Developing My Leadership Capabilities

Finding the Roselinde Torres TED talk on leadership was an extremely powerful experience for me and it reinforced where I want to go next with my leadership development. I am a committed life-long learner which is what led me back to graduate school over 30 years after I graduated from college. I realized after watching the Roselinde Torres talk how simple yet impactful it would be if I just focused on her three points: 

1. Where are you looking to anticipate change? 

• I will continue my graduate work in OD and Change Leadership
• I have started a Grand Rounds leadership group with three OD colleagues outside of my workplace. We have agreed to meet once a month and have an open and sharing dialogue about the work we are each engaged in, what we see coming and how we can help each other
• I will continue to attend the monthly MNODN meetings and network to develop more contacts and relationships

2. What is the diversity measure of your network? 

• Low. I can expand it initially by developing more connections with the business leaders I work with vs. just focusing on HR relationships. 
• I have a diverse network available to me through some of the outside organizations I belong to and I will focus on engaging with those networks as well

3. A practice to abandon

• A practice I want to abandon is to being a people pleaser. I have had the word "self-authoring" written on my white board at work for most of this semester and it has had a great impact on me. When I find myself reacting to what others do or what my company views as success I stop and focus on what it means to be self-authoring and I am able to reframe the situation and let go of the behaviors that have not served me well. 

These focuses will have a positive and lasting impact on my career and my personal development and they will be the focus of my energy going forward. 

Leadership Philosophy

I have had many conversations over the years about my leadership philosophy. I ground it first in who I am and what lens I experience the world through. I am an ENFP, (MBTI), an iS (DiSC), a Helper (Enneagram) and I lead Yellow and Green energy (Insights.) These are all heart centered/feeling based types so it is not unexpected that leading with the heart is at the center of my leadership philosophy. As Kouzes and Posner state in The Leadership Challenge, "The best-kept leadership secret may be love: love of product, love of service, love of customers and love of employees." This is at the heart (no pun intended) of my leadership philosophy. Over the course of my career I have had only a handful of leaders who demonstrated this type of leadership. For those that did, it was a fantastic experience working for them full of productivity, growth, learning, success and engagement.

The second piece component of my leadership philosophy is self-awareness and emotional intelligence. No one can be effective as a leader without a healthy does of self-awareness. A deep awareness of who you are, what motivates you, what fears you work to avoid, your towering strengths and your deep valleys. A self-aware leader has the strength and self-assurance to lead effectively. A leader who lacks self-awareness is a danger to themselves, their employees and the company. Hand in hand with self-awareness is emotional intelligence. The ability to not be "hijacked" by your emotions but to be constantly aware of your emotions and to remain focused and calm despite what is happening around and to you. I have seen leaders across this full spectrum from limited and no emotional intelligence to highly emotionally intelligent and the difference is stark.

If you can lead with the heart and are grounded in self-awareness and emotional intelligence then I believe you will be effective as a leader. You can draw on leadership tools and techniques such as competency models, leadership strategies such as Situational Leadership, performance management approaches, etc. but without self-awareness and a focus on the heart you will not succeed in the way I define success.

I have seen many leaders move to positions authority without these skills but it is arguable in my mind if they were ultimately "successful." Leaving people stressed, diminished, and angry do not qualify as successful leadership outcomes in my mind despite whatever financial and business success the individual leader might drive.

There are many, man other leadership qualities but I believe these are the key - at least they have been for me and I strive to remain grounded in them as I continue to develop my own leadership and I remain committed to them as I continue to seek leaders I want to work for.