Leadership: A Lifelong Journey
Have you noticed how many books and podcasts there are about improving your effectiveness as a leader? A 2015 search indicated 57,136 books on Amazon included the word "leadership" in the title. Imagine how many there are now!
Each hopeful leader seeks to build a growing understanding of the practice of leadership. You are one of those people. You realize that the process of leadership development is a lifelong journey, and it is not possible to digest all the how-to’s, anecdotes, and best practices. Nevertheless, some leadership growth is better than no leadership growth. The wind can only move a ship whose sails and anchor are up.
Based on four decades of leadership education, executive experience, and consulting, I’d like to share some skills of great leaders.
Leaders accept and embrace the calling (roles and responsibilities) of leadership
People desire to be led, not by an authoritarian leader but by an authentic leader who exemplifies values, respects others’ talents and contributions, nurtures excellence, and builds a cooperative spirit. Organizations and efforts lacking such leadership simply do not work efficiently, build strong culture, or last long.
Leaders accept the responsibility to lead; they don’t abdicate against it. Shirked responsibilities do not disappear, and so leaders embrace the compulsion and comfort to take the initiative in accepting the calling to tackle them. Every facet of leadership requires a sense of stepping through the gate, getting into the arena, and accepting the role.
Confidence in the position of leadership is not antithetical to the fundamental understanding of leaders as servants. Their position is not seized for self-promotion. Rather, it represents God’s plan and design for their lives and the lives of those whom they touch in their role—serving to benefit a particular community and, for people of faith, to effect God’s purposes in this world.
Leaders plan and oversee strategies and goals to accomplish the vision and purpose of the organization
Leaders have some sense of knowing where the organization must go and how to steer it to the goal. They are more than just visionary, though; they must be strategic thinkers and proactive to ensure that the team remains on task.
Effective leaders see visions of growth, communicate their dreams clearly, gain consensus and commitment to common objectives, take initiative by setting the pace in actions, and multiply their influence by developing subordinates into empowered leaders. Executive leaders differ from middle managers. Managers conserve and concentrate on doing things right; visionary leaders create and focus on doing the right things.
Dr. John Kotter, renowned researcher and author, differentiates leadership from management, stating that organizations need both to succeed. In describing leadership (in contrast to management), Kotter states that the responsibility of leaders is to “develop strategies to accomplish vision—to do the tough work of gathering information and analyzing results. Leaders are strategic thinkers who are willing to take risks.”
The leader must be clear in his or her mind concerning the proper purposes and principles of the organization. The vision must then be shared, communicated, discussed, reshaped, and put into practice. Leaders embody it as the standard of mindset and practice! The process of incorporating and achieving the vision must then be managed. The vision must be institutionalized, delegated, shared, developed, and owned by all. That is the job of leadership.
What is one 'right thing' you can prioritize this week to advance your organization’s vision, rather than just checking off your management to-do list?
In which specific area of your leadership will you 'step into the arena' today and take full ownership of a responsibility you’ve previously been hesitant to embrace?