Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Leverage Your Leadership Skills and Become a Better Leader



What’s the core of leadership? I have often wondered about this. Like everyone, I have worked for people with the capacity to inspire and energize an army, and I have also worked for people who would have been better off in a cave far from civilization. I read an interesting quote awhile ago that has remained with me, and I believe it defines the true core of leadership.

“Being a manager or a leader is a privilege. It’s an honor to have others respect your abilities enough to allow you to lead them. It’s an honor to have others trust you to guide them and support them as you work together.” Liz Weber, the Dragon Lady of Leadership Accountability, shared this quote in her new book: Something Needs to Change Around Here, The Five Stages to Leveraging Your Leadership.

Ask yourself, how often – between meetings, conferences, projects, employee reviews, etc. – have you considered being a leader or manager to be a privilege? Ever? Be honest when answering. This is exactly my point. If more managers and leaders considered the process of supervising, guiding, teaching, training, mentoring, and managing others as a PRIVILEGE, our workplaces would run more smoothly, and employees would be more engaged.

You’ll have to read Liz’s book to gain insights into the specifics of her five stages to leverage leadership, but here are some of her key themes:

  • Just because you have the title “manager” or “leader,” it doesn’t mean you can lead.
  • Employees don’t care about your title, they care about what you can do.
  • Until you free up your time and some of your mental capacity to focus on “what’s next,” it’s terribly difficult to become an effective leader.
  • When leaders lead, managers manage, and doers do, everyone knows what they’re all working toward.
  • In order for an organization’s strategic projects to morph and evolve, the leadership needs to grow, evolve, and let go…If you don’t let go, others can’t do.

As Liz Weber writes at the end of the book, “Someone needs to change around here…you.” So, I challenge all the leaders out there reading this post, alter your mindset and behavior, and then watch your employees. You just might notice a difference.

2 comments:

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  2. Whenever someone does a good job he should appreciate it immediately. Also if someone has not done his job according to the expectations, he should discuss with him in person and teach him how to tackle the problem.

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