In many ways, good leadership is hard to define. It can not be measured directly. There is no leadership "score" or report card. In fact often the measure of leadership is qualitative rather than quantitative - although quantitative results always follow. Thus, questions remain, how can you tell if your leadership skills are effective?
Pure and simple, leadership is about getting others to act. If effective leadership is lacking, less than maximum effort is put forth. Better leadership, better effort. Exceptional leadership inspires the best effort in others.
effective leadership is a function of both individual skills and organizational culture. What are some signs that leadership is not as effective as it could be? There are a number of them. These are indications that something is missing in the equation leadership.
* Inability to motivate people
* Difficulty in attracting / Keeping the Right People
* Low productivity
* Poor Customer orientation
* High Stress
* Insulation
* The profits down
* Ineffective Delegation
* Lack of creativity
* Lack of initiative
* Ineffective Teams
* Poor communication
* Lack of vision
* Increased revenues
* High turnover
What can be done to improve leadership effectiveness? The answer is not so easy to understand and easy to implement. It begins with understanding the basics of what makes a person an effective leader and what kind of organizational culture is more effective.
Effective personal leadership
When I ask workshop participants on the characteristics of good leaders and bad, never the list includes issues of intelligence, skills, or effective decision-making! Instead, the list is full of people of similar traits - good listener, respectful, good communicator, developing others, ...
Effective personal leadership can be summarized as being competent in these skill sets:
* Becoming Influential
* Facilitating Teamwork & Collaboration
* Being a catalyst for change
* Conflict management
* Other Development
* Having & Communicating a compelling vision
Unfortunately, by improving their competence in these areas is often a challenge. Let me explain why ...
Unlike the facts, which is transformed into the neo-cortex of the brain, skills relating to people are treated in a part of the brain called the amygdala. This part of the brain regulates emotional insights and answers that intuition and logical answers. Improving leadership skills above require one to break old habits and answers and creating new ones, and we are not able to do so by simply learning and acquiring knowledge. That is the difference between the neo-cortex and the amygdala.
There are a couple of challenges inherent in this process. Virtually everyone agrees that have room for improvement. The first challenge is knowing which areas for improvement. We all have blind spots. We're aware of some of our weaknesses, but usually not all. Secondly, the habit of breaking and training of new requires commitment, perseverance and time. It usually takes support from others - people who can rely on when you have acted inconsistently for your intent. It 'important to use a reliable assessment to identify areas of opportunity for growth. From these results, we can develop a plan of development that strengthens the most vulnerable areas and helps you get stronger. The final aspect of a personal development plan for success is based on having one or more people who can support, giving impartial, non-judgmental feedback, and help you make course corrections.
Organizational Culture
The foundations of a strong organization are:
1. Develop a clear and convincing Purpose
2. The identification of the mission of the organization to achieve its purpose
3. Agree on a set of values with which to carry out the mission
4. Adopting a Servant Leader attitude throughout the organization
The purpose of an organization is the "why" of its existence. Not what you do as much as what you are striving to achieve. This is a statement of the greater good that is trying to achieve. Answers the question: "Why are we here?" and contributes to the clarity and attention to each individual organization. And 'the yardstick by which decisions are measured.
The organization's mission is "What" of an organization. This is a definition of what the company to achieve its stated purposes. It begins to define the core competence of a business and helps keep you focused on achieving its purpose.
set of values of an organization is the "how" of an organization. It defines what an organization most values in the execution of his mission. It is not a list that includes all possible values as much as a statement of what the organization most values in its people and their behavior. It defines the behavior and culture within an organization. It helps set guidelines of what is and is not acceptable.
At the core of Servant Leadership is the premise that the customer is the most important person for the organization. As a result of this premise, it follows that only the people closest to the customer are the front-line staff. These are the people who interact with customers on a daily basis. This understanding leads to the philosophy that the job of manager of the first people in line to do their work more easily and effectively as possible so that the customer has the best experience possible. The result is a chart which looks like an inverted pyramid. This servant attitude focuses leaders on developing those around them. It brings together people working in a collaborative environment-oriented solutions.
How do we develop aims, mission and values? Drawing on our understanding of the servant leadership and the importance of all members of the organization, the creation of purpose, mission and values requires input from people in all sectors of society. They (the purpose, mission and values) must be relevant to all involved, must be consistent with each other, and must be used consistently as a benchmark for decisions and policies. There is nothing worse than developing values and simply paying lip-service by not living them day by day. This practice lacks integrity and becomes a reality demoralizer.
In summary, when we combine personal expertise in all areas of leadership skills with an organizational culture that supports people, their development and their success, we end up with exceptional leadership which, in turn, inspires the best effort in other .
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