LEAD PEOPLE…MANAGE THINGS

 

LEAD PEOPLE…MANAGE THINGS

 

About the author

Brian Ward is co-founder and President of Affinity Consulting and Training Inc., a Canadian HR coaching, consulting, and training organization based in Edmonton, Alberta. His FOCUS is ‘Making People Stronger’. He assists leaders and their teams build stronger high-performance organizations, through a combination of leadership coaching, consulting, and workshops

”leadership is a decision, not a position”

When you become a leader, you take on a great responsibility...you promise to change the world for the better

From Ward’s work with leaders, as both an internal and external consultant and coach, He has isolated five key facets of leadership that are consistent with his personal research on leadership and with what he has personally observed effective leaders do…he calls it the FIVE FACETS Leadership Model

Focus

Effective leaders stay focused on the outcomes they wish to create and don’t get too married to the methods used to achieve them. They provide this 'outcomes focus' for our organization by emphasizing the mission, vision, values, and strategic goals of our organization and at the same time building the capacity of our organizations to achieve them.

The author wants us to know that one of the determining factors that separate high-performance leadership from all other calibers of leadership is the ability of the leader to focus attention, their own and others', not just on dealing effectively with BIG crises, but on creating and executing BIG ideas that will move their organizations, their communities, their industries (and even the entire world) forward.

Authenticity

Leaders who are truly authentic attract true and loyal followers, even leaders who are viewed as being highly driven and maybe even difficult to work for. Authenticity builds leadership integrity. Integrity in turn helps to build and maintain trust, which is the currency a leader needs in order to obtain sustained 'buy-in' from key stakeholders.

Ward says that being authentic requires we drop all masks and reveal our true selves. So if all we have to lose is a mask, why not do it? We become truly authentic when we develop a deep understanding of who we are as unique human beings, and what worthwhile purpose we’re pursuing. This understanding brings joy into our lives and into the lives of others

Courage

The challenges facing leaders today are immense and require great courage to overcome. Leaders are constantly being challenged by others, be it their own team, customers, unions, the public, or other stakeholders. Followers need to know just how committed a leader is to a declared focus. It’s one of the very first tests of leadership, and many leaders don’t make it. Truly focused, authentic, courageous leaders show, through their personal example, that leading is a decision they have made, not something that was bestowed on them as a title because of past accomplishments or future potential. Mahatma Gandhi captured the true essence of courageous leadership when he said: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." If you want the world to be a better place to live in, and you have the courage to change it, you will need plenty of other people on your side

Empathy

Effective leaders know how to listen empathically. They seek to understand before acting and by doing so they legitimize others’ input. But great leaders don't get bogged down in overly complicated or never-ending dialogue. They know when to 'fish or cut bait', and they communicate this at the outset. They will say something like ‘We need to discuss this, reach a decision, and commit to a course of action by [date]’.

Ward reminds us that being empathetic does not mean being soft. On the contrary, understanding people is perhaps the toughest part of a leader’s job, because we never know what we might find. Conflict avoidance in organizations is born out of the reluctance of leaders to face some of the tough issues that plague their organizations. But in this avoidance, the opportunity to discover the good in people, our natural creativity, and our desire to belong to something that has meaning, is very often lost.

 

Timing

The single most critical facet is knowing when to make critical decisions and take appropriate actions in support of our focus, and when not to. Great leaders move with appropriate speed. They don't believe that everything must be done immediately...they know how to prioritize, and how to get their team to prioritize. As well, they engage in timely follow-through to ensure actions that are committed to happen in a well-coordinated and timely way. Being fully committed to our focus will always propel us forward. Sometimes we will get the timing right, sometimes it will be off. Although we need to create opportunities for dialogue and consensus building, don’t allow it to be used as a crutch for inaction.

On the other hand, we need to beware of those who would entice us into taking ‘urgent action’ without good reason. The reality is that there are very few truly ‘urgent’ issues in our lives, just those we let become urgent. Ward particularly likes how Mother Theresa put it when she said: “Even when the urgent is good, the good can keep you from your best, keep you from your unique contribution if you let it”

Our journey towards becoming a great leader is unique to us.

Brian Ward reminds us that we do not have to succeed on a scale similar to many of the leaders quoted in books. Our success may be within our own family, our work team, our organization, or our community. How much success we attract to us is largely dependent on the choices we make, remember, leadership is a decision, not a position, and of course our degree of commitment.

Are you ready to change the world?

  Kambale Tsongo Ramzani 

       Apprentissage continu sur le leadership 

Skype&Linkedin: Ramazani Tsongo |  Phone: +243975864510

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