The cornerstone of leadership is the ability for a leader to have a vision, be able to build alignment, and the ability to champion execution of the vision.
As a leader you might be able to blaze a trail for your team but are you effective in your leadership style? Let’s explore best practices of leadership.
Vision. Sounds simple yet a good deal of effort and insight is required into developing vision. There is also a level of discipline that is required so the leader doesn’t jump in to quickly with an idea, that may in the end not be the right idea.
Let’s look at several key areas for developing Vision. Creating vision is also about exploring ideas. Are you someone who has a tendency to remain open, or are you someone who has a tendency to seek closure. In the frame of exploration do you have a tendency to prioritize details or prioritize the big picture? When you prioritize the big picture that means you are thinking broadly about how everything is going to fit together rather than on the individual elements. Best practices for exploration in driving vision is to remain open and prioritize the big picture.
Vision is also about being bold. Being bold does not necessarily mean doing something big. But it does mean the leader is willing to champion new directions. Great leaders stretch the boundaries and challenge people to stretch and rise to the challenge. Two behavioral attitudes in being bold is the ability to be adventurous and speak up. On the continua of adventurous are you more cautious, are you more likely to speak out with your bold ideas or hold back. Best practices tell us that great leaders are more likely to be adventurous even in the face of uncertainty. Being bold suggests having the ability to speak up when you feel you have something important to say, even when some people will not agree with you. A leaders ability to go out on a limb tends to create a culture where others feel comfortable in suggesting unconventional ideas. These skill sets help craft a vision and push toward new directions.
Testing Assumptions also drive vision. While creating a vision involves exploring new ideas and being bold it also requires you to be grounded in how you test your assumptions. There are several ways to test your assumptions, including seeking input from others, seeking advice, and doing formal research. Best practices of great leaders is to seek counsel rather than decide independently. Great leaders focus on exploring implications of the idea rather than pushing forward. When a leaders relies too much on their own reasoning they miss out on a fresh perspective of others that is often needed to make sound decisions. Great leaders also explore implications rather than just pushing forward. While there will be a time to push forward, in the vision stage it is more important to gather objective data. Gathering information on a subject takes time. Great leaders take the time exploring implications in the vision stage because a good vision is also one grounded in wise decision making based on facts.
Your communication style often reflects on your leadership style. For more information on this or to take the leadership assessment contact Deanne @ 708-836-0118
I will address Building Alignment and Champion the execution of the vision in future posts.
