Development in leadership: developing the whole leader

You may be supporting development in leadership expertise of others. You may recognize a need for more creative, talented and effective leadership strategies. Perhaps you are reflecting on your own approach to leadership.

We looked at some pitfalls in the development of leadership in our previous article. Here we sketch a framework for development in leadership qualities.

It makes sense to look at how excellent practitioners grow and develop, whatever their specific area of work.

Theterm development in leadership implies a process. Excellent leaders aren't necessarily born. Excellent leadership approaches can be learned and enhanced.

Warren Bennis says:

"The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born-that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. "That's nonsense. In fact, the opposite is true. "Leaders are made rather than born."

There are other points of view, of course. Stephen Covey proposes that great leaders are faithful to an in-built compass of principles.

Another - unrelated - Covey ... Gregory, advances the same view in an article with links to a number of leadership stories.

For us, it is difficult to see whether any of these stories 'prove' once-and-for-all that leadership development is something some are naturally born with, or something we can be taught.

But we do believe you'll explore your own beliefs about leadership if you ask yourself: "What are the lessons here for me?" as you read Gregory Covey's leadership stories.

For the moment we are not considering specific industry, or role-related technical skills. We’re focusing on what are frequently called soft skills. Soft … but hard to practice well!

Development in leadership: three qualities of an excellent leader

Sensitivity:

awareness of the many factors that play on a given leadership scenario. For example ...

• your own strengths and weaknesses
• mental and emotional states of key players and stakeholders
• your own mental/emotional state and physical sensations
• interactions between team members
• factors arising from organizational culture

Flexibility:

the ability to make changes, to respond to the changing cues that evolving situations provide. For example ...

• relating positively to a wide variety of people appropriate to context
• behaving and communicating in a wide variety of ‘registers’
• thinking imaginatively and creatively; not being constrained by the status quo
• exploiting different opportunities to motivate others
• responding effectively to a variety of colleagues and their needs
• learning and applying new skills, techniques and knowledge

Integrity and authenticity:

a well-defined personality that others experience as positive, open, genuine and trustworthy. For example ...

• stability of thoughts, feelings, behaviors and actions
• reliability of focus and concentration
• consistency of approach and fair mindedness
• ‘what you see is what you get’
• accepting challenge and debate openly and respectfully
• avoidance of games and double standards
• providing an appropriate role model for others

Meta skills:

the ability to hold the above options in view and make rational and skilled choices from the options available.