If you read the business press you’ll see many companies are going through Transformation. For many Digital Transformation is becoming the number one goal. Yet Transformation efforts still fail due to the people component, especially quality leadership. If you want your change or transformation initiative to succeed then it my be time to ‘step up’ and improve your leadership capability. So how do you do that? You develop greater self-awareness. I believe there are 4 foundational qualities of great self-aware leaders.
The 4 foundational qualities.
Good leaders develop their technical competencies. Great leaders go beyond this, recognising that:
People follow leaders because of who they are, not what they can do
Great leaders are self aware. They show up authentically through 4 foundational qualities; Passion, Personality, Purpose and Principle. 3 of the qualities are innate, and the last is learned.
Passion
I have a passion for helping Governments build nations and developing people. Simply writing a report and seeing nothing change frustrates me no end! I have seen how my passion has inspired others to come on board with projects or ideas. Employees that are inspired are engaged.
Few leaders articulate their passion as it’s personal. It may be self-evident in the things they give their time and attention to. However, great leaders are deliberate. They know, articulate and communicate their passion. When you articulate and communicate your passion you can transmit it
If your passion doesn’t sound “worthy” articulate it anyway. It’s how we use our passion, moderated by our Principles that make it worthy.
Personality
Our individual characteristics, i.e. our talents, behaviours and temperament are what makes each of us unique. In short, our personality. I love the wisdom saying that says:
We are uniquely and wonderfully made
Assessments can help a leader understand their individual characteristics. These tools often identify those characteristics suited to leadership roles.
Leaders who know their individual characteristics can leverage those which are strengths and support those which need development. Support can be through building diverse teams with strengths the leader doesn’t have.
Purpose
We were not simply born to work, play and die! We were born with a purpose, some call it out “Why”.
I believe you are ‘Purposed for Leadership‘.
Being purposeful is not the same as having a sense of purpose. Think Steve Jobs, or Richard Branson. Having a sense of purpose enables successful leaders to drive towards goals that will make impact.
Principle
The Principle quality is about character. The business case for Character based-leadership is compelling for personal and organisational leadership effectiveness. A Harvard Business Review article noted a study that found:
- CEOs whose employees rated them highly on character had an average Return on Assets of 9.35 over a two-year period.
- CEO’s whose employees rated them low on character had an average Return on Assets of 1.93.
Universal Principles
Assessing character leaves some people cold as subjectivity is a concern. I believe we can apply a level of objectivity through Universal Absolute Principle’s (UAP’s), for example respecting and caring for others or taking responsibility and being accountable .
I use a Character Assessment that is based on UAP’s with my clients. More importantly I use it myself to continually check how I’m doing as a leader. People don’t leave organisations they leave managers. Being a great leader means being someone of good character. Someone your team can trust.
We shouldn’t fear measurement and development of Character. It’s a competence. So the good news is it can be learned and developed.
Take a Minute
I challenge you today to take a minute and think about your leadership capabilities. Go beyond your technical leadership competencies.
If you would like support in discovering any of these aspects or developing go to felicialinch.com and book our special introductory offer and let me help you assess where you are and develop a plan to transition to being the best leader you can be.