Being a leader is a great privilege that brings with it great responsibility. As a leader, you are often the first to receive the credit and almost always the first to receive the blame. Your position is both demanding and rewarding and requires great skill and balance. You are expected to build authentic relationships, maintain confidentiality, develop your team and meet your goals.
Your communication must be strong, and your time management must be masterful. You need to effectively delegate, problem solve, strategize, manage conflict and prioritize. People expect you to be engaging but serious, charismatic but sincere, confident but humble, and transparent but discreet. It is one of the most challenging and rewarding positions you can have, and it is replete with great joys and deep challenges.
The few leaders who are lucky enough to receive training on how to be a leader often attend a one-time seminar or class that focuses heavily on skill acquisition. This is a good place to start but an insufficient one to begin and end.
The development of leadership skills is most certainly necessary to become a strong leader, but it is hardly a one shot deal. Mastering the skills required of leadership is a lifelong endeavor and should be treated as such with consistent training, application, support and coaching. Further, honing these skills is just one of the components of becoming a strong leader. The other component is comprised of mindset, desire and investment required of a leader. Without a leader’s mindset, skill mastery becomes largely irrelevant. Being a leader requires the mindset of a leader.
It is often said that leaders are born and not made, but research shows that anyone can become a stronger leader with enough desire and investment. Leadership development never really ends, and it requires lots of support, learning and training. Additionally, strong leaders are made through dedication, experience, mistakes, commitment and a recognition that being a leader is a privilege and a responsibility that demands a desire to get it right.
As you continue your own journey as a leader, developing your skills will serve you well, but do not let your development begin and end there. To really deepen your impact as a leader, it is important that you focus on recognizing the role your mindset, desire and investment play.
YOUR FIRST STEPS TOWARD DEVELOPING A LEADERSHIP MINDSET
For starters, stay current on the pulse of the workforce and what professionals today are looking for in their leaders. This has shifted from your parents’ and grandparents’ generations and will likely continue to shift in the generations to come. Just because you were considered a strong leader when you started, does not mean your approach will translate to the present day. Be willing to learn and grow continuously.
Secondly, continue to read, watch, listen and learn. There is so much information accessible to us at the literal push of a button. Take advantage of this. Watch webinars, listen to podcasts, read blogs (I have a great suggestion!), attend trainings, take classes… make your learning and growth a continuous and central part of your work.
Thirdly, learn from successful leaders you admire. What are they doing to be successful? What can you learn from them? These may be people in your organization or outside of it. It could be your friends or family or someone you follow on LinkedIn. Whatever the context, be bold in reaching out to those you admire and learn from them as much as you can.
Fourthly, take the above suggestion a step further and find yourself a mentor. Find more than one if you can. Mentors provide an invaluable service by supporting and challenging you while modeling what you strive to be. Assess your network and reach out to everyone you may potentially want as a mentor. Let them know why you are reaching out and be upfront about what support you are seeking. Are you looking for a mentor to check in with a couple of times a year or are you searching for someone to check in with every week? Whatever you want is okay- just make sure you are upfront with the person you are asking.
Lastly, as you commit to bettering yourself as a leader, commit to doing the internal work this requires. The first step is to acknowledge your current mindset when it comes to your role as a leader. Once you are able to assess where you are, you can develop a stronger picture of where you would like to go. Below are some questions to get your started. Hopefully they will provide some insight. Ideally, they will help highlight some of your strengths will unveil some areas of improvement. This, of course, is only possible if you are honest with yourself. You are, wholeheartedly, encouraged to do so.
You will see that many of the questions are phrased in an either/or format. In some cases, it is likely you will fall somewhere in the middle of these choices. In other cases, your beliefs may lie completely outside of the choices provided. This is perfectly okay. The questions are designed to stimulate your thinking, not limit it.
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF AS A LEADER
Do you consider supervising others a privilege or a burden?
Do you believe your focus should be on your staff meeting the expectations of their current roles or do you think you should help develop them for future roles?
Do you think it is your role to ensure your team does their job or do you believe it is your team’s responsibility to make sure they do their jobs?
Do you believe that you, as a leader, are responsible for decision-making on your team or do you believe it is important to involve your team in decision-making?
Do you think it is your responsibility to find development opportunities for your team or do you believe it is your team’s responsibility to seek out their own development opportunities?
Do you believe it is best to tell your team what to do or do you believe it is best to coach your team on what to do?
Do you consider it important to get to know your staff on a personal level?
Do you believe your team members should all hold a level of control or do you think, as a leader, you should hold all the control?
Do you believe it is your job to give feedback to your team? Do you also believe it is your job to solicit feedback from your team?
Do you consider it a priority to invest financially in your team?
Do you believe there is an inevitable power differential between you and your team or do you think this hierarchy is created?
Do you consider it important to give feedback consistently to your team or do you deem feedback as necessary only during formal evaluations?
Do you believe your staff retention is within your control?
Do you believe you don’t have enough time to supervise as you would like, or do you make this time a priority?
Do you consider it important to invest in your own professional growth or do you think this is not realistic?
Do you believe high-performing staff are born, not made or do you believe that, with proper support and training, any staff can become strong?
Do you believe high-performing leaders are born, not made or do you believe that, with proper support and training, any leader can become strong?
Do you believe there is one right way to lead effectively or do you believe there are many ways to lead effectively?
Do you believe supervising your team is the most important part of your job or do you believe that supervising your team is one of many important parts of your job?
Do you want to become a better leader, or do you feel content in your current performance as a leader?
After answering the questions, take time to reflect on what these answers mean for you and your role as a leader. What insight do your answers provide? What answers highlight a need for growth? Where are you already strong? How often will you revisit the questions? Which additional questions should you be asking yourself? Who can you review the questions with to assist in your growth?
Being a leader is more than a title and a salary increase. Being a leader is a responsibility to those you lead. If you are privileged enough to be in a position of leadership, take this responsibility seriously. If you realize leadership is not for you, that is perfectly okay. Be honest with yourself about your commitment to your role. If you do not have the drive or the desire, do not try and fake it (you will not fool anyone anyway). Admit it, and find something better suited for you to do. If you do decide to commit, then commit and never stop striving to be better.
We are happy to support you in your leadership journey. Reach out at: [email protected] or 703-688-2394.
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RESOURCES
6 Responses
I thought you made a good point when you explained that improving your leadership skills is a lifelong pursuit. It could be hard to improve your leadership skills if you have a hard time identifying your faults and weaknesses. Taking a coaching course could be a good way to learn more about your faults.
Yes! Big fan of coaching for all folks including leaders. Also such a valuable skill for them to use with their own staffs.
It’s interesting to know that leadership development is never ending, since you have to be supported, learn continuously, and undergo training as well. I can imagine how those who are in that position in their life should not stop looking for in-person leadership training programs they can attend to achieve that. And it will probably affect the way they handle their teams or business well if they know various strategies to apply.
Yes, and understanding that traditional leadership programs focus on skills that can benefit everyone. How are we really distinguishing leaders and those they lead?