“Stop grooming me!”
“I don’t want to be like you.”
“I don’t want to lose the core of who I am.”
“I want to lead like me, not you!”
“My team has damn good results and they are happy… just how is my “smiling less” going to help the situation?”
“Will pricey shoes really make a difference?”
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Are We Over Grooming Our Leaders?
March 22, 2013 by
A Myth That Thwarts Leadership
March 10, 2013 by
While sitting with a group of teachers as they reflected about their own leadership, it became clear quite a few of them were struggling.
This group was known as the Leadership Team for their school and most had been part of this group for a few years. Yet when asked to assess themselves as leaders the majority of them were seemingly paralyzed. As we discussed why… an underlying theme emerged.
While they had respect for their principal they did not want to ever be like many of the people in leadership positions they had seen come and go. Blinded by what they thought being a leader was supposed to look like, they did not even consider the possibility that they could determine the kind of leader they wanted to be.
The notion of leading without a title has gained ground, yet the grip of past interpretations of what it means to be a leader continue to have a tight grip on many organizational cultures, not only in education, but in business and government as well.
It is particularly strong when you have highly technical people who pride themselves on their knowledge and skill in their craft. Sometimes promotions are granted as a way to reward them financially even though these individuals often have no interest in managing or leading. Yet if you listen closely you will discover that lack of interest in managing or leading is only part of the story.
Having been an IT professional for many years before becoming a leadership coach and organizational change consultant, I have explored this resistance to becoming a “leader” from both the inside and the outside.
What I have observed is that often people do not want to become a leader because they think they will have to become like someone else. That someone else is often already “above” them on an organization chart or in a position of power that has impacted them in some way.
There is an unspoken belief for many that if you get to a certain level or position you will have to change who you are.” ~Susan Mazza Tweet this
For some it seems they would have to become like people for whom they do not have very much respect. What that “certain level or position” may be cannot be defined globally. It is very personal.
This belief is a myth that continues to thwart the loud call for leadership from every corner of our world. It is a myth that for many is barrier between the concept of leading without a title and embracing that they can and often are already leaders as a reality regardless of their position or role in life. It is also a myth that keeps people from embracing the call to lead in their current role or position.
Being the most effective leader you can be requires that you become the most powerful expression of yourself rather than attempt to emulate someone else.
A leader is someone who takes action to make a difference where they work or live in service of a commitment to something that contributes to others. In the framework of Random Acts of Leadership™ that means speaking up, stepping up or standing up in service of your commitments.
It is only when we start to consider leadership at the level of action that we can begin to observe the simple yet potent acts of leadership that are committed everyday by people at all levels in organizations and all roles in life.
Just look around you and you will see examples every day leaders – people who are speaking up, stepping up and standing up for something that matters to them and makes a difference for others.
The skills of leadership can be cultivated by anyone. However, to cultivate them you must be willing to act; and to cultivate them in others you must be able to recognize leadership in action.
What other myths do you believe are thwarting leadership from flourishing where you work and live?
Leadership Re-Imagined – Why the lessons of the Past Are Not Enough!
March 2, 2012 by
Leadership Re-Imagined: The traditional barriers to entry in nearly every industry have fallen. Even brilliantly innovative ideas, products, and services – no longer secure a company’s competitive advantage. This is the reality of information diffusion and global commoditization. The new competitive edge is neither a product nor a service; it is the people who make them. While innovations can be replicated …innovators cannot.
The new barrier to entry is a cadre of leaders in an organization who inspire innovation as a way of life at every level and who can develop more leaders like them. To develop such a cadre of leaders, companies need to adopt three specific leadership tenets:
- The ratio of leaders to employees has inverted
- Old skills and competencies are insufficient for leadership effectiveness
- Traditional programs for leadership development have become irrelevant
The ratio of leaders to employees has inverted
Let’s assume the following:
- You define a leader in an organization as: any individual who can further that organization’s objectives by influencing the behavior of others.
- Many, if not most, activities that do not involve the influencing of human behavior can be performed by technology.
Those being true, then most of the people in your organization are capable, in some way or another, of furthering the organization’s objectives by influencing the behavior of others. The majority of your employees then, should be developed and managed as if they were leaders.
No longer are your leaders restricted to the C-suite or even the top 200 or 500. The majority of employees are probably leaders and can further your company’s objectives by influencing others whether internally or externally. Apple gets this, many other companies do as well – but not all.
Microsoft’s attempt to emulate Apple’s wildly successful retail stores didn’t seem to be working all that well when I took a walk through the Century City Shopping Mall in Los Angeles last week. The Apple store was teaming with excited shoppers; Microsoft’s attractive, large new store was empty except for its team of assistants standing by, waiting. Microsoft staffs its stores with competent salespeople, I am sure. But Apple staffs its stores with inspired leaders who know they are expected to further Apple’s objectives by influencing the behavior of others. These objectives go beyond “the next sale;” they are more about growing the Apple brand and co-opting new Apple fans. Appreciating the ratio of leaders to employees in your company is key to its growth.
Professor Bill George of Harvard Business School writes in his insightful February 17th article, A New Era For Global Leadership Development, that: “Rather than concentrating on the top 50 leaders, global companies need to develop hundreds, even thousands, of leaders comfortable operating in a variety of cultures…. IBM’s former chief learning officer recently estimated that IBM will need 50,000 leaders in the future.”
Skills and competencies are insufficient for leadership effectiveness
Traditional leadership competencies do not equip leaders for a global environment of accelerated change. Today’s leaders manage in paradox and for this they need agility, tenacity and unwavering values. They need the stature to connect with and challenge people simultaneously, inspire trust; and ignite innovation.
Great leaders won’t cut it any more. We need great human beings in leadership positions.
Some of the leadership paradoxes to optimizing existing operations while preparing for a future even they cannot imagine are:
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A business-unit focus …with an enterprise vision.
- Authentic self-insight …with the cultural intelligence to adapt to different cultures and generations.
- Inspiring innovation …while driving efficiencies.
- Manage traditional lines of accountability …while embracing complex multinational, multi-functional and multi-cultural matrices.
Traditional methods of leadership development have become irrelevant
We need new thinking about leadership development. We need to grow people’s characters not just their competencies and help them achieve results by using their personal stature more than their positional status. Above all, if most of our employees are to be developed and managed as leaders, our training must produce leaders who know how to develop and manage other leaders – many of them – leaders of different generations and of different cultures.
Hours of classroom training yield limited returns. Exposing leaders to best practice and current thought leadership at best makes them as good as others. Business simulations sharpen leaders’ minds but do nothing for their stature and character. Your leadership development architecture should be as innovative as your product development and indigenous to your own culture. It should focus on character not on competencies; it is only through growing leadership character that you build leadership prowess.
Audit your current thinking on leadership development by asking yourself and your team 5 questions:
- How do we define a leader in our organization?
- What ratio of leaders to employees do we consider our company to have?
- Is the way we develop our leaders as innovative as the way we develop our products and services?
- Is our leadership development now, radically different from our older paradigms of thought? How different is it from the programs of our competitors and peers?
- Can our leadership development architecture become our competitive advantage going forward, and how easy would it be for others to copy us?
You might have a unique opportunity now to re-imagine your philosophy of leadership, re-engineer your leadership development, and forever set your company apart from its competitors.
Lets keep the conversation flowing. What do think about these new paradigms of leadership and the importance of innovation in leadership? Please leave a comment below.
