What is leadership anyway?
People are the next frontier in organizational growth and success. Organizations, concerned about the competencies of its leaders, may be measuring the wrong things.
In order to maximize the human dimension leaders first must understand their own motivations, fear, irritation and frustration and be in touch with their beliefs and values. When they understand themselves they can spot various human dynamics in their staff and attempt to deal with them. Employees are then more likely to be motivated, trusting, creative, innovative and willing to take risks to improve quality. The leader is able to mobilize enthusiasm and capabilities and really capitalize on human potential.
To make good and timely decisions, leaders need information from all employees in the organization. However, in most organizations, executives receive information through the chain of command, successfully filtered by each layer of management. As a result, the leader receives part of the whole picture and is making major decisions based on filtered information. Imagine a forum where employees can first speak openly with each other and then directly with executives about how decisions really impact their ability to provide the best quality. Does your department have a forum for open discussions to take place? With a forum in place, employees experience a meaningful and useful link with their senior team. When employees perceive themselves to be valued, they work harder to provide value. This also increases the trust in the senior team. The reverse is also true when a forum of connection is not in place.
Collaboration and more is required. “What more?” you might ask. Have a look at those around you whom you consider to be highly effective and inspiring. Do they display the emerging leadership competencies mentioned below?
Declaration—he declares where he stands. Declaration means that he says he is going to do something and he does it. Not only does he do it, he is seen to do it. Simply stated, he commits.
Introspection—he finds moments to be still. Stillness helps to develop authentic responses and compassion for self and others. The result is an expanded awareness of the big picture.
Intuition—he trusts his own intuition and that of others. He understands the difference between wisdom and intelligence. His intelligence involves business strategies. It’s the wisdom of the unconscious mind that guides and directs him.
Flexibility—he is flexible in his leadership style. While he attends to company policy, people are his primary concern and he is interested in creating a situation where they can do their best work.
Compassion – He listens to the concerns of his team. He refrains from using “yes but this is the situation etc.” Because he assumes that he does not know what others mean until they tell him, he is able to hear more clearly what they really mean. His communication is superb.
Vision – He can see the end result long before it happens. He uses his intuition combined with past experience to establish a solid direction.
When current leadership competencies are similar to those required to lead in the past, they simply won’t serve our knowledge-based culture. The scenario is this. We continue to revere charisma, visibility, good public speaking, logical thinking, a strong sense of order and the ability to measure almost everything. More is now required - intuition, introspection, compassion, flexibility, vision and declaration with the last being the most important. These skills result in greater employee, management and customer satisfaction as organizations and government departments are driven to respond faster, cheaper and with fewer resources to provide consistently higher quality. These are the ones to develop next.
These are powerful and useful leadership traits for today’s culture because they help to deepen relationships; and commitment stems from relationships. They are prevalent and even expand in a trust-based organizational culture.
WHAT ARE YOU MEASURING IN YOUR ORGANIZATION?
To make good and timely decisions, leaders need information from all employees in the organization. However, in most organizations, executives receive information through the chain of command, successfully filtered by each layer of management. As a result, the leader receives part of the whole picture and is making major decisions based on filtered information. Imagine a forum where employees can first speak openly with each other and then directly with executives about how decisions really impact their ability to provide the best quality. Does your department have a forum for open discussions to take place? With a forum in place, employees experience a meaningful and useful link with their senior team. They perceive themselves to be valued and as such, they work harder to provide value. This also increases the trust in the senior team. The reverse is also true when a forum of connection is not in place.
Take fear for example - when fear is in the workplace, quality is at risk. To determine whether fear exists in your department, notice the following comments. Each one is rooted in fear and is triggered in a fear-based workplace:
- I had better not say or do that again.
- There is no way for me to win in this situation.
- Here we go with more of the same, just packaged differently.
- Our manager doesn’t listen to our ideas.
In a highly innovative and trusting environment, these statements would sound different:
- Things were different last month. Let’s try this idea again.
- No matter what we do, it’s going to give us insight about next steps.
- The result was disappointing; the intention and effort were great. Let’s see what we can achieve in the next phase.
- My boss is generally supportive. He encourages me to try different things.
Collaboration is required, and much more. “What more?” you might ask. Have a look at those around you whom you consider to be highly effective and inspiring. Do they display the emerging leadership competencies mentioned below?
These traits are more powerful than traditional leadership competencies because they help to deepen relationships and commitment stems from relationships. They appear and expand in a trust-based organizational culture. These are the ones to develop next.
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Janice Calnan of CALNAN GROUP, Ottawa Ontario, Canada, executive coach, author, specialist in organizational change. Her book SHIFT: Secrets of Positive Change for Organizations and Their Leaders obtained through www.janicecalnan.com . Reach Janice at (613) 721-5900 or info@janicecalnan.com .
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