Leadership: at work and away
Published: 2011-05-30 There are 6 comments ... please add yours below
As leaders, most of us combine both good and bad. Unlike Dr Jekyll or Mr Hyde, we’re neither wholly good nor entirely bad. But most (myself included) regret some aspect of our leadership. Below are three broad domains. How would those around you in each rate your leadership effectiveness? What would they say is good – and what problematic?
- Work leadership. Are you effective in creating and communicating a vision, driving execution, creating a culture, lifting operating standards, organising and engaging people? More importantly, what would colleagues cite as your most serious flaw? And how would they suggest you improve? To help, let’s dig a bit. Would they say you’ve most difficulty aligning outside parties (customers, alliance partners, government agencies, etc.) or people inside? Of the latter, is your biggest challenge with seniors, peers or subordinates? And, have you ever thought why you find one group harder than others? Let’s return to that later.
- Community leadership. Are you less confident and responsible here – avoiding jobs or failing to deliver? Or, perhaps better? Successful voluntary organisations (like successful businesses) still need to define vision, get things done, establish work processes and so on. So, if you are better or worse in this environment, why’s that?
- Family leadership. We’re normally less structured at home and individuals don’t normally have titles except in jest – or anger! Again, the question arises: are you less effective here? A worse leader than at work or the club? Or, better? How and why? Do you avoid domestic leadership – or take too much and become overbearing?
My interest is not in what’s right or wrong but how we learn. So we lead effectively in all areas of our lives. Let me share a bit. My parents believed in discipline but also independence of thought, word and action. My brother and I were expected to act like adults around the adults – and in public. At school, I was mostly bored and disliked sport – so leadership was not an issue. Not surprisingly, in later life, I was more natural with seniors and had to learn to operate better with peers and subordinates. Not-for-profits (with their sharp purpose) and vision-driven businesses engaged me strongly. And, my parents’ early emphasis on good public behaviour meant I often bottled up anger at work, which popped the cork all too easily at home. Zero out of ten for that!
Leading is tough and made tougher by the baggage we bring from childhood and later. Good first steps to improvement are identifying where our default behaviours come from; then doing something about them.
The bad news? It’s challenging. The good news? It allows you to lift your game. What are your thoughts?
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Dr. Timothy Pascoe AM
PhD (Cambridge), MBA (Harvard), BE & BEc (Adelaide)
Creator, V|E|C|T|O|R Leadership®
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