“Don’t Fool Yourself; LEADERSHIP IS HARD!”
In my effort to cultivate and grow my leadership, I find it challenging to stay the course and achieve what I read, witness, and teach. In fact, I often find myself telling people one thing and doing the exact opposite. Doing that can hurt those you lead, coach, mentor, or teach. If you don’t improve, you will ultimately lose respect, trust, and, eventually, the ability to influence.
As 2020 approaches, I decided to evaluate my leadership abilities and identify those things I do well and those areas where I need to improve. The last four years have been a personal leadership challenge for me. I’ve had a job change that put me in a role with no direct reports and limited my decision-making authority. I’ve had to learn to lead differently. The term; “influence without authority” has become an actual reality challenge for me.
During my self-evaluation, I identified my top 5 strengths in leading others and having a strong influence on the decision making process.
1. I am a very HIGH ENERGY AND PASSIONATE leader in the areas I believe in.
2. I am willing to embrace CHANGE, even if I don’t entirely agree with it
3. I am PERSISTENT in my approach to achieving my desires, goals, and objectives
4. I am CONFIDENT in my decision making but open to ideas and suggestions
5. I am a strong ENGAGER of people
It is always good to identify your strong points, but it can be challenging to identify areas for improvement. The way I approached this was to reflect on 2019 and the many conversations, suggestions, and feedback I received throughout the year. I am always asking for feedback (although many times I don’t want to hear it or I have an excuse)
Based on my evaluation and reflection, I will focus on building and improving the following five leadership traits in 2020.
1. Being Clear in My Communication – I will work to enhance my communication approach through tone and word choices. Working to pull my feelings and frustration back and undoubtedly transfer my thoughts, ideas, and expectations. I will explain the “why” more often and ensure people are well informed. People want to be “in the know.” People want to deliver expectations, but can’t be successful if we don’t clearly and successfully communicate. They also want to know what the rewards are for good work and the consequences for sub-standard work.
2. Build Stronger Relationships – Relationships are critical to leadership. Strong relationships build trust and respect and offer the opportunity to influence. I will work to be present with my customers, leaders, and the workforce. I will reach out for general conversations and make sure I follow-up with the right people. I will work to show how much I care about all facets of the business. It is said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care!” They are looking for you to care for them and build a working relationship. I will work harder to learn and remember names and recognize that life is going on outside of work.
3. Humble Myself – I am am very confident in my role but must be better at leading with humility. I don’t know everything and always make the right decisions, but I will work diligently to illustrate my knowledge through the quality of my choices. I will recognize all persons, regardless of position, and work to realize that no one is any more important than anyone else. I will demonstrate this through my actions and interactions. I will let each know how important they are by involving them and getting their brains in the game.
4. Be a Stronger Encourager – I will continuously look for and recognize the great work people are doing. I will express my gratitude and exemplify the positive difference they are making. I will encourage them for their actions, the work they perform, and the value they add.
5. Have Courage – I understand creativity and innovation drive progress and performance. I will make bold decisions, push back when needed, but fully support the final decision. I will have difficult conversations when necessary, and I will do the difficult right things.
With a new year and new decade roll into place, I feel like it is the optimal time to increase my influence and achieve more than I ever have. I don’t know where most of you fall within your leadership needs (unless I know you). Still, I believe the results from my self-evaluation will encourage many of you to look within yourself, identify areas of improvement, and make the necessary changes to become a stronger influencer and more effective leader.
Why is leading myself more difficult than leading others? I ask myself this question EVERY SINGLE day!
3.5 magnitude range. We can feel them and they can be unsettling. However, I can’t recall anything as jolting as this one. The ironic thing is I left that morning on a business trip while my wife continued to experience smaller earthquakes and multiple aftershocks. In fact, she counted 30 that day. However, even though I had left town, my legs were shaky. My nerves were somewhat on edge. As I returned home the next day, I went to bed wondering if I was going to experience another earthquake and how big would it be this time.
VE BEEN HERE BEFORE – Keep your composure, you have been in similar situations before. Calm and composed leaders that reflect they have been through difficult times before, exude a strong presence with a sense of elegance and grace. This will give you a genuinely compassionate approach to ease the minds and fears anyone may be experiencing.
Learn to fail forward. Your approach to failure will have an impact on the outcome. Embrace the failure and use it to gain success.
My goal is to read at least 1 new book per month. Reading gives me a lot of my ideas and creates a sense of knowledge for solving most problems. If I don’t know the answer, I read. Commit to attending meetings, conferences and training that stretches you and provides a greater expansion of your personal and professional knowledge.
a better husband, father, GRANDFATHER (in April), professional, leader and overall a better person.
EXPECTATIONS!
LEADER INFLUENCE 