The most distinguishing difference between what is required to lead people as opposed to managing things is a clear understanding of your purpose driving the role you perform.
Managing things, such as schedules and budgets, workflow and supply chains or messaging all require a different set of competencies than those needed to get people to perform competently. The knowledge, skill, talent and experience it takes to be a competent manager of things can be acquired from between the covers of thousands of books, in classrooms in proven university programs and through a myriad of specialized training programs – all of which serve an important purpose. Without effective management all organization fail sooner or later, with most failing quickly.
At issue is that the competencies that inform how well people perform are situational and can only be developed in real-time while working in the environment where you might influence the people you must lead.
Laboratory simulations might help develop and reinforce skills, but the knowledge and experience that informs the ability to lead people cannot be formed in simulated conditions.
People are inspired to be conscientious and demonstrate grit by who you are more than what you do. This requires that you understand what inspires those people. It is the people that you lead who define your leadership, and without their direct feedback it is impossible to prepared yourself to be who you need to be.
Leadership does not form in a vacuum nor can it survive in one.
This goes beyond basic situational awareness. Leadership is entirely interdependent with those in the environment and a casual observation of your surroundings is insufficient for gaining the level of insight required for the pushes and pulls of establishing leadership among the people in your midst. Your focus and attention must be purposeful and mindful if you are to elevate your perception and develop inspirational influence.
Practiced leaders might not realize the intricacies or complexities that underpin their ability to effectively lead others. A natural talent for learning or developing the skill based on fairly limited experience may make the experience of leadership seem instinctive or even simple, but it is not.
Moreover, those who must develop themselves into someone that might be a competent leader must understand that making yourself aware is a product of nurturing your curiosity. And that making yourself relevant to your aims requires that you are connected to an explicit purpose that guides your habits of thinking.
People who succeed in making themselves into the kind of leaders they need to be must recognize that the things they accomplish that define their assumptive leadership have to be meaningful to those they serve, measurably significant in terms of real impact and produce positive outcomes that create enduring legacy value.
Connecting your curiosity to relevant situational awareness that supports a worthy or noble purpose is a process that can be managed with a tool I call Ten/Ninety-Five Journaling.
It is a practice that requires just a few minutes a day and is a product of asking yourself three simple questions that guide a deliberate way to look at the world that will shape your habits of thinking around connecting to a positive sense of purpose.
The three questions to ask yourself – and answer each day in a journal are:
- What have I observed myself doing that had a positive impact on someone I have encountered today?
- What have I observed someone else doing today that had a positive impact on someone they encountered?
- What have I heard or read about – that I didn’t directly observe that demonstrated someone doing something positive for another person?
If you maintain this journal for one year, noting these three observations for 365 days – you will have made 1095 positive observations about how you, the people around you – and even the things you cannot see yourself all make a meaningful difference in the world.
The purpose is to train yourself to form a habit around observing things that are inherently good and positive – and reinforce the belief that this is both necessary and possible. Over time this becomes a habit of thinking that casts your own purpose. And over time that purpose becomes indelible.
The habits of thinking that inform actual leadership is what causes your sense of purpose to become infectious.
Leadership isn’t imposed upon others – it attracts them. People are not attracted to leaders, they are inspired by what the leader believes and seduced by the idea that what they can accomplish will serve a common purpose.
Relying on fear or intimidation amounts to manipulation – an attempt to manage the behavior of others for the purpose of creating an illusion of leadership that is actually just exercising power and control for their own selfish interests. Inspired leadership, on the other hand, is the result of people who inspire themselves to freely follow a cause and demonstrate that what they do and what they strive to accomplish is in service to something beyond their own personal needs or interests – and that they are willing to go beyond where they are comfortable in order to accomplish what matters most.
What would happen if you began to see that what is positive is necessary and is also possible? And what if you could show others what it is possible, knowing that they will find a way to make it necessary and do everything possible to get it done?
The level of leadership that you need in order to be effective to your desired aims starts with having an infectious curiosity and an insatiable thirst for things that are positive. A simple journal with three positive entries each day will lead you in the right direction.
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Phil Liebman is the Founder and CEO at ALPS Leadership – We Guide CEO’s and Their Leadership Teams to Become Exceptionally Competent Leaders and High-Performance Organizations
www.ALPSLeadership.com
Phil is also been a Group Chairman with Vistage Worldwide since 2005 – where he helps leaders realize their potential by learning with and from other leaders. He is the author of the soon-to-be published book, “Cultivating MoJo: How competent leaders inspire exceptional performance.”
