Most of the work that I do is focused on leadership development within organizations, working under the premise that everyone, regardless of seniority, experience, or age, has leadership abilities.
What I’ve learned over the years is that most people have an inner desire to be an effective leader – some are naturally gifted, while others have to work a little harder at it.
Whether you’re a natural or not, here’s a few guidelines that I’ve found to be helpful when developing leaders.
Perhaps they’ll help you as well…
1. The new leader is transformational: The old paradigm of barking instructions at and giving orders to others is being replaced by a movement toward transformational leadership — a form of leadership in which personal awareness, collective consciousness, and empathy for others are placed at the center of business communication.
2. Emotional Intelligence matters: This evolving method of relating to one another derives from the principles of emotional intelligence, the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically, in the workplace and creates an environment where everyone has an opportunity to thrive.
3. Must take personal development seriously: In order to develop your leadership skills, it is imperative that you, as a leader, be willing to let your guard down, be more vulnerable and place personal and professional development at the top of your “to-do” list.
4. Be vulnerable: A willingness to be more vulnerable with yourself and others is the true sign of a transformational leader. Transformational leadership is born from a personal commitment to learn more about your fears and insecurities. Then, from this place, be willing to lead and interact with others.
5. Vulnerability follows: When you lead with vulnerability, it invites others to do the same and opens the door for authentic communication. The importance of this shouldn’t be underestimated because it is essentially the linchpin that allows for a deeper connection between colleagues, and provides essential insights needed to influence others and drive outcomes.
6. Understand That Transformation Isn’t Easy: Anyone who’s experienced any form of transformation in their life understands that it doesn’t happen overnight, isn’t easy, and is a continuing, ever-changing process. The same holds true when you embark on a journey of transformational leadership, as you will inevitably be led down a windy path with many challenging twists and turns along the way.
7. Explore your fears: The inward journey is one that allows you to explore your deepest fears and insecurities and often requires a certain level of persistence to access some of the “stuff” that you may have subconsciously buried somewhere deep within.
8. Learn what bothers you: As you start to uncover some of this “stuff,” you’ll gain more awareness of the external factors in your life that trigger you and trip you up in your day-to-day activities. Perhaps you find yourself continually bothered by one of your clients or in challenging conversations with your colleagues.
9. Learn why they bother you: Regardless of this situation, the more you develop an understanding and awareness of “why” these things bother you, the more equipped and well-rounded you become as a leader and the more capable you become of supporting others in their own transformational process.
When you explore “why” things bother you, you want to look underneath the surface.
Simply saying, “He/She is a pain in the ass”, isn’t getting into the “why”.…
The “why” resides within the frustration that the other person has triggered inside of you.
Make sense??
If you’re curious to learn more about the work that we’re doing within organizations, please let me know. I’m happy to share more about our integrative leadership group coaching program.
