Making Decisions as a Leader…

5 Key Items to Consider

Actively Decide to Be A Better Leader

Continually developing as a good leader doesn't just happen. It takes constant personal and professional development/coaching, regular feedback, self-reflection, and execution on the feedback received. Success as a leader is a conscious decision. It's our job to earn that role every single day.

Problems Are Never As Big As They Seem

Recognize nothing is ever as bad as it seems, especially if you maintain high levels of emotional intelligence and self awareness. It’s all about the perspective you decide to take.

Stop Avoiding Difficult Conversations

Whether it’s a direct report, a child, a parent or even your Leader, it doesn't do any good deciding to put off much needed conversations. When we do that, things tend to get worse. Don't put it off things won't fix themselves.

Absence Of Advice, Take Responsibility

Making tough decisions takes practice and courage. Avoiding conflict, putting off making difficult decisions and sugar-coating reality, those types of behaviors are of very little use as a Leader.  Take ownership even in the absence of advice a decision must still be made!

Last, but maybe the most important…

Be Positive

Decide to be positive no matter what.  As Leaders, wearing our emotions on our sleeves, becoming frantic or angry during stress and chaos only creates more problems.  Making a choice to lead your team with a positive and realistic attitude is likely one of the most important decisions you make every day.

Remember, Victor or Victim the choice belongs to you!

Simply Advanced can provide your leaders with tools and methods to help them continue to grow. Contact me to learn more or check out my sessions on Leadership Development.

How Leaders Develop Their Authenticity

Authentic Leadership

Being authentic as a leader can be hard work and can take years of experience in leadership roles. No one can be authentic without failure; everyone behaves inauthentically at times, saying and doing things they will come to regret. The key is to have the self-awareness to recognize these times and listen closely to people who provide feedback.

The essence of authentic leadership is emotional intelligence. The first and most important step on this journey is gaining self-awareness. To achieve this awareness authentic leaders:

• Engage in reflection by taking time every day to step back from the 24/7 world.  This can be done through different practices that are growing rapidly in popularity, such as meditation, mindfulness, prayer, long walks to clear one’s mind, or simply sitting quietly and reflecting. The key here is to set aside preoccupation with task lists, this way, the urgent does not take precedence over the important in one’s life, and leaders examine how they are living their lives and engaging with the world around them.

• Seek honest feedback from colleagues, friends, and subordinates about themselves and their leadership. One of the hardest things for leaders to do is to understand how other people see them, which is often quite different than how they want to be seen. To gain greater understanding of how they are coming across, authentic leaders obtain real-time feedback by listening to their “truth tellers” without becoming defensive.

• Understand their leadership purpose so they can align people around a common objective. Purpose defines the unique gifts people bring to leadership challenges, through which they can align others with their purposes to create positive impact. This is far more important than focusing entirely on achieving success in metrics like money, fame and power, yet ultimately produces sustained success in those metrics as well.

• Become skilled at tailoring their style to their audiences, situations and readiness of their teammates to accept different approaches. There are times when leaders must make difficult decisions that are sure to displease people, and they’ll need to give tough feedback.  At other times, they need to be inspiring, good coaches, and consensus builders. These flexible styles aren’t inauthentic if they come from a genuinely authentic place. As leaders gain experience and develop greater self-awareness, they become more skillful in adapting their style, without compromising their character.Express yourself appropriately

Authentic Leadership is an approach that emphasizes building the leader's legitimacy through honest relationships that value their followers’ input and are built on an ethical foundation. Generally, authentic leaders are positive people with truthful self-concepts who promote openness. 

Want to learn more about “Authentic Leadership”?  Contact me or check out my sessions on Leadership Development.

Recognize Strengths and Appreciate Differences

Personality Dimensions…do you know yours?

Personality Dimensions uses four colours along with short descriptors and symbols to represent the temperament preferences: Inquiring Green, Organized Gold, Authentic Blue, Resourceful Orange. These combined aspects create a common language of understanding of yourself and others.

 Personality Dimensions is about understanding yourself and others so you can be more effective in your relationships, your work, your life.

 Personality Dimensions translates complex personality theory into everyday language.

 Personality Dimensions doesn’t determine our behaviour – we make those choices. We may be strongly inclined to act in certain ways but we each can decide how we will behave. It will give you the energy and confidence to develop beyond your natural self.

 Personality Dimensions is the latest evolution in presenting Personality Temperament Theory. It builds on research conducted in Canada for over two decades, and the foundations established by the work of Carl Jung, David Keirsey, Linda Berens, as well as a history of Temperament that spans 25 centuries.

Know your Personality Dimensions to...

• Express yourself appropriately

• Negotiate more effectively

• Narrow gaps and differences

• Identify potential problems early

• Elevate morale and enthusiasm

• Optimize team performance

• Support and encourage others

• Organize efficient teams

• Yield higher productivity

• Influence others positively

• Build mutual respect

Contact me to if you’d like to learn more about Personality Dimensions and your colour.

Bridge Building Leadership Model

A strong bridge relies on many different factors, one of the most important strengths of any bridge is the foundation. The Bridge Building Leadership model is no different. The trust a Leader builds with each person in the organization is the foundation of a bridge where leaders and their teams travel back and forth overcoming any challenges they may face.

As a Leader, simplifying things and getting work done through your teams is critical. The “Bridge Building Leadership Model” focuses on 6 key areas to Simply Advance your Leadership qualities while fostering self directed teams built on a foundation of trust!

Building Relationships

The key to success for any Leader is developing a strong, positive relationship with his/her team.

Respect for yourself and others

Respect, give and take, treat others how you like to be treated.  Be honest and true to yourself.

Inspiration   

Inspire and motivate the people you lead, give them a purpose for what they do.

Drive and Determination

Set goals/targets, support and push respectfully for your team to achieve, hold each other accountable.

Gratitude and Attitude  

Think like a victor and not a victim.  Lead by example, be sincere and authentic always.

Emotional Intelligence

Self-Awareness, know your own state of emotions as well as others.

Want to assess the strength of your bridge?

Contact me to learn how we can help.

Alignment

View fullsize

Nothing guarantees failure more than a lack of alignment in a Leadership Team. Here are some simple ways to check for good alignment.

• Collaboration: Look for signs of working together. Jointly owned, consistent results that are matched with the organization and team values.

• Transparency: An aligned team will have nothing to hide. Everything that matters is brought to the table. It will be about what went wrong rather than who went wrong.

• Accountability: Each member of the team will hold personal accountability in the highest regard. Conversely, they will also hold one another accountable to ensure the right decisions are made for the people and the good of the organization.

• Integrity: Each leader on the team will practice what they preach. It's as simple as that! Follow up and follow-through consistently.

Gaining alignment takes time, patience and a lot of follow up. Good alignment builds one of the most important things in any organization...trust.

Is your Leadership Team aligned?

If you need help with your team check out some of the leadership development and coaching services I offer. Contact me to learn more.