Developing Leadership – How To Take Control
Everyone is a leader. We lead and are led by others. And everyone leads themself.
But not everyone is a good leader. Ego-driven leadership refuses to learn from the past, fails to plan effectively, is self-serving, vindictive, is not limited by truthfulness, and manipulates.
Leadership
Leadership is “the process of getting a group of people in a direction, to pursue common objectives. The most effective leaders use mostly non-coercive means and seek to satisfy the group’s best interests.”[1]
According to the U.S. Department of the Army Field Manual leadership is:
“A process in which a soldier (person) applies his or her beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and skills to influence others to accomplish the mission….
The soldier (person) watches what you do so that his/her mind and instincts can tell him/her what you really are: an honorable leader of character with courage, competence, candor, and commitment, or a self-serving phony who uses troops and expedient behavior to look good and get ahead.” (Slightly edited for gender equity.) [2]
When you apply this to yourself, it implies significant self-awareness. Good leaders must know their beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and skills. They must realize that they influence others by their behavior – what they say and do. They must continuously assess and improve their skills and performance. And they must know what the mission is.
Start with Yourself
If you aspire to be a good leader, start with yourself.
- Define your goal,
- Assess your leadership capabilities,
- Identify strengths and weaknesses, and
- Commit to a development plan.
Any good leader does this for their “troops, ” employees, or followers. It represents one of many leadership qualities – developing skills in oneself and others.
Define Your Goal
What is your personal goal as you hone your leadership skills? Your most valued goal motivates your behavior. My goal is to be calm, compassionate, competent, and self-aware.
Leadership goals are complex. We have personal goals, like being happy, succeeding, making more money, being in control, getting ahead, and maximizing our wellness. There are organizational goals – being profitable, serving, ecological health, etc. Every stakeholder – employees, managers, executives, clients, suppliers, partners, etc. – has personal goals.
Good leaders step back from their own goals to acknowledge all the goals and consider them when making decisions that will affect themselves and others. When goals conflict with one another, apply your values to decide on your actions while considering short and long-term impacts.
If your goal is to further your personal agenda regardless of its effect on others, consider that compassionate servant leadership promotes optimal performance. And optimal performance furthers your agenda.
A recent Harvard Business Review article, Compassionate Leadership Is Necessary — but Not Sufficient posits that “Compassion in leadership creates stronger connections between people. It improves collaboration, raises levels of trust, and enhances loyalty. In addition, studies find that compassionate leaders are perceived as stronger and more competent.”
“The article’s authors define compassion as “the quality of having positive intentions and real concern for others.” According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, compassion is the “sympathetic consciousness of other’s distress together with a desire to alleviate it.” Compassion is exhibited in helpful acts of kindness. “[3]
Consider Servant Leadership as an option. You can apply its principles in deciding on your goal. It is an approach to leadership built on the idea that managers are there to serve their subordinates. “Servant-leaders share power, put the needs of others first, and enable people to develop and perform optimally.”[4]
As you define your goals reflect on the leadership behavior you want to exhibit. How do you want to be perceived? How comfortable and competent do you want to feel? What is your position in the hierarchy, what influence do you have, and how do you lead from there?
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Assess Your Leadership Capabilities
Leadership capabilities are combinations of many skills.
“Leadership skills boil down to the ability to create a vision, motivate and influence followers to realize the vision, build teams, communicate, listen, and negotiate. These skills are supported by mindfulness, compassion, and wisdom.”[5]
We can summarize leadership capabilities as maintaining a positive mindset, relating well with others, and being able to make effective decisions.
In a Google search, Search Labs | AI Overview identified the following 16 skills:
- Communication
- Empathy
- Conflict resolution
- Delegation
- Resilience
- Ownership
- Critical thinking
- Honesty
- Feedback
- Self-awareness
- Integrity
- Relationship building
- Agility and adaptability
- Innovation and creativity
- Decision-making
- Negotiation
Other sources add Empowering Others as a skill.
That’s a lot of skills to manage. Focus on the capabilities and then home in on the skills that may need tweaking.
Identify strengths and weaknesses
There are many assessment tools. These tools are most effective in the context of an ongoing leadership development program. It may be your organization’s program, though make sure you have your own.
For example, a leadership development program may contain assessment tools, coaching, training, and candid criticism, including 360-degree feedback. It would be structured to accommodate the needs of beginners as well as seasoned leaders.
To assess your capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses, objectively observe your behavior and its effects on your ability to achieve your goals. Obtain feedback. Answer the questions: Are you achieving your performance goals? Are conditions harmonious and productive? What would you change to make things even better than they are?
Commit to a development plan.
Thinking about leadership and planning to improve are starting points. Action is what makes for success in a continuously improving ability to lead. Committing to the plan means planning and then acting to meet objectives.
On the surface, the plan is to define your goal, assess your leadership capabilities, identify strengths and weaknesses, and commit to a development plan.
On a more tactical level, it includes taking part in workshops and training programs, finding a coach, adopting mindfulness and other methods to support stress management, relationship management, focus, and decision-making, as well as honing skills like the ability to create or interpret a financial plan or make better use of technology.
The key point is to take control of your leadership development, to continuously improve. Assess, plan, act, repeat.