 Leadership is probably the concept that is most talked about, while simultaneously being one of the least-understood. It is difficult to find good books on leadership, because the market is flooded with books on "leadership" written by celebrities that are useless to the Average Joe. The good books (and there are many!) often try to distill it down to base principles, which often break down based on the author's background and experience. But the simple fact is that you cannot become a great leader just by reading books any more than you can become a championship baseball player by reading books on baseball technique....
Being a computer programmer by trade, leadership concepts and ideas don't come naturally, since we programmers basically are of the mindset "1. Tell Computer What To Do, 2. Computer Does It" and the only question is whether we did step 1 correctly. Humans work very differently, obviously, yet it is all too easy to transfer that mindset to our relationships with others. I'm definitely not the greatest leader out there so if you are looking for the "definitely guide", you are not reading the right thing. But, for anyone out there that works with computers a lot, this may be a good start (and bear in mind that imho, these are necessary but not sufficient!). In order of importance (again, in my ever-so-humble opinion):
1. Leaders LISTEN! To everyone. Higher-ups, Equals, and people under you - listen to everyone carefully because EVERYONE has good ideas. Even if their idea isn't good it may spark an idea of your own. Seek out opportunties to listen, and remember that most of communication is not in the words (body language and the tone of the person will tell you TONS!)
2. Leaders COMMUNICATE effectively! Again, to everyone. People are impacted negatively more often by not enough information about the project/relationship/company etc. than by too much information. Obviously, it is possible to provide too much information and drown others in it. Some judgement is required. I've found that the union of information that people need to know and the information people want to know is a good starting point. People are generally willing to let you know how much they want to know. Only restrict information for very good reasons (and communicate those reasons, as well!)
3. Leaders are RESPONSIVE. The best communication and listening skills are wasted if no action comes out of it. You may have paid attention and remembered every little scrap of ideation that has come from others, and communicated so they know that, but if no action is taken on it, is it as if you totally ignored the other person/people. The resultant action doesn't have to be an implementation - if you have a ton of good ideas flowing (a good problem to have), it usually is sufficient to store the idea somehow in a visible place and COMMUNICATE (#2 again) the fact that the idea was worthy to be remembered but that the resources to implement it aren't yet available. The key behind this is that the person who generated the idea gets acknowledgement for their idea, validation about their contribution, and encouragement to generate more ideas.
4. Leaders have a POSITIVE VISION that has buy-in from others. Sometimes called a goal, or a target, or whatever. They all mean the same thing - a destination in mind that is better than where the organization is today. But the other thing "buy-in", is ignored far more frequently than one might expect. If you have a vision that no one else believes in, you don't have an effective vision. It is critical to get everyone on board with you vision, because it provides the context for your listening and communication, and the guidelines for your responses. Without the buy-in, you will have plenty of effective, validated action, but the actions themselves may conflict and not get you to where you want your organization to go. Remember to stay positive! Your co-workers are motivated much better by hope for a better future, than a fear for a worse. Don't play to not lose, play to win!
5. Leaders are POSITIVELY ACCOUNTABLE - even if they don't have to be. Good leaders acknowledge that success depends on the work of others. However, good leaders also bear full responsibility for failures. Contrast this idea of responsibility with that of blame, which is the assignment of responsibility for failure to another. Blame blocks communcation, stifles the generation of ideas, closes minds, and stops the listening process. Good leaders don't blame - they seek the reason for their own performance and in the methodologies they use, in the communication they provided, and in their listening skills. Only in this context should the leader be evaluating the performance of others. Leaders seek the opportunities for learning and growth in the failure, both in themselves and in others. Good communication skills are vital here - a known failure puts those involved on the defensive, and it can be an effort to replace this attitude with an opportunity-seeking one.
This grew to be a big entry - thank you for reading it all. I'll have more to blog about on these 5 and other ideas in future entries! |
