Leading when we don’t have enough information, when we’re facing unpredictable outcomes, or when our road to organizational or team effectiveness feels like it’s paved in potholes is difficult.
Of course not all leadership is like that. Sometimes we do have the answers and information we need. And though that’s still leading, leading in the environment I’ve described in the first paragraph of this blog is where we’re stretched and tested.
So as a leader for the past thirty years, here’s some of the things I wish I knew when I began my leadership journey.
Thing 1: Leadership ≠ Skills
The first thing is that leadership isn’t a skill to acquire. Or to put it another way, leadership doesn’t equal skills. Instead, leadership is a way of looking at the world. When we realise that we free up space to pursue real leadership.
That may sound odd to say in a World of Leaning blog, but think about it for a second. Reading endless books and taking the next workshop can’t help us get to where we want. Why not? Because leadership is about finding creative solutions, flexibility in the way we approach problems, and a willingness to take risks (albeit calculated ones).
Are those qualities I can learn in a workshop? So on one level understanding that leadership isn’t a skill to acquire makes intuitive sense.
The debate on whether leaders are made or born is an old one and not one we’ll sort out here. But what if both arguments miss the point? What if the thing that makes someone seem like a born leader, and the thing that drives someone to practice the things they learn in a leadership course, is their mindset?
If that’s true (and I think it is) then the easiest and direct path to real leadership is affecting our mindset.
And that takes us back to the first thing I wish I knew thirty years ago: leadership isn’t a skill to acquire.
Thing 2: Leadership is Mindset
So if leadership isn’t a skill, what is it? That’s the second thing I wish I knew.
Leadership is a way of looking at the world borne out of our experiences. It’s a flexible mindset that seeks to understand, that is looking for new ideas, and isn’t lead by having things its way. Instead, real leadership seeks to grow other leaders. It adapts when adapting is needed and it seeks out challenges to its ideas over people and things that reinforce its ideas.
That’s why skills, though great in some contexts—say presentations, negotiating, or performance management—are limited in their ability to grow leaders. That’s because if I’m following a manual on leadership, am I leader or a follower?
Thing 3: Leadership is Something We Do
The word leadership isn’t a verb, but the act of leading is. What I mean by that is even holding a leadership mindset isn’t enough. That’s because although a leadership mindset is foundational to leadership, we don’t demonstrate that mindset by talking about it. We demonstrate it in the things we do.
And that is the greatest challenge of all. Because demonstrating the behaviours of leadership consistently is the key to effective leadership.
So though leadership is a mindset, what’s most important is the specific behaviours that mindset gives rise to. Behaviours like entertaining the possibility of being wrong; creatively combining ideas to come up with bigger ideas; doing what you say you will, in the time frame you said you would; being mindful and present in your interactions with others.
All great qualities. But necessary behaviours for leaders in the 21st century.
The Journey Starts Here
I get that these are easy things to say and hard things to do.
You can cultivate a leadership mindset with effort and practice over time. You can apply that way of looking at the world on the real world challenges your team or business faces. Because it’s only when we bring a leadership mindset into the real world that it stands a chance of taking hold.
When it does, it becomes, not easier so much, as a way of thinking.
And because a leadership mindset is a virtuous circle shifting our mindset means we help the people around us shift for the better.
Please come and visit us on Stand E140 at World of Learning Conference and Exhibition.