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Welcome to Elements - L is for Leaders
If a leader has no followers is she or he still a leader? What if a leader only has one follower - still a leader? How about five followers? What makes a leader a leader? These are questions that can be discussed forever with a wide variety of opinions expressed, and without ever reaching a consensus.
However, we can all name people in our lives and in the world whom we consider to be leaders, regardless of whether they accept that label themselves, or if they are good or bad leaders.
There is no one mold for leaders. Like snowflakes, no two leaders are exactly alike! Some are large and loud, some soft-spoken, some pushy, some "twisted," some gentle, some harsh.
Leadership is a big and scary word and one that this edition of Elements will explore as we continue our advance through the Leadership ABCs series. The previous editions of this Elements newsletter explored leadership topics from the first part of the alphabet (A-K), that you can find here. On the live front, there are two public speaking events I am doing in December, one in Boston and one in Manchester, NH. Both are part of Project Management Institute chapter meetings, and details are available below. My topic at the New Hampshire meeting is related to time management, and in Boston I'll be doing a career clinic with two other speakers. Both approaches are unique and successfully represent me and my practice of helping professionals achieve desired results faster. The topics are presented in an interactive, individually personalized, measurable way and my goal is that you will learn something you can use right away.
During the holiday times, try a little leadership on for size - step out and do something different that speaks to you and your interests. I'll tell you what I am going to try that is different - but later!
Stay in touch and Happy Holidays,
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Leadership is:
 Leadership is natural and easy for some, and a struggle for others. Leadership has many dimensions such as inspiration, courage, integrity, and accomplishment.
Learning leadership is like learning the alphabet. In kindergarten, my kids learned the alphabet with the letter people, for example "Mr. H" introduced them to the words "house," "hidden" and "how." Each letter person had a different personality. Some letters were easy to learn, easy to speak, easy to understand and easy to write. Learning some was very difficult. "Mr. S" was a challenge for Mike to say. It took many years of physically training his tongue before he learned to pronounce the letter "S." 'My son Kevin's difficulty was in writing the letters. His teachers gave up trying to teach him to write legibly and allowed him to use computers for all written assignments. Then there was that new letter my son discovered, "elameno," which upon further analysis was revealed to be four individual letters "l," "m," "n," "o." I still struggle, myself, with how I string words together and my tendency to speak too fast. Knowing the ABCs of leadership is the required foundation of great leaders. For some it may just come naturally, and for others it has to be deliberately learned.
Leadership is a big, nebulous word. It can be a fearful concept that scares people. Some leaders don't acknowledge themselves as leaders; rather they feel like they are just doing what needs to be done in that moment. Leadership is many different things to different people and cultures.
When I ask international students (non-USA) what they think about leaders or leadership, the word they always use is "charisma," someone larger than life, someone you can't ignore when they enter a room. When coaches discuss leadership they gravitate toward qualities like personal presence, passion and authenticity.
Leadership is about change, whether it's personal or professional, small or large. Leadership is about moving towards something, and creating something that didn't exist before. The opposite of leadership is staying within the limitations of the status quo, keeping things the same, staying where you are, in the same way that you have been. Some form of leadership is required if you, your team, your family, your community, or your company intends to do things differently - creating a different environment or achieving new results. Leadership requires being different or doing something differently. It requires change. Change can be messy, chaotic and very uncomfortable. It's comforting to know, though, that effective personal and professional leadership can be learned.
There is no one magic formula that applies to all. Each person's leadership style is as unique and as individual as they are. This makes it very difficult to teach leadership and apply leadership models to everyone and think they will work. Mimicking someone else's style might be useful in the short run, yet it is missing the uniqueness and strength of the individual who is "trying it on for size." For this reason, the leadership style hasn't been integrated as "one's own." Trying to apply a leadership theory meant for a manufacturing line to a cutting-edge new product in a different industry probably won't work either. Each person creates his or her own unique leadership style that changes and that hopefully gets better as they go along.
The choice to be a leader is sometimes made intentionally and sometimes forced onto a person by circumstance. I have noticed people who are very strong leaders in one aspect of their lives, yet who may not necessarily have that strength in other aspects. It is a lifelong path to develop and expand your leadership style.
If you are interested in learning more about different leadership models or approaches, I have many books and articles on leadership and am happy to recommend a few that would be appropriate for you. Just contact me.
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What Leadership is NOT
Leadership is not following - Knowing how to be a great follower is something all leaders must understand.
Leadership is not saying YES to everything - Leaders know how to say NO.
Leadership is not doing the same thing over and over - Leaders know how to move in other directions to get the job done.
Leadership is not keeping things as they are because it's easy and because things have always been done that way - Leaders know how to do things differently in order to get desired results.
Leadership is not avoiding conflict at all costs, either being in denial that it exists or giving up because it's too difficult to manage - Leaders know how to resolve, accept, or move through conflict.
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Leadership Assessment
 An assessment tool I use is called the "Dimensions of Leadership Profile," from Inscape Publishing. The basic premise is that leadership can be described from many points of view, and that situations and individuals have different leadership needs and styles. For example, a situation related to a devastating event would need leadership that is more inspirational and healing, while a research group would need leadership with more of an analysis and accomplishment type of dimension. The tool suggests that each individual has a certain natural leadership style that can describe them within four broad categories - as character-, analysis-, accomplishment- or interaction-based leaders. For example if you rated high in the "interaction" category, you would be a leader who focuses on responding to people, bringing them together and motivating them. Another basic premise is that leadership is a shared activity, and that you follow different leaders at different times based on the changing needs of the situation - in other words, that leadership is a dance of leaders and followers.
I like the "Dimensions of Leadership Profile" tool because it is easy to administer and analyze, the results can make a big difference, and they can be applied immediately. The goals of the Profile are these. To:
- Become aware of different leadership styles
- Understand your leadership and followership style
- Explore ways to encourage active leaders and committed followers at all levels of the organization
- Identify your leadership strengths and gaps
- Determine relevant leadership action items to practice the identified new skill or behavior
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Leadership Quotes
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. -Peter Drucker
If you are not confused you are not paying attention. -Tom Peters
A leader must have the courage to act against an expert's advice. -James Callaghan
A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm. -Henrik Ibsen
Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.-Stephen Covey
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Two Public Events: 12/2 and 12/8
Personal Organization & Time Management for Project Managers
Project managers have a limited number of days, money and resources to achieve project results. Effective time management is a core competency that they must master for successful delivery. The new task that suddenly appears or the loudest person coming into your office can appear to be the most urgent thing, but are not always the most important thing to focus on. Finding a way to regularly prioritize and stay on task in a way that matches your unique style of managing time is key. This session will identify a variety of styles of time management, and offer tools and techniques for handling prioritization. The emphasis will be on the demands of time management for project managers. This talk will be interactive, use real examples, and teach models, tools and techniques that can be used right away.
Date: Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Time: 6:00 - 8:30
Place: The Yard, Manchester, NH
Cost: $25.00
Register and More info: www.pmi-nh.org
Measuring and Observing for a Better Presence and Connection
What do confidence, credibility and approachability look like and how important are they? Having these qualities can improve our connections to people in how we greet and handle our interactions with them. Even the most common introductory statement, "Hi, nice to meet you" can have many interpretations.
A subtle and common stumbling block for managers is not knowing how to handle the situation at hand, not having the perfect answer, or not knowing the answer in any given situation. Dealing with the unknowns successfully involves skills that go beyond simple book knowledge of risk management. No matter how hard we may prepare, at some point you may find yourself in a situation where you just don't know the answer. Accepting or enhancing our responses to the unknown will go a long way toward improving our credibility to others. Using observation and measurement skills, we will dive into the details and skills needed to improve confidence, credibility and approachability. We can then practice on actors or among ourselves as part of the career clinic, if we are ready! Creating better individual presence and connection with others is art and science that can be improved through observation and measurement.
Date: Tuesday, December 8th
Time: 5:30-8:30
Place: Huntington Street, Boston, MA
Cost: Free to Project Management Institute members, $15 for all others
To register and for more information: www.pmimassbay.org
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Elements
