What Great Leaders Do... (5 Things Great Leaders Do Every Day)
In 2005, a mentor challenged me to define my leadership model. At the beginning of every mentorship meeting his questions to me were “what is leadership to me?” and “how have I grown as a leader?”
I always struggled to respond to his first question. As a young leader I had never sat back to define what leadership was for me. A search on google on the topic yields approximately 500 million results!. Leadership is evidently a topic widely written about and researched.
It took me several years to find a model that encompasses the various elements of what great leaders do.
Great leaders S.E.R.V.E!
The acronym S.E.R.V.E is from the book “The Secret- What Great Leaders Know and Do” By Ken Blanchard & Mark Miller”
The book is a business fable told through the eyes of Debbie Brewster. Through her journey of transformation, she learns the answer to a simple question,
“What is the secret of great leaders?”
In a compelling short read, The Secret outlines five key components of servant leadership through a model called SERVE.
S – See the Future
E – Engage and Develop Others
R – Reinvent Continuously
V – Value Results and Relationships
E – Embody the Values
Based on my experience with the model over the years, below is my adaptation of SERVE as my leadership model.
See the Future
One of the core responsibilities of a leader is to define and shape the vision for the people they lead. They have to be able to see around corners and anticipate what is ahead in order to prepare their teams to navigate the corners. The best leaders take time to crystallize a personal vision of the future which become the foundation for a shared vision. Great leaders go the extra mile to define their personal mission statements.
Engage and Develop Others
The most compelling vision will not materialize without engaging and developing those you lead. The best leaders are able to attract as well as inspire commitment among the people whose collective effort will make the shared vision a reality. Great leaders continuously invest in their communication skills in order to effectively engage the hearts and minds of their people. Great leaders also invest in coaching their staff to unlock their potential for results.
Reinvent Continuously
Great leaders recognize that there is always opportunity to “reinvent the wheel” but the key is in knowing when and how. There are always opportunities to do things smarter, faster and better. Great leaders continuously challenge themselves and others to find a better way to deliver results.
Value Results & Relationships
Great Leaders create and build result-driven relationships. They effectively drive
for results while investing in collaborative relationships. Leaders who push for results while damaging their relationships often find that the results may come in the short run but are typically not sustainable in the long run. On the other hand leaders who value relationships at the expense of results often have difficulty driving accountability and having the tough conversations with their teams. Great leaders effectively balance their drive for results while strengthening their relationships with stakeholders.
Embody the Values
The personal values of great leaders are shaped by their beliefs and developed through introspection and experience. The test of a leaders’ values is not what they say but how they act under pressure. Great leaders define their personal values and are guided by their personal value systems. A personal value system is a set of principles or ideals that drive and guide your behaviour. Most companies have a set of organizational values. Great leaders ensure principle alignment between their personal values and organizational values. Alignment between personal and organizational values ensures that the leader can be authentic and model the right values and behaviours for their team without conflict.
Great Leaders S.E.R.V.E.
A valuable lesson I learned from the book is the importance of developing a model for leading that can guide you as a leader.
What is your leadership model?
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Thank you for reading this article.
Below are links to my previous articles-
Define your Mission & Pursue your Dreams
Investing in your Capacity for Leadership
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What other tips can you share? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments below.
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Utility Maintenance Manager Coca- Cola Beverages Africa Crown Beverages Keringet..
5 年Very inspiring. I'm boosted.
Head of Country Compliance| Enhanced Due Diligence | Investigations | Conduct Risk | Regulatory Compliance | FCC | AML | Crypto Compliance | Sanctions Risk | Data Analysis | EDD | KYC | Partner CDD | Fraud Prevention
9 年One of the hallmarks of a great leader is the ability to balance between driving for results and maintaining relationships with the team needed to get the results. Key to attaining this balance is the skill and patience to actively listen to and engage the people you are leading - Hence the need for leaders to continuously develop their communication skills. Often times, people in new leadership roles find themselves trapped into either making compromises on results so as to win / maintain relationships with their people or focusing on results so as to meet the expectations of their superiors at the expense of the relationships with the people they lead. This inevitably leads to a situation where the people being lead will "like" a certain leader - primarily because he maintains good relationships with them - while the same leader will not be as popular with his/her superiors - since they most likely judge him/ her on results. Question therefore is, is there a 'model' that can be used by the people who are being led to make it easier for the leaders to attain results while maintaining relationships?
FACILITATOR - MAANAGEMENT PROCESS
10 年Simple and meaningful reality