“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” JOHN QUINCY ADAMS Leadership is not a self description. Who cares if you believe yourself to be a leader? If it were that simple, I could say “I’m a millionaire” and “poof” I’d be just that! Leadership is about the perception of your followers. Do you have followers? Would they say you are a leader? Are the characteristics and behaviors you espouse those of leadership? This is where it all begins. You do not decide if in fact you are a leader, others do. Leadership is not a title or a formal action. Nor is leadership the management of others, be it delegating or tactical in nature. While there are many characteristics that make people successful individual contributors and team members, leadership requires a larger definition of oneself and their place in an organization, family or world. With that said, leadership is based on the following assumption: Being perceived as a leader means ones desire to enhance the lives, companies and communities of those in their circle of influence and beyond, is a key value and driver of all intentions and actions. With this as the key assumption, leadership behaviors are chosen as those that create events to enhance people, moments, dialogue, business outcomes, relationships, change, etc. While many people possess leadership characteristics, there is one key test to define someone as a leader: Do others perceive them as such? With this as the litmus and desired outcome, it must be pointed out that there are many ways in which to be perceived as a leader; it may be for a moment in time, as an expert, in a meeting, as a friend, on the basketball court, et al. But for our purposes, we are going for the long term, consistent perception. “The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes.” TONY BLAIR Characteristics of leadership are not always warm and fuzzy, so let’s dispel this myth immediately; Leadership shines during times of adversity and this occurs because of courage, and at times, taking an unpopular stance. It means being brutally honest. It means making tough decisions that don’t always make people feel good, but are good for the situation, business, individual, and the desired outcome of which you are trying to achieve. There is a distracting trend becoming more prevalent; people claim positions of leadership, but then do nothing when the tough times arrive. They abdicate responsibility. They throw up their hands and say they could do nothing about it. Leadership is not for the meek. When adversity arrives, when times get tough, courage is required. Courage is necessary, but hard. Nearly all men can stand adversity. But if you want to test a man's character - give him power. ABRAHAM LINCOLN Leadership requires discipline; consistency in values, actions and language. As one who is perceived as a leader, there must be discipline in approach and intent. Think about the number of golf balls pro-golfers hit for every tournament played; “It’s been said that Hogan used to hit 1000 range balls per day, even when he retired. It’s been written that other pros hit 1500 during their range sessions.” Why do people in leadership roles believe they are good, strong leaders, when they do not practice the behaviors required to be an effective leader? It is an interesting concept that the average manager receives 5 days of training per year and can claim the title of manager. There is little or no follow up to the skills learned during these sessions. There are minimal, if any, expectations for applying these skills on the job and to their team and there is no “practice time” by which to become an expert at these skills. However, there are many people with the title manager in the job they possess and they are expected to be an effective and successful leader after these training sessions. Imagine taking a week long guitar class and then calling yourself a musician. The ultimate leader is one who is willing to develop people to the point that they eventually surpass him or her in knowledge and ability. FRED A. MANSKE, JR. Leaders use their interpersonal capabilities to influence those around them. They do not “force” thoughts or opinions, but rather ask the questions that allow people to think differently about the topic at hand. Interpersonal savvy shows up in many ways and forms. Effective listening instills trust. Strong written and oral communication establishes credibility. Reading people and adjusting your style based on the body language of those around you creates an environment of candor and openness. All of these skills allow for solid, ongoing relationships, which in turn provide partnerships and the foundation by which work gets done. Interpersonal savvy is often described as a “soft skill”, but it is time to challenge that label. Those who do not possess the capability of influencing executives, board members, individual contributors or peers will not be successful; there is nothing soft about it. “Soft” insinuates the skills are not proven in nature. There is no hard theory to the ability of influencing. These presumptions are also incorrect. The theories and science surrounding these skills, such as emotional Intelligence (Daniel Goleman) and action science (Chris Arduous) are mainstream and proven. When you meet someone better than yourself, turn your thoughts to becoming his equal. When you meet someone not as good as you are, look within and examine yourself. ~ Confucius Quotes from The Analects Interpersonal savvy also requires self-awareness. Self-awareness can be a significant derailer when one lacks this competence. Self-awareness is personal, implicit understanding of oneself. What are your strengths, weaknesses, blind spots, biases, etc. Are you willing to see things in yourself that need to be changed, so you can in fact, change them. What got you here won’t get you there, by Marshall Goldsmith; outlines behaviors that may have helped make you a successful individual contributor will impact your ability to be an effective leader. So identify those and stop them. Self-awareness allows the opportunity to identify and adjust. To introspect. To make oneself better. Self-coaching. Rusults. Have a reputation of doing what you say you will do. Making it happen. To be a leader, or perceived as such, one needs a reputation of doing what they say they will. This creates trust and credibility more so than all other behaviors. This is the evidence, the proof, and the baseline. If you don’t get work done, you won’t have credibility as a professional. If you don’t have credibility as a professional, you won’t have credibility as a leader. I know many competent professionals. Competent being defined as someone who knows what they are talking about when claiming the role of subject matter expert and achieving what they said they would with quality and integrity. I also know many incompetent professionals. Incompetent being defined as someone who does not know of what they are talking when claiming the role of subject matter expert and not achieving what they said they would. Which are you? I have found myself often to be incompetent, however it is knowingly. I recently started a new hobby; golf. After two visits to the driving range and a very patient instructor, I had a clear understanding of my capabilities: I had none, I was incompetent and still am. Incompetence is not necessarily a bad thing, often times it means you are taking a risk, learning a new skill, trying a new thing, starting a new job, or taking a new class. The problem occurs when you don’t know what you are talking about or do not know how to get the work done and claim that you do. Unacknowledged incompetence will impact credibility immediately. Be careful of your claims to competence and lean on your integrity to keep you honest. “A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.” JOHN C. MAXWELL Humility. If the desire of an individual is to be a rock star, to shine beyond all others, they will not succeed as a leader. A leader is humble. A leader must be willing to point in the direction of the future of success and then get out of the way so those who have the skills and abilities can accomplish the goal. This will not occur if the desire is stardom. The drive is ego and self serving. A big ego is dangerous in a position of leadership. “When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that person is crazy.” DAVE BERRY Humor, creativity and fun are allowed and encouraged in leadership. While leadership is often serious business, a leader with a sense of humor and fun provides an environment of innovation and creativity. While serious times require serious behaviors, not all times are serious, and joy should be as much a part of leadership as focus and discipline. Truly, some of the most disciplined actors are comedians; Jay Leno reads and writes 1500 jokes and chooses 20 for his 10-minute monologue. Some key characteristics of leaders include courage, discipline, interpersonal savvy, self-discipline, results, humility and humor. While this is not an all inclusive list, and there are multiple behaviors one could identify as those which apply to leadership, this is a solid foundation from which to begin. These characteristics are also applicable to any single person who is interested in becoming a leader; formal or informal. If an individual desires to create leaders within their team, are they role modeling the behaviors desired in leadership? If one is comfortable, competent and committed to creating leaders, they must start with a good, long look in the mirror to ask if they themselves possess these traits. Creating good leaders means you must be one. “A leader leads by example, whether he intends to or not”. AUTHOR UNKNOWN While many can personally attest to learning what not to do from bad leaders, as much as what to do from good ones; your goal is to coach your team to becoming effective leaders. The assumption is that the behaviors espoused by a leader are those which they wish to see in others. Look in the mirror and ask if in fact, these leadership characteristics are prevalent in behaviors, attitudes, and the way work gets done. If you have defined what a successful leader is, you can attest to possessing these behaviors yourself, and your team has a desire to become a leader, let the coaching begin! To create leaders amongst your followers’, means coaching and lots of it. Coaching to performance is different than coaching to leadership. There are nuances to both. When coaching to leadership behaviors, the skills are not tactical in nature. There are many ways to achieve the outcome desired. As a coach, understand that your way is not the only way. Allow your team to utilize their individual talents and abilities to become their own best leader. You are a role model of one way of leadership. There are multiple ways to be an effective leader. You can be learning from them as they are learning from you. There are two key kinds of coaching; informal and formal. We provide informal coaching to everyone we come in contact with, every day. The way in which we greet people, engage in dialogue, ask questions and listen to answers, all provide insights and feedback to those people with whom we interact. We have biases that play out in every conversation, so be careful of those biases. Catch people doing something right. When they question the status quo, say thank you and encourage this behavior. When they influence others by asking high gain questions and listening to differing behaviors, acknowledge a job well done. When they insert humor and wit appropriately during a meeting, laugh with them to let them know you approve and agree with this behavior. When they push back on authority in a respectful way, acknowledge their courage. Small acknowledgements of a job well done do not go unnoticed, nor do the disapproving looks or lack of eye contact. If you want to see good behaviors continue, people need to know you saw it, liked it, and want to continue to see it. Informal coaching takes place every day, in the hall, during a meeting, after a meeting, in planning sessions, in working sessions, any time. Every time you have contact with a person, you are coaching them. Know your intent, the messages you are sending, and the behaviors you are espousing and encouraging. Recently, I had the opportunity to present at a large department meeting of 160 people. The Business Leader has a reputation of being an outstanding leader and mentor to the business and his team. He sat at the center table in the first row to show his support to those who worked hard to present at his meeting. This was a very thoughtful behavior and the intent was spot on. Then there was the time when he wasn’t present during a presentation. The message to the entire audience, as well as those presenting, was loud and clear; those presentations weren’t as important. Now, if someone had looked in the back of the room, they would have seen this business leader paying close attention to the presentations. Unfortunately, you had to look behind to see it. If you are in a leadership role, you are being watched closely and at all times. If this make you paranoid; Good. “Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.” ALBERT SCHWEITZER Formal Coaching is as impactful as informal and the combination of the two creates the best results. Create a self assessment of the characteristics defining effective leadership. Ask for thoughts and feedback from your team. Have them each complete the assessment and create a journal which allows them to identify ways in which they show evidence of each of the behaviors and opportunities/behaviors in which they wish to improve. “One measure of leadership is the caliber of people who choose to follow you.” ~ DENNIS A. PEER A very successful coaching and feedback technique asks that the individual requesting the skill set be responsible for asking for feedback. The more specific the questions and requests for feedback, the easier it is to give. For example; “How am I doing at being courageous?” Can be answered with a one answer response; “fine”. Where as “I was focusing on providing a different perspective than my peers in the meeting we had at 1:00pm. Did you see evidence of courageous pushback happening? What were the examples you saw? How could I have improved during this meeting?” These questions allow for more specific feedback and also help those that are coaching pay attention to the desired behaviors. There is a rule of thumb which states it takes 30 days in a row, without missing a day, to start a new habit or lose a bad one. Coaching your team members to a new behavior or out of a bad one will require tenacity by both of you. Be ready for moments of frustration and futility. Be prepared to provide supportive behaviors to your team members when they experience the same. As you watch the team members begin to enhance their leadership capabilities, celebrate them. Provide opportunities for them to flex these new muscles. It is well deserved and will continue to reinforce their success. Expect some to not move as fast as others. The bell curve exists for a reason. Not everyone can be an A+ student. Do not assume that your best individual contributors will be the best leaders. Often times this is not the case. Pay attention to your biases. • Define the characteristics of a leader. Have examples and stories of what they look like in action. • Espouse those behaviors. Be a role model every day, all the time. • Ensure your team members want to become leaders. • Coach and provide feedback over and over and over again. • Celebrate successes. • Enjoy the challenge. Finally, enjoy yourself. You are doing something right for the individual, your team, your company, and the community. Be proud of this effort. Be proud of your team. You are enhancing the lives in your circle of influence and very likely beyond. You are being a leader and a good one at that. Remember this and continue it.