Measuring Leadership Effectiveness

If I've said it once, I've said it one hundred times; everyone is a leader. You may not think you are, but there is someone looking at you for leadership. It may be it may be a spouse, a child, a friend, or it may be a team at work. It may even be a multi-million/billion-dollar project under your leadership. There are many forms and facets of leadership, all of which are important.

While leading is fairly inclusive to all, leading well is another story.  A constant topic of concern to me is emotional intelligence and the accountability one must take for themselves. You are 100% accountable for the decisions you make, the actions you take (or at times the actions you don’t take) and the words you speak. You are 100% accountable for you, so don't try to blame others for them. Along with taking responsibility for oneself, you must also commit to understand and learning about others. In today’s culture, dealing with multiple generations of perspective and ideology, we have to learn to understand people like never before. That type of understanding isn't a gift everyone has, but it is something that can be learned by anyone willing to set their pride to the side, and learn that perspective, learning, hearing and many other aspects of life are different for everyone (read my previous posts on my blog [http://stevestrickland.blogspot.com/] titled “Perspective”, “Trust and “Developing an understanding attitude”).

Your ability to learn and adapt will help determine your effectiveness as a leader. It doesn't refer to your level of book smarts, but rather your ability to grow, learn and implement new ways to lead people effectively. I'd like to discuss a couple of areas leadership that will help you get the most out of your leadership potential.

Self–awareness

Self-awareness is a curiosity that begins with the courage to hear what works and does not work about your leadership style. It can be about anything leadership, including; the work culture, personality dynamics, etc. Being aware is the first level of knowledge that can equip you to take powerful corrective action. Self-awareness allows you to leverage your talent and intervene when and where necessary to remove any personality traits that are in the way of your true leadership potential.

The ability to develop culture and climate awareness opens the door for you to see what is really going on. With that additional level of knowledge, you can intervene in areas that negatively effecting engagement and innovation.

Self-Awareness is the doorway to emotional intelligence. It gives you access to real self-improvement. It's absolutely critical for personal and professional development. However, awareness for awareness sake is not enough.

As a leader, you must be courageous enough to take responsibility for your negative behaviors and the impact of those behaviors on others. You have to be willing to recognize and admit when you are wrong, then work to shift your behavior in a way that has a more positive impact. Be humble.

Bias for Action

This is a phrase that several of my best leaders have used to describe a consistent urgency toward doing (Both Mike Ettore and Martin Casado were leaders of mine that used this phrase and both had a military background). Many leaders prefer to stay on the strategic side of things, casting vision and focusing on the mission or strategic project of the day. I've got a lot of that in me too - but I have learned a valuable leadership lesson in this area. People love being led well, but if you always lead from the top you can lose credibility.  Sometimes you have to lead from the side and be willing to not just lead, but assist as well. Assisting can come in several forms, whether it's clearing roadblocks and impediments with other teams, providing resources or materials required, or actually jumping in to assist with work that needs to be done.

I can tell you that my most recent position change (just a few months ago) this has become a critical component of being able to lead well. I'm spending less than half of my time managing and leading in a strategic way. The majority of my time is spent writing code, building automation components, answering calls/tickets or whatever else needs to be done to assist the team.

Be willing to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty in there with your team. It will go a long way toward gaining their respect and you teach them you are not willing to ask something of them you would be unwilling to do yourself. If you want to build your influence and develop loyalty between you and those you lead – be willing to help as much as you want to lead.

Adaptive Change

As mentioned above, most leaders are typically mission and task driven, focusing on the strategic side of things. This can cause blind spots when it comes to what is happening with your team.

Being able to respond to changes in an appropriate, controlled manner — regardless of the current stress – is part of a good leader. Flat line reaction is not always the answer but screaming and yelling is not appropriate for any situation. Anger and frustration might be needed at times, while curiosity and collaboration may be needed at other times.

Developing this type of response and reaction agility means that you have learned to think before reacting. When I teach this to my kids, there are a few phrases I have repeated to them enough times that they typically help me finish the sentence now whenever I use it:

·         You don’t have to say everything that comes into your head

·         Don’t allow your feelings to dictate your actions, you be in control of them

As an effective leader, you must constantly ask yourself, “What is needed now?” This has everything to do with situational awareness and appropriate reaction. When the work is stressful or a project is faltering, a leader needs to have a handle on how they respond, and can coach others in the same manner. That type of leader is one that positively contributes to a healthy company climate and culture.

Being adaptive takes discipline, awareness and commitment. It’s a core component of leadership intelligence. We have to learn to be:

1.       a mission-driven leader

2.       a leader who inspires people to give their best in service of a compelling vision

In summary, we must recognize that most people are not coming to work simply for a paycheck; we need a keen awareness that many people come to work to fulfill their individual purpose in a way that supports the organizational purpose. If you want to be an effective leader, you must understand how to inspire and how to leverage your communications with others to do the same. They utilize their people intelligence to tie work responsibilities and tasks not only to the overall intention for and strategy of the business, but to a real purpose they can get behind as well.