Inspire or Influence?

We continue to explore Leadership Behaviours and how we choose to inspire or influence our people. My last article explored the attributes authentic, strategic, reflection and empowerment. In this article we will explore agility, drive, as well as being dynamic and consistent. One of the key attributes in a leader is their strategic approach which is a cornerstone of creating environments of clarity, honesty, integrity and trust providing a platform for success. I referenced Rumet’s principle of the Kernal where a strategy has three key components, a diagnosis of the challenge, a policy to deal with it and a set of actions (tactics) to carry out the policy. In exploring the four attributes we will analyse how they interact with the strategic approach.

Agility.

Many see being agile as being able to respond quickly and decisively and whilst at times we need to demonstrate our capabilities in such a manner, the main focus of our agility should be utilised to keep ahead of the curve. A truly agile leader will establish an environment driven on three key components

1)Creativity

2)Collaboration

3)Value Creation

McKinsey’s report ‘Leading Agile Transformation’ provides an in depth viewpoint of how the principles can be deployed and the benefits they bring.It is imperative that agility is deployed in the tactical achievement of your challenge and policy. This allows you to keep the clarity enabling your teams to input into the tactical deployment of future workstreams using their expertise to maximise the impact. 

Drive.

Having an unrelentless desire and passion to achieve your goals should be clearly visible in every leaders behaviour. This enables you to set the pace and maintain energy, although we need to be conscious that we are the leader of a team and we need others to maintain the same pace and enthusiasm. Authentic leaders will not only care about achieving their goals but also about how they get there and the positive impact this has on their team. Displaying boundless energy needs to be ‘real’ or this has an opportunity to impact on a leaders authenticity and the trust people have in them.

Dynamic.

A dynamic leader focuses on positive change. The most successful dynamic leaders do not focus on product, process nor financial result, they focus on the positive change in their people. If your people become more effective then they will not only take care of the organisations products and processes, but also your customers which combined will generate better results. 

Being a dynamic leader enables you not only to deploy your creativity but also extract the creativity across your team delivering an innovative environment where people have the licence to develop and test new methodologies to remove boundaries and generate success.

Consistency.

Consistency enables clarity and maintains clear direction. The ability to remain calm and collected in pressure situations breeds confidence and trust. “Red Adair” leaders may bask in the glory of putting out the fire, but it begs the question that they shouldn’t have let the fire get out of control in the first place. Rapid growth may be the aspiration of some leaders, however sustainable long term growth should be the aspiration of any solid organisation.  

Developing an infrastructure to enable growth is key. Keeping consistency within your people enables an organisation to grow through experience and knowledge. Investing in your people helps them, your organisation and you grow. For most it will motivate them and in return they will become more committed and provide a greater output. A stable team will understand each others strengths and weaknesses and adapt to bring the best out of each other. Regularly changing people runs a risk of creating gaps in skillsets or knowledge. In summary hire well and maintain your team through investment, they are your key to success.

 When looking at consistency and agility, it is important when we utilise these behaviours we maintain clarity. Looking at the Kernal principle it is imperative we show consistency within our diagnosis and policy and apply agility to our tactics.

Summary.

In isolation the behaviours can be seen as quite simplistic, however the interrelationship of all these behaviours generates the complexity in leadership. Combining 3 or 4 behaviours and analysing the impact they have makes us appreciate how much effort it takes to build credibility and how quickly it can be damaged. 

All leaders are accountable for results, however how these results are achieved is a true reflection of a leaders capabilities. Effective leaders maximise the resources they have to hand, astute leaders recognise the biggest resource they have is their people. Good leaders understand how their behaviours impact on their people and have the awareness and ability to adapt these to generate a positive impact. Great leaders use their behaviours to create environments where all their people can achieve their full potential, in return they generate the result!

It is often said there is no ‘I’ in team, there certainly isn’t any I in ‘Leader’. There is however 'I' in both inspire or influence, the choice is yours?

If you would like an informal conversation regarding developing environments for success, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected]