Leadership .Leadership .Leadership

Leadership .Leadership .Leadership

Jayadeva de Silva  (Humantalents Group)

* What is the definition of leadership?

Business leadership" is often associated with a CEO of a company who made a lot of money and got rich in the process. Yet when you ask people and when they say that their company needs leadership, impressive job titles and large salaries aren't what they're after.

We say, "So-and-so is a born leader." There is “No such thing.” Leadership is a relationship between a person and a group plus the skills to guide the group to success. As with any relationship, success depends on both parties. One group’s leader may fail utterly when leading another group. The lack of competent leadership is the number one issue in many work places

Rather than just study leaders (thousands of books on leadership cover that ground), you can ask people who they follow and why.

 They say leadership is emotional; it's about inspiration, motivation, and connection. Unlike management, it doesn't lend itself to systems, structure, and traditional classroom teaching.

* Establishing the leadership relationship

Call it "vision," or "mission," but it all boils down to one thing: First and foremost, people look to leaders for direction. Only by knowing their organization's direction can people apply themselves to achieve their goals? It needn't be formally stated; the leader's actions and decisions convey the direction to the company. The direction needs to pervade every decision and conversation within the company, and it's the leader who makes that happen. Providing direction for others is a key to creating a leadership relationship.

Even with direction, people must trust a leader. Trust is built on honesty and integrity. People want the truth from their leaders. Outrage from Watergate, the Monica Lewinsky affair, Enron, and many other public scandals were fueled less by the events than by the accused parties' cover-ups and lies.

Leaders must have integrity, establishing clear values and living those values. A public company whose CEO urged employees to hold their shares to keep investor confidence high,. sold several million-dollars' worth of his own shares. He responded to his employees' feelings of betrayal saying, "It was just a small percentage of my holdings." But that didn't matter! He contradicted himself by selling shares while exhorting his employees to hold theirs. It killed his leadership.

Interestingly, the key is having actions match values, more so than what those values are. If one leader values quality and another values speed-to-market, they will simply attract different people to their organizations. But in either case, they must live their values consistently.

Consistency is another vital leadership element. When a leader changes direction with the market fad-of-the-day, or when his or her values shift according to the latest public opinion polls, people stop following. People want dependable leaders who provide a touchstone in times of change. You may ask: In a world of constant change, don't we need to shift and adapt? Of course. But you must choose a direction and values that stay stable even while adapting your tactics.

Lastly, followers need to feel connected to their leaders. Leaders almost always connect through shared values; that's one reason followers leave when a leader doesn't live his or her values. Helping people feel they are part of something much greater—giving them a personal vision—is another important aspect. For instance a leader in the healthcare industry may say, "You're not just joining our company, you're becoming part of transforming the world of healthcare." Recognizing and rewarding employee achievement helps cement the connection. On the other hand, taking credit for others' work is a powerful connection destroyer.

So it is—direction, integrity, consistency, and connection.

Very simple. But its simplicity hides how difficult it is to pull off. It's difficult because these qualities can't be faked for long. Creating a direction is easy. Integrating it into every breath and decision is not. Choosing values is easy. Aligning behavior, decision making, policies, and organization around those values is not. Consistency is easy … until things don't go quite as planned. And connection is easy until things get busy and instinct tells us to stop all this fluffy foolishness and just get down to work.

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