DEVELOP YOUR LEADERSHIP CORE - A Journey from Leading Self to Leading Functions

A leader while embarking on a journey from leading self to leading the function starts with understanding leader’s own behavior impact and progressing towards alignment with organizational outcomes. In this continuous journey, leaders establish roots by acting as Architects of Trust to becoming Navigators and further progress the drive from Delegation to Empowerment.

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A leader’s journey from Leading Self to Leading Functions unfolds the competencies development in four different stages, which can be termed as the CORE (CONSCIOUSNESS - OWNERSHIP – REGULATION – ENDURANCE) of the leadership journey.

CONSCIOUSNESS

• Self-awareness: Reflect on engagements, seek feedback from others.
• Active Listening: Focus on the presenter, interpret to confirm understanding.
• Analytical Thinking: Question rules, analyze evidence, and consider choices.
• Adaptability: Accept change, seek new perspectives, and learn endlessly.
• Assertiveness: Stand-up for your individual’s rights and express your opinions, approaches and philosophies openly, fairly and impulsively in ways that don't surpass the rights of others.
• Cultural Competence: Coach yourself on diverse cultures, seek feedback, and admire differences.
• Meticulousness: Ascertain to check things regularly and precisely.
• Time Management: Prioritize tasks-on-hand, set deadlines, and reduce distractions.
• Storytelling: Design compelling stories, connect emotionally, and involve people.
• Self-Control: Stretch the space between stimulus and response.

OWNERSHIP

• Trust Building: Keep promises, communicate clearly, and show honesty.
• Lead Effective Meetings: Establish clear agendas, boost participation, and follow up.
• Empathy: Place yourself in others' position, endorse feelings, and offer support.
• Facilitator: Adopt an approach of “Ask Vs Tell", which makes the team feel the sense of ownership in proposing the solutions.
• Public Speaking: Prepare regularly, seek constructive feedback, and envision success.
• Team Building: Nurture collaboration, celebrate diversity, and boost communication.
• Fast Decision-making: Have conviction, gather crucial information with speed.
• Creative Problem Solving: Brainstorming on ideas; think outside-the-box, and experimentation on different solutions.
• Negotiation Skills: Formulate, listen actively, and create win-win solutions.
• Progressive Mindset: Embrace challenges, learn from failures/ setbacks, and persevere in the face of setbacks.

REGULATION

• Activating Trigger: Positive energy to channelize your thoughts towards action/ solution.
• Action-orientation: Set deadlines, rank tasks, and take initiative steadily.
• Boundaries Setting: Communicate limits visibly, strongly enforce them.
• Networking and Relationship Building: Attend industry events and enthusiastically engage with experts.
• Risk Management: Recognize potential risks, cultivate contingency plans, monitor frequently.
• Financial Literacy: Educate yourself on finance basics, seek professional guidance, budget effectively.
• Data Analysis and Interpretation: Learn data analysis, interpret developments, and take informed decisions.
• Conflict Resolution: Listen open-mindedly, seek common ground, and recommend solutions.
• Strategic Thinking: Set long-term goals, foresee challenges, and align actions.
• Inspirational Leadership: Lead by example, communicate vision, and empower others.

ENDURANCE

• Crisis Management: Create contingency plans, stay calm under pressure situations, and communicate effectively.
• Stress Management: Self-care, managing one's response to pressure situations, and making life changes for better in such situations.
• Emotional Intelligence: Practice identifying and managing emotions daily.
• Strong Feedback Mechanism: Welcome feedback, act on propositions, and communicate changes.
• Co-Designing Solutions: Foster a culture of co-designing solutions, take suggestions from the team and align them with organizational objectives.
• Visionary Leadership: Think long-term, stimulate innovation, and communicate vision openly.
• Mentoring and Coaching: Share experiences and best practices, offer guidance, and enhance growth.
• Environmental Awareness and Sustainability: Reduce waste, protect resources, and encourage eco-friendly practices.
• Resilience: Cultivate optimism, learn from obstacles to bounce back, and keep moving.
• Global Mindset: Enlighten yourself on global issues, embrace diversity, familiarize to different cultures.

The leadership journey from here transcends into a zone of an Influencer, where every action and inaction of the leader, set the tone for the organizational culture. Every behavior, the words they use, the difficulties they choose to confront, and the ones they stay silent on, all convey who they are to the organization. The truly influential leader is always optimistic for a future that is even better than now and encourages people to move towards that future state.

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Learning and adapting to new challenges, having a positive influence on the people in your team/ group, and finding pleasure in these pursuits on a daily basis, really is the destination of a Progressive Leader. And this developing CORE of a progressive leader takes some phases, some time to get right – where one cannot reach a level of mastery, without being on a journey through the previous learning stages. And for a progressive leader there is always more to learn, more to nurture, another circle of experience, and a continuation of the journey.