Welcome to part three of this series of posts where I tackle quick fire leadership questions. I receive lots of questions from various platforms which require concise answers. So in this series I will be sharing my responses to these questions.
Did you miss part one, two or three?
Question 1: “Who is the most inspirational leader, political or otherwise, of your lifetime?” Michael Uzar
Without trying to sound cliché, but the most inspirational leader for me is the person I see myself being in the future. Let me explain.
In my experience (so far), there is no one complete leader who demonstrates all the behaviours of a leader: Adaptability, Right Behaviours and Experience. Also, there is no one leader out there, yet, who authentically aligns with all aspects of myself. Therefore, the best steps I can take on my leadership journey are to draw on various leaders experience to grow and develop as a leader.
So, the best inspiration for me when I face challenges, is to look forward and think:
“Would I regret this decision in 5 years?”
“Is this a decision my family could be proud of?”
“Does this decision align with who I am?”
Questions like these allow me to look to draw on experience and work towards the leader I want to be in the future, in all aspects of life.
Question 2: “What does it mean for you to be a good leader who pursues excellence?” – Anonymous
The first step is to understand what excellence means to the leader. This comes from authenticity. I’d like to share an example from my experience, as I was starting on my leadership journey something I wanted was to quickly climb the ladder. I wanted growth and thought that success as a leader came from the position I held.
I was wrong. I realised that the more managers I worked with, not all of them were leaders. In fact, very few were. At that isn’t their fault because their style was based on what they have experienced. I learnt that to see exponential growth as a leader I needed to understand who I was authentically first because people trust and are drawn to authentic people.
A leader who behaves in a way that is natural and right, by being themselves and acting in accordance with their values, are more likeable and seen as more trustworthy. The same goes for the uber-successful people I mentioned above. If they weren’t authentic to their dreams, goals and style then they may not be as likeable. Many successful leaders, including the ones mentioned above, speak often about being true to yourself. That is Authenticity. This will allow you to develop your leadership style. For example, with me, whenever I tested out being an aggressive leader or too soft I realised that it wasn’t me and I wasn’t as influential. However, when I explored the leading by example, assertiveness and a more coach-leadership style I found that those were more aligned to who I was. And it work. My influence level grew!
When a leader fully comprehends who their authentic self is, they can then set the values around what excellence means to them.
The next step is to act, to literally lead from the front and to practice, practice, and practice. Demonstrating those behaviours will show others that this is who you truly are which will build trust and therefore influence.
This isn’t an overnight fix. Remember, leadership is a journey and you will be constantly evolving and growing as a leader as your experiences in life change!
Question 3: “How do leaders get in the way of organizational change even though they started it?” – Semra Oz
Change needs to be implemented from the top down in any business. If the change is not supported by the Leadership team then the rest of the team will not follow through. The first step in organizational change is leadership support. If adaptability, and the want to change, positively is seen as a core value within a business then the team’s culture will reflect that. The delivery team need to feel that the leadership team believe in the cause. If they believe, the team will be believe.
However, 3 simple behaviours of leaders can stop this from happening by:
- Putting their ego first and not understanding the opinions of others
- Failing to listen to the delivery team. For example, if there are issues with the change initiative which requires adapting, failing to listen will reduce the motivation to want the initiative to succeed
- Failing to provide support
Learn more from my recent article: Successful Leadership Change
I will always be open to tackling challenging leadership questions, so if you have a burning question please do reach out and I will write a response.
Thank you for reading, JT
