Personal Advancement
The art of leadership"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."
SHARON ASCHAIEK |
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 [ 2006-04-26 ] |
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Effective leadership is always a hot topic of discussion in corporate and HR circles. Offering advice and insights on the topic are countless books highlighting the key behaviours, attitudes and strategies that make for an ideal leader. They all offer their own take on how to lead successfully, but most emphasize the same key qualities: communication, collaboration, authenticity, listening and action.
Let's look at three books that serve up concise and compelling nuggets of wisdom on the true nature of leadership: The Leader's Voice: How Your Communication can Inspire Action and Get Results; Psychology of the Hero Soul: Promoting Heroes in the Workplace & Everyday Life and Leaders Must Lead!.
GET REAL!
Inspiring others to follow you requires the ability to be authentic -- to stay true to who you are and what you believe. People will listen to what you have to say because it resonates with their own desire to be genuine.
"We trust, admire, and follow authentic people because we long to be authentic ourselves," write Boyd Clarke and Ron Crossland in The Leader's Voice. "As role models, leaders are often symbols of our better selves. We loathe phoniness and crave genuine leaders who truly stand for something."
The key to being authentic is to have a clear sense of self -- to be intimately familiar with your values, goals, strengths and weaknesses, they write. The better you understand yourself, the more comfortable with yourself you become, and the less you feel the need to exert control over others.
This resulting vulnerability, they write, "stimulates courage in others and grants constituents permission to be themselves and speak the truth. Barriers dissolve and communication flows."
THERE'S NO "I" IN "TEAM"
The days of the lone corporate hero are long gone; progressive leaders recognize the need for collaboration to be successful.
"The charismatic, stand-alone, get-out-of-my-way-I'm-in-charge leader is a fading actor whose time has passed," writes John O. Burdett in Leaders Must Lead! "Working in teams is more vital than ever."
To build a workplace culture of collaboration, one in which all employees work toward the same goals, Burdett writes, the following things need to be in place: the organization's vision, values and leaders must embrace teamwork; collaboration must be measured; the symbolism used in corporate branding, communication and leadership development must capture the spirit of connectivity; and, the company's leaders must become skilled storytellers.
NOT JUST THE FACTS, MA'AM
"Detailed data alone works like chloroform. Titillating stories along [with data] work like nitrous oxide," write Clarke and Crossland in The Leader's Voice.
A good leader is a storyteller -- he/she knows how to make facts memorable, they write. They use metaphors, analogies, humour, stories and visual tools to make dry statistical information interesting and relevant to their employees.
Good factual information not only maintains your employees' attention, they write, it builds trust and strengthens their confidence in your leadership abilities.
SILENCE IS GOLDEN
Good leaders understand that communication is a two-way street, and are interested in the opinions, ideas and feedback of their employees.
"Heroes speak only when they have something to say," writes Sharif N. Kahn in Psychology of the Hero Soul. "Heroes realize they have one mouth and two eyes and two ears for a good reason, and they exercise that: spending most of their time observing, sensing, and listening."
Practising the art of silence in daily life, for example, via hobbies such as swimming, walking or yoga, Kahn writes, helps leaders clear their minds and access original ideas.
WALKING THE WALK
All talk and no action makes for a poor leader. The most effective leaders put their money where their mouth is. They're not afraid of challenges -- rather, they face them head on and decisively do what needs to be done.
"Action," writes Kahn, "is an integral part of the hero's character. Heroes have such an intense vision, that they 'out picture' the rest by going out and doing what no one else is willing to do."
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