If you believe leadership is a static quality that people are either born with or not, then you probably don’t think you can improve your leadership abilities or ways of applying them? But if you think of leadership as something all sorts of people do from time to time, in different ways, then you probably agree that you can learn to be better at it. Either way, you may be sceptical that there is some standard proprietary process by which leaders can be created?
Rather than look at what any given ‘leadership guru’ says about getting better as a leader, the list below is made up of the points made generally by people who are paid to develop leadership in others. Their advice falls under a few key headings:
- look beyond the limits of ‘what is’ to what could be
- don’t confuse leading with managing
- be inspired and inspiring
- take action and reflect on experience
- improve the way you work with others
- improve your communication skills.
These things are more to do with changing and developing aspects of everyday understanding and behaviour – ‘being yourself on a good day’ rather than trying to be someone you are not by learning new techniques etc. What might each of the headings mean in practice:
Looking beyond the limits of what is might include practising things like:
- setting out a vision of how things should/could be – in particular having a picture of where you are going, and why
- going outside your ‘job description’ (or other people’s expectation of your position)
- taking on ‘special projects’ dealing with things which no one else is leading on (yet)
- taking the initiative and not waiting for ‘orders’ or to see how everyone else is doing something
- taking responsibility
- listening, reading and watching to see what is happening in the wider world that might affect your area.
Not confusing leading with managing (bearing in mind you might need to do some managing from time to time as well), might include practising:
- looking for patterns in what is going well, or badly, and trying to anticipate opportunities or problems rather than reacting to them when they happen
- spending more time on things that should be done or could be done, rather than what other people say must be done (leaders base decisions on values, not on project management systems!)
- looking for new resources and ways of getting more out of existing ones.
Being inspired and inspiring might include getting better at:
- looking at how others achieve local leadership (learning from their approach, not copying the decisions they make)
- finding mentors and role models that make sense to you (think of people who inspire you – Mohammed Ali or Maya Angelou are as valid as role models as Joseph Chamberlain or Mayor Bloomberg)
- enabling people to be inspired by their own potential and each other (think about how you give praise).
Taking action and reflecting on experience might include practising:
- leading by example
- setting targets and using them to lead progress
- learning from your own (and other’s) mistakes
- asking for feedback
- reflecting on how and why something worked (as well as whether it worked).
Improving the way you work with others might include trying out and perfecting:
- co-operating more often than competing
- motivating others (by understanding and appealing to their values)
- giving credit to good work and celebrating successes
- treating people as part of a team – whether or not they work for you.
Improving communication skills might involve practising:
- getting better at effective dialogue – letting words happen between people rather than trying to make sense of eveything straight away
- using positive body language
- being aware of how you are seen by others
- being open and not threatening
- being visible and approachable
- being ‘transparent’ – clear about what you are doing and being open with people about why and how you are doing it
- communicating a vision – not just knowing where you are going and why, but also enabling other people to explain it and why it matters.
The most important of the elements involved in improving leadership is the last in the list above – improving communication skills. All the other elements – to some extent – depend on it? Improving your communication skills will improve your potential to act as an effective leader in many different situations. Leadership may well be all about communication. Though it would be a mistake to confuse speaking with communication: listening is – nearly always – more important?
What would you like to do next?
You could:
Think about enabling better communication amongst others
Consult the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on the subject of communication in local government
OR – follow the menu on the right to have a look at other parts of the guide.