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Making great leaders
June 3, 2020
If there's a legacy I'd like to leave before I shuffle off my mortal coil, it's having empowered others to become better leaders.
And that brings me to the topic of this blog – defining what makes a great leader. I've encountered many of them in my travels. People doing amazing work, inspiring others and creating world-class teams working towards a common goal, everyone self-driven and proactive.
Alas, it is not always like this! All too often I've been hired to find out why organisations are not working effectively; why there are barriers and friction, and nobody can quite put their finger on the cause.
In most instances, the problems started at the top – and you can imagine how popular that made me, pointing out that the people who'd hired me to fix their dysfunctional teams were the ones that needed my attention first.
However, true leaders with real insight know that all of us need personal development and training to produce our absolute best – and accept there are skills they can learn that will enable them to bring their staff together and unite them behind a common goal.
There's a common saying: "A true leader is not the ones with the most followers, but one who creates the most leaders." It sums up what leadership's all about – bringing the best out in others; making sure each person is positioned to do their best each day, is equipped to thrive in their job, and is recognised for their contribution.
Great leaders see mistakes as a learning experience, not as potential building blocks towards dismissal. They talk about the lessons learned, not the mistakes made. They make the workplace a safe place to have difficult conversations – and their people feel comfortable coming forward to discuss their problems, be they dissatisfaction with their work, problems with other staff members or a lack of recognition for their achievements. And they suggest solutions, yet don't take ownership of the problem and control the outcome – because to do so would remove the opportunity for the staff member to learn from the experience.
They do succession planning and invest in personal development for themselves and their team. They even encourage staff to take up opportunities elsewhere if it is in their best interests and there are no immediate opportunities within the workplace. They empower staff to take decisions and look for opportunities to grow, even if it means the occasional mistake is made (and a lesson learned).
In an interview with TradeMutt recently (you can watch the full interview here), I was asked about leaders who don't want to train their people up for fear they'll leave and start up in competition.
My answer will always be that great leaders look to mentor others; to build their skills honestly and with integrity, and if they move on in the world to become leaders in the same mould themselves, it can only be a good thing.
If a leader has inspired others it is unlikely those people will repay the honesty and integrity with dishonesty and stealing clients. Sure, they may end up a competitor, but there will be a relationship of respect and trust, more likely to lead to partnerships and benefits than underhand activity.
To do all the things listed above really well, leaders need to be masters of communication. They need to not only enable two-way, safe communication within their own teams, but may need to communicate upwards to a Board, the Government or a funding body; or with leaders of affiliated organisations.
As I mentioned earlier, I've met many fantastic leaders doing all these things. You leave a legacy greater than yourself for your consistent efforts and for the leaders you've shaped and moulded each year, many of whom would have gone on to their own leadership positions, carrying with them the skills and integrity they've learned.
I’ll leave you with these challenging thoughts.
How can you be a better leader for your team? And what is the one thing you can do today to communicate better with your team or with those above you?
If you're not sure of the answers please reach out. I'm here to help.
The word "culture" derives from a French term, which in turn derives from the Latin "colere", which means to tend to the earth and grow, or cultivation and nurture. The workplace is not just a place for you to come and work, but it should also be a great place for you to grow and learn. When we refer to workplace culture, this could be referring to the workplace language used, attitudes at work, values and the way people interact. Did you know that workplaces generally have one of four different types of work culture? This is important because sometimes this internal culture is not a match for your own preferences and you could, in fact, be clashing with the internal culture from day one. A basic overview of the four types are: Clan Culture: is like one big family where everyone does things collaboratively and upholds similar commitment levels. The Hierarchy Culture: A more formal and very structured working culture with strict policies and procedures on the way things need to be done. The Market Culture: based around winning and achieving set goals and beating rivals, so strategies and measures are all based around meeting those goals and sales targets. And the Adhocracy Culture : is based around everyone being quite entrepreneurial and everyone is constantly looking for new strategies to improve the business. Understanding this, could you see that, say you came from a background, for example, in defence, and you started your career loving the set structure where everyone followed policies and procedures, and everyone knew their place and who their reporting officer was, then you moved into an Adhocracy culture which is about thinking outside the box and creating new ways, with most people on the same level, that you may struggle to assimilate with that culture and feel that you might not be “clicking” with the job? Your skills could match up to the job duties yet there would be a misalignment with the workplace environment (culture) and you may not thrive there. If you're the owner or manager of a business understanding the type of your internal culture is a powerful way to employ. If you can include more about the culture of your business in the job advertisement then you could attract better applicants who are a better match to the synergy of your team.
We've put together a list of some of our favourite reads when it comes to leadership, career growth and getting the best out of your team. This list is not extensive yet a great start to look back on some new and old teachings. The best part with most of these listed, they are short yet powerful reads and now with the fantastic introduction of Audible books you can now download these books and listen to them in the car or on the way to work (turn your dead time into learning time). Of course, once you've had a read of these books let us know what you thought of them by sending us a quick email OR share with us one of your favourite leadership books for us to add to the list.
3 million Aussies are planning on making major career moves on the back end of the pandemic.
Take a good, hard look at what your business was doing before COVID-19. Was it the best business model? And even if it was, is it going to be a workable model after the recovery? Nows your opportunity to review, realign and reset.
Go back to a job that you WANT to return to, not that you HAVE to return to. This is exactly the type of Personal Development you should be doing in preparation for the COVID-19 recovery – development on yourself, looking at all the options and getting ready for change!
leaders with the strongest teams are playing a different game now thanks to COVID-19. Your teams are at home, playing individually, spread far and wide, perhaps scared and uncertain of their future, distractions at every turn. How can you help them?