Leadership growth follow-up
I wrote about
leadership growth HERE and figured I'd follow that post up with these thoughts that I try to remember.
Things for leaders to remember:
- great leaders continue to grow - whether you're making your strong skills even stronger or developing new underdeveloped skills, as a leader you should be growing.
- we learn through practical experience - we learn when our jobs/roles/functions requires it. (this is just good to know, especially if you're saying "I haven't learned anything new in a while...it's most likely because your routine doesn't demand it.) We're creatures of habit so doing the same thing 50 different ways never doesn't seem normal, efficient, or 'worth it' especially if we found 1 way to do it that works. (Note that some of the best inventions have been made by people who did the same thing as someone else...they just did it differently AND BETTER! (EXAMPLE: the Snuggie is just a backwards robe or a thicker hospital gown...yet it sold over 40 million 2 years go - couldn't find a current figure.)
- varied experiences, in general, make for a broader range of leaderships skills - Not always, but usually. If you're a 'laser-focused leadership model', then "focussed" skills are great, but if you're a 'utility player', a more diverse palette is usually better. I don't personally believe that "broader is better" but I do know that varied experiences produces broader skill sets. (In this economic market, broader may be better for the job hunt, but excellence becomes more of a challenge the broader you get)
- Leadership implies followership - if no one is following you're not leading. (I think John Maxwell might have said that first...or at least more recently)
Definitions for my made-up phrases:
"Loser-focussed leadership model - you have one function and in your role all you do is that one function...nothing more, nothing less.
"utility player" - you have a specific role but in reality your role requires that you do much more than what's in that one niche area.