Getting your leadership practices “just right” is like, for those who have been to Maui, traveling the road to Hana.
It’s not a singular destination. Rather, it’s a journey where the mix of managing from the head and leading from the heart is always in active play.
Focus and resources may shift from one to the other depending on what’s happening in the moment at work.
Yet leaders who “get it” never lose sight of the fact that both elements are important. They avoid falling into the trap Elizabeth Doty, professor and founder of Leadership Momentum, describes here:
Every day, every leader faces opportunities or even pressure to side step the truth, fudge the numbers, play politics, or pass the buck on hard decisions. In the moment, doing the right thing, or doing things right, always seems to cost more. ~Elizabeth Doty
Leaders who do the right thing also do things right. They practice both art and science in what they know—planning, organizing, coordinating, supervising, and delivering results—and what they do—bringing compassion, kindness, engagement, and empathy to work.
5 powerful things good leaders do
They value people, principles, and profits…equally.
Leaders can show kindness, be principled, and still be as effective as all get-out. Dare to be honorable and kind, and hold those around you accountable for doing the same. Leadership is practicing power with, not over, people—moving them beyond self-interest and interlocking them into a journey for the greater good of the work group, organization, and society. Make sure you’re not willing to do whatever you can get away with as long as you win.
They pay attention to their stakeholders.
Every decision, project, strategy, etc. that you make or do impacts others, which makes them your stakeholders. Those individuals may have to do the work, approve it, agree to pay for it, provide resources, remove barriers, or directly or indirectly influence the outcomes you’re seeking. Treat people as partners to your ends, not as what accountants call fungible assets—something like a desk, barrel of oil, etc. that’s interchangeable or can be replaced with another of like nature or kind. (Ever had a boss who treated you that way?)
They respect differences.
Leaders who “get it” think more of we and less of me. They’ve learned to engage the world and perform beyond self-interest. They can find the “supra interest,” e.g. better performance, more engagement, inclusiveness, to transcend the paradoxes of leadership. Powerful, caring leaders balance the conflicts between selfish and selfless behavior, task and relationship, quality and quantity, mission and margin, and on and on, because both matter. A whole bunch.
The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly. ~Jim Rohn
They’re self-aware.
Getting in touch with what we fail to notice about others and ourselves is a crucial first step in becoming a head-and-heart-connected leader. Ask people for feedback, and actively listen to what they share. Look for patterns in the advice you’ve received over the years and act on what you discover. Aim to be a transformative leader who inspires others to higher levels of motivation. Make sure you have plenty of moral courage by being willing to stand up for what’s right even if doing so is unpopular.
They envision both “what is” and “what can be.”
The status quo can be seductive, especially if it’s profitable and appears to be working well. Effective leaders know that stability doesn’t mean that things never change. They know that flexibility is essential for growth and relevance. They’ve mastered what Jim Collins and Jerry Porras describe as the “yin and yang of visionary companies: preserving the core yet being open to change.”
Ready to get started? What else you do want to see good and powerful leaders do?
Image source before quote: morgueFile.com
