August 01, 2008
from
www.Better-Leadership.com
This Month's Tip:
Your Leadership Compass
Your quarterly self-check at
leadership.
Every third month or so the newsletter will be a self-assessment. Nothing scientific. Just a few powerful questions to ponder about yourself as a leader.
SITUATION
You are pretty aware of your strengths and weaknesses as a leader, but if someone actually asked you what your leadership looked like, you'd have to think about some of it. You wonder what your blind spots are.
Use these three questions to measure where your personal leadership compass is pointing.
1 - What do you intend?
2 - What do you tolerate?
3 - What are your daily choices?
3 - What are your daily choices?
Intend:
Leadership comes from initiative. Initiative must be intentional.
So look back now at your last 3 days at the helm as a leader. Revisit your actions and daily decisions. Did you drive them or did they drive you? Would you call yourself an agent or a victim? If your answer begins with "yeah, but .. " and something about "no control", then re-examine your posture as a future-setter. The two articles recently added to the website may shed some light for you. (see links below)
Leadership comes from initiative. Initiative must be intentional.
So look back now at your last 3 days at the helm as a leader. Revisit your actions and daily decisions. Did you drive them or did they drive you? Would you call yourself an agent or a victim? If your answer begins with "yeah, but .. " and something about "no control", then re-examine your posture as a future-setter. The two articles recently added to the website may shed some light for you. (see links below)
Tolerate:
You stand for what you tolerate. Think about it. When you talk about someone else as a leader, you often define him (or her) by what he will not put up with, or by what he lets people get away with. By allowing undesirable activites to occur in your area of responsibility, you are defining the boundaries. You send a message - an unintentional one! Again, use the past 3 working days to line out what has happened, where you have held the line, and where you have chosen to let it go.
Daily choices:
Curious as to where the road forks? Look at your daily choices - those are your defining moments. Here are some examples.
Lead an employee through a problem, or let him struggle on his own? Trust someone, or look over her shoulder? Err on the side of the customer, or back up your customer service rep? Take a risk on an investment, or play it safe and lay low? Be competitive or be collaborative? Speak out, or hold your tongue?
Thinking you are behaving a certain way can be validated by scrutinizing your actions. Check those decision points and conduct a quick inventory of your daily choices.
You stand for what you tolerate. Think about it. When you talk about someone else as a leader, you often define him (or her) by what he will not put up with, or by what he lets people get away with. By allowing undesirable activites to occur in your area of responsibility, you are defining the boundaries. You send a message - an unintentional one! Again, use the past 3 working days to line out what has happened, where you have held the line, and where you have chosen to let it go.
Daily choices:
Curious as to where the road forks? Look at your daily choices - those are your defining moments. Here are some examples.
Lead an employee through a problem, or let him struggle on his own? Trust someone, or look over her shoulder? Err on the side of the customer, or back up your customer service rep? Take a risk on an investment, or play it safe and lay low? Be competitive or be collaborative? Speak out, or hold your tongue?
Thinking you are behaving a certain way can be validated by scrutinizing your actions. Check those decision points and conduct a quick inventory of your daily choices.
Website News
Leadership WorkshopReinventing
Your Leadership - Class begins September 20
Using Brain
Busines and Mind Matters to Author your Future
Earlybird registration by August 15 saves $100
Two new articles posted to the website
- The Law of Attraction - What it means to Leaders
- Leaders Characterize Self through Stories and Neuroscience
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Short Little Story
That Twit! by Katie K. SnappI once had a co-worker who spoke to me as if I was stupid. He would start his sentences with something like, "you know, young lady, you might find that to be a mistake." He may have been a sexist .. not sure.
All I know is that I became so completely disoriented that by the time I had listened to his condescending discourse, I had lost my own voice. (I know ... hard to imagine).
But at that time, my leadership persona was still being defined and my backbone was unsure. I was being thrown a decision point, and I knew not what to do.
This was a "daily choice."
Now, with some years under my Gucci belt, I have some weapons. The first one is my composure. The second one is my wit.
When faced now with that situation, I think clearly, revisit my intent, decide I will not tolerate talking at his level and jump into the dialog. "Excuse me." I interject in a helpful way, and correct one of his misled ideas.
He states, "You know, I have been doing this a long time."
"I know. That's my point.", I reply.
Leadership is not about doing everything right. It is about beginning with an awareness of what you are doing.