you will take part. So pen and pad at the ready;

1. What’s special, unique and distinctive about you as a leader?  What marks you out from the crowd – in other words – why should you be the leader?
2. Ok so now for results – let us start with the positive!  What impressive or striking results have you achieved over the last year, six months, three months, the last month, the last week?
3. Now, let us go to the other extreme – what did you do that you regretted over the last year, six months, three months, the last month, the last week?
4. So what lessons have you learned recently?
5. When did you first become interested in leadership and what have you learned about it (and about yourself) since then?  Has this further stimulated your interest and reinforced your conviction that you are well suited to leadership? What insights have you gained?
6. What have you done with that learning and how are you managing your ownself-development?  When was the last time you undertook any kind of formal self development?
7. What are you doing to share your learning?  Have you spoken or written about your insights and how has this been received?  If you have not shared, why not?
8. How do you go about getting feedback on your leadership style anyway?  Do you welcome feedback – would you welcome it from your own team and do they know that?
9. Where do you go from here – is there anything you need to change about your leadership style for the future?  How will you do it?
10. Now what are your goals as a leader over the next year? What are your development goals and what development goals do you have for your team? How will you, and they, know when you reach them – how will things be different?

I’d love to think that you would share the results of this mini-review with someone.  But that is asking a lot of a leader isn’t it?  What might happen if you showed your weaknesses?  Would the sky fall in if you admitted there is room for improvement?  Well that is a good review question in itself isn’t it.

Anyway I wish you luck because leadership is one of the most challenging jobs in the world, but in my view, it is quite the most satisfying!
Wendy Mason works as a personal and business coach, consultant and blogger. She has managed or advised on many different kinds of transition and she has worked with all kinds of people going through personal change. If you would like her help, email her at wendymason@wisewolfcoaching.com or ring ++44(0)2084610114 or ++44(0)7867681439 

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