Becoming a highly Effective Leader

"A global consulting firm asked more than 7,000 leaders from more than 100 countries,?"Do you have the leadership capabilities required to overcome the leadership challenges ahead?" Only 17 percent?of all executives replied, "Definitely, yes!"

Obviously, many leaders question their team members' leadership capabilities and are full of leadership self-doubts?themselves. Here is how one leader I worked with explained the problem:

"Patrick, leadership advice comes in a piecemeal fashion. One day, I hear that I must be humble?and strong at the same time. The next day, I attend a leadership course and am told I must not micromanage but rather inspire and empower. And then, certainly, once a year, I am invited to a team offsite and participate in some trust-building activities --?like the trust fall. However, as soon as I am back in the trenches, I just do what I have always been doing. I lead following my gut feeling. Leadership lacks a system I can follow."

To solve this problem, I have created the "leadership house" framework?for my book "The Leadership House: A Leadership Tale About the Challenging Path to Becoming an Effective Leader". The leadership house?framework deals with how to build a strong team, how to set up a team for success, and how to ensure strong teams execute their plans, and these tips come directly from the book. In this article, I give an overview of all eight elements of the leadership house?framework. Following this framework will enable you to make the leap from student, entrepreneur, founder, manager, and executive to highly effective leader.

Trust

As every house should be,?the leadership house is built on a solid foundation. And this solid foundation is trust. Trust is so powerful because it provides us with this strong feeling of safety, the feeling that the intentions of all our team members are good. In trusting relationships, it is never about the person, but always about the issue. Correspondingly, in safe environments, we do not waste time and energy watching our backs or playing political games but instead focus on getting things done. In trusting relationships, we speak up, we challenge one another, we ask for help and offer help. In trusting relationships, we thrive. I have written another article on how to build trust.

Strong Team

With trust, we can build a strong team. A "strong team" is the first pillar of the leadership house. Many leaders I work with believe that to build a strong team, they must put the right people in the right positions. But I am convinced that there is a piece missing.

And James Hetfield, frontman of the heavy-metal band Metallica, has just recently explained what piece this is. He said that he and his colleagues were mediocre musicians. Only when they worked together, something special would happen. Agreed! It is?teamwork?that turns a set of individuals --?even mediocre individuals -- into a strong team. Teamwork is the missing piece. If we want to build strong teams, we must put the right people in the right positions and ensure they trust one another and embrace teamwork.

Shared Values

In fact, having?the right people?has two dimensions: The first dimension is functional fit. Are our team members qualified for the roles? And the second --?and at least as important -- dimension is cultural fit. Are all our team members inspired by our purpose in terms of?why?we do the things we do? Are they inspired by our vision of?what?we want to achieve? And do all team members embrace the same values in terms of?how?we want to work together as a team? This is why "shared goals" is the next pillar of the leadership house.

Shared Goals

With trust and shared values, teams can turn purpose and vision into reality. But purpose and vision are not enough. The problem with purpose and vision is that they are rather intangible. We cannot just tell our team members, "Here are our purpose and vision. Let's make it happen!" We also need to define the?what?in terms of what we must do to turn vision into reality. Many leaders I have worked with thought that they had to tell their teams the?what. But, in my experience, this is not only ineffective but also demotivating. Why would we hire great people to tell them what to do? I rather concur with what Steve Jobs said: "It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do".

I?suggest we do the same. We involve our team members in the goal-setting process and ask?them?which goals we must pursue to turn purpose and vision into reality. This pillar of the leadership house?is called "shared goals" because the goals we pursue are not goals that we as leaders impose?on?our teams, but goals that are being developed?by?our teams and orchestrated by us as leaders. As our team members develop the goals, the goals become their goals. Our team members become the owners of the goals and do whatever they can to achieve them. Psychologically powerful.

Joint Plans

"Joint plans" is the next pillar of the leadership house and show what each team and team leader must do and -- this is important --?deliver?in terms of results so we achieve our shared goals. Joint plans are more granular than shared goals. For example, if one of our shared goals was to generate product/market fit, our joint plans would determine what each team and team member must do and deliver in this regard -- clear responsibilities?and?deliverables.

Accountability

If our joint plans show both responsibilities and deliverables in terms of results to be achieved, we can also hold our team members accountable for the results they achieve. "Accountability" is another pillar of the leadership house.

If our teams embrace accountability as a shared value, we won't hear things like, "It's not my fault that we didn't achieve our joint plan. I've done what I was supposed to do"?or "This is not my responsibility." Instead, our team members know they are measured by the results they achieve. This is why they will do whatever they can to achieve them. And they will also collaborate. Teamwork!

Empowerment

Certainly, we can only hold our team members accountable if we?empower?them accordingly. This is why "empowerment" is the last pillar of the leadership house.

The little detail that makes empowerment so powerful is not that we provide our team members with the tools and resources they need. The little powerful detail is that we enable them?to make important decisions themselves. Allowing our team members to make important decisions themselves may make us feel as if we are losing control, but, in fact, empowerment is not about?losing control. Empowerment is about motivating and?giving control --?giving control to those who are best equipped to handle?it, to our strong teams that we have built and set up for success. Empowerment also enables top focus on ensuring that our teams execute their joint plans.

Execution

Execution?is the roof of the leadership house. Effective leaders know that tasks completed do not matter. Only the results achieved matter.

Following the leadership house framework will help you execute joint plans and turn vision into reality."

by Patrick Flesner