Leadership. What can we say that hasn’t been said before? Truth be told – probably nothing.
We aren’t re-inventing the wheel here – there is simply no need – but we are reconfiguring it. Great leaders, we believe, can be made, and to go the distance they need to be made of the right stuff.
Leadership is a topic that has been talked to death and we couldn’t consider ourselves experts in the field if we didn’t do our part to revive this tired horse.
Of course, no one could disagree that the call for true leadership is greater than ever. Regardless of the challenges brought on by 2020, the world was always going to need a greater calibre of leader to step up. Our business world is evolving in so many ways that relying on the same frameworks of leadership, or even worse, management…is simply not good enough.
So here we are, to share with you a very unique and well established breakdown of the makeup of a leader that cannot fail. Which is not to say they cannot get things wrong. But failing as a true leader is never failure. You know this! It’s learning. It’s opportunity. They don’t just FAIL. Leaders fail forward…or upward or diagonally. They treat failure as simply a springboard to better things.
Today we will share with you the 8 dimensions of leadership, that simply should not be overlooked and will help leaders lead in this new world that we now live in!
The 8 Dimensions of leadership capability:
Adaptability: This terms surely speaks for itself. Good leaders have the uncanny ability to flex with the circumstances. We live in ever changing times and with change the only constant, being responsive and ready to rise to a challenge and a change is an indispensable quality. Certainty is a nice idea, but not a realistic one. As a leader, being able to maintain your drive and resilience during times of uncertainty is important. It instils a necessary sense of ‘we’ve got this’ in your people and encourages them to focus on what they can control.
The Centre for Creative Leadership did a 2019 survey of North American managers which showed adaptability as the number one necessity to succeed as a leader. Given the events of 2020, it’s probably safe to say that adaptability would continue to rank high. Admittedly, we are based in New-Zealand, but as we are a westernised economy the findings should be relatively generalisable.
Authenticity: A word we are becoming increasingly familiar with. Simply put, being an authentic leader means having a keen sense of self, and standing in the integrity of your vision and values without acting like you’ve had a personality transplant. Your people will see through your mask. Besides, being authentic requires that we tap into this self-knowledge to connect with others in a meaningful and sincere way.
A 2019 study conducted across business in Netherlands, Spain and Poland demonstrated that when employers were seen as authentic leaders, that employees experienced increased work engagement and initiative, and in turn identified more innovative solutions.
Drive: A good leader has vision, yes. But a true leader can transform a vision into reality. They deconstruct the journey from start to finish, moving with conviction and focussed energy from one milestone to the next, and of course, adapting along the way, because vision does not mean blind commitment. A good visionary is a realist and a good planner – always ready to switch to plan B.
Influence: This is a big one. We never complete a leadership coaching or workshop without talking about a leader’s ability to influence their people. While a vision with actionable goals are necessary to accomplish what we define as success, it’s not usually enough on its own. To move towards identified goals we often need to catalyse those around us into action – we need to inspire and motivate. Influence can be achieved when leaders walk their talk. When a leader’s behaviours reflect their vision, they demonstrate credibility and authenticity. And even more so, they seed the behaviours they want to see from their people. They make it easier to know what to do and they win trust. It is also useful when a leader can effectively challenge those walking to a different set of rules for a seemingly different vision, to encourage new streams of thought and behaviour, and to ultimately align them to their vision.
Innovation: We hear it all time, but let’s be frank; it’s very hard to feel inspired and innovative in an environment intolerant of uncertainty and mistakes. Think about how you currently deal with the unknown, how do you respond to ‘failures’? Do your people feel safe to share with you? Without trust and a sense of safety to ‘fail’ (remember, failure is never really failure!), without the go-ahead to push boundaries of thought and ideas, without proof that you will respond with curiosity and diplomacy to ideas that bomb, how could anyone be creative? This is not an environment conducive of continuous improvement and solutions-focus. A good leader provides all these things and they do it with authenticity.
Resilience: Leaders in this day and age need bounce-back-ability. Resilience is not about being okay all the time or smiling through adversity. Resilient leaders are able to recognise when they are not okay, and have the cognitive flexibility, among other tools and resources, to adapt and move through adversity. Resilient leaders can call on productive coping strategies that allow them to endure challenges, resources to withstand and manage the pressure of job demands, and mental grit to recover rapidly from crises. And as always, what is role-modelled as leaders seeds the growth of young leaders among you, and of personal and professional growth of all those who look to you.
Thinking: We couldn’t bypass the important of our centre of executive function located in that squishy, energy-hungry organ in our skulls. Or to be more specific, the prefrontal cortex (PFC). An effective leader taps into their thinking in a very unique way. They continuously develop the cognitive capacity of the PFC which include, among other things, the functions of critical observation and reasoning, decision making, planning, self-control and behaviour. A good leader uses these functions to devise the most optimal solutions when faced with barriers, change or challenge. They use their skills of observation and reasoning to anticipate the consequences of different actions, and land on the best way forward.
Positivity: Arguably this is one of the softer dimensions of leadership – but know that we would argue against that premise! As we like to say – the soft stuff deliver the hard outcomes. As we also like to say – it’s all about the soft stuff! A leader who displays all of the above dimensions but lacks this ‘soft’ quality may find themselves and their team falling at the final hurdles. Or worse, they may never get off the finish line. Positivity is like the fuel that will either help get the fire started or keep it going. When things get tough, your people need a role-model. They need a cue of how to think, feel and act. Are we going to freak out? Look at things from an external locus of control (i.e. this is out of my control!!)? Expect the worse? Or are we going to follow the lead of, well, our leader? A positive leader exudes confidence, even if their mental state may be questioned! They create positive emotions and outlooks in others and display positive emotions to others. With the right mindset, obstacles become detours in the right direction. Problems become opportunities for teamwork and innovation.
We’d like to make mention of one more dimension not listed above. A good leader takes time to reflect honestly on themselves. So, on reflection, how do you measure against these eight dimensions?
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If you’re thinking ‘How do I go about developing these competencies?’ We’d love to help you! Join our Hamilton-based LEAD-Q programme and experience learning as you have never experienced it before, with a group of like-minded leaders from a range of industries! It only comes around twice a year so places are limited! If you like what you see but you’d like to have a chat first, hit us with a message through our Contact page.
Leadership is an honour that comes with inherent responsibility. Our present is a reflection of the many decisions made by the leaders in our history. The future may seem a long way off, but one day the state of the world will be a result, in part, of the decisions you made as a leader.
…So, what is the legacy you want to leave?
Blog by Ance Strydom