The Power of Leadership
Submitted by: Michael Parkin, Principal, PeopleFirst
A true leader proliferates leadership across the organization. As such, she is a role model and mentor to many. Being a believer in the power of people, he inspires and encourages passionate thinking and behavior by building a framework for innovation and creativity that values curiosity, experimentation and reasonable risk taking.
The process starts with vision creation, and well defined goals. It’s of no consequence if the vision is dictated, a collaboration or somewhere between. The "Vision" has a stretching yet attainable goal and guiding principles. The vision must be continually shared and resonate with the population. Putting a person on the moon was this kind of vision for NASA in the 60’s. What’s your organization’s "man on the moon" vision? The elements of shared values or the guiding principles determine "how" the team will get there. These values identify acceptable versus unacceptable behavior. They help develop the organization’s culture and how people interact.
People are encouraged to challenge the way things are in order to dynamically improve process and performance. What works well, what should we keep doing? What doesn’t work, what should we stop doing? What should we do differently, what should we change or start doing? As leaders ask these questions, they encourage people to think differently and overcome "mental models" of how they traditionally viewed the world.
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate...individuals and teams must have clarity around vision, roles, responsibilities, and objectives with well defined metrics. The leadership team must run the business based on factual metrics, dialogue, discussion and astute decision making. Sharing and listening are critical with this intercourse. Leaders learn the pitfalls of just solving problems and believe in a world of infinite possibilities. In a "systems thinking" world, leaders must remove obstacles, overcome barriers and work through conflict resolution by relentless struggle to understand relationships and root causes. They empower the competent and encourage constructive dissonance. Rigorous self scrutiny and organizational reflection are critical success factors.
"Personal Mastery" and "Team Learning" are valued, and appropriately rewarded. Individuals take pride in becoming proficient in their field. People learn how to interact more effectively through enhanced listening skills, practicing courageous communication and learning to become more non-defensive. In discussions, people balance advocacy and inquiry. They learn the power of dialogue to explore possibilities. Over time and with practice, the quality of interaction is improved resulting in team performance improvement and objective attainment. These behaviors are modeled, encouraged and reinforced by great leaders.
Through his leadership the team continually learns to better understand and influence complex systems. Problems are solved and root causes are examined to improve the system and avoid similar problems in the future. As a leader, she continually evaluates what’s important. She develops the culture while continually enhancing the organization’s ability to achieve desired results. Leaders exist throughout the organization at all levels. If you "manage" a team, then I suggest, it’s probably important to develop leadership skills. Projects and processes need management; people need leadership. Be a leader within your organization.
About Michael Parkin: As Director at PeopleFirst, Michael offers consulting in the areas of Organizational Development, Customer Satisfaction and Human Resources. PeopleFrst also offers performance based Skill Workshops in the areas of Leadership, Team Development, Sales & Service, Personal Mastery and Human Resources. (For additional insight, visit www.YourPeopleFirst.com.
|
