As a career expert, I spend a LOT of time reading about what I believe my career coaching clients need to know to create great lives and careers. Many want to understand how to become a great leader. They also want to understand what great leaders do differently.
Yet what makes a great leader?
I referenced to a client, who was looking to become a better leader, a Harvard Business Review article about strategic leadership. It included some lesser known qualities of great leaders.
6 components to becoming an effective strategic leader.
In a nutshell, a strategic leader must:
Anticipate…. Challenge…. Interpret… Decide… Align… Learn*
It sounds simple enough yet the reality is that every one of us as a leader, has our strengths and weaknesses. The trick is to examine all six components and make sure that you are improving on those areas where you need the most help. The areas that turn you from good to great!
Leadership can be Learned
1. ANTICIPATE
ANTICIPATION is a skill area that takes quite a lot of persistence and ongoing research. For example, I know that I need to keep up with what is happening in my own industry as well as those industries adjacent to mine. I need to find out what direction my competitors are heading in, and beat them to it (or at least be there with them). I can’t be mired only in my domain or industry (ie. my “baby”). Being one dimensional won’t work well. See what others are covering, where the trends are, and try to anticipate where the trends are going. This includes attending industry conferences and seminars in other industries or sectors as well as your own.
Critically, we all need to ASK QUESTIONS – LOTS OF QUESTIONS. In my case, this means both of myself, my corporate clients and my individual career coaching clients. I need to know what they like and what they don’t. What works for them – and what doesn’t.
From all of this, I can anticipate what is going to continue to create success in the future. This allows us to serve our audience at an even higher level.
Anticipating is about keeping your “ear to the ground”.
To improve your ability to Anticipate:
- Talk to your customers, end users, and senior stakeholders to understand their challenges and problems.
- Conduct market research and simulations to understand client perspectives, gauge their likely reactions to new initiatives or products, and predict potential solutions.
- Imagine various futures and prepare for the unexpected.
- Examine customers you have lost or projects that recently derailed and work to figure out why.
2. CHALLENGE
On the other hand, “challenge” is not getting too comfortable with the status quo. It may be working for now yet in becoming a great leader, you have to be open for ways to improve and move forward. Dyson (James Dyson) developed breakthrough products by challenging ‘accepted’ ways of technology and processes.
In my case, a simple (not necessarily easy) way to do that is to open myself up to constructive criticism and feedback from staff, my peers, and my clients. I need to welcome it as a challenge. To do that I have to give people a “safe zone” to speak their minds.
Find great mentors to trust who are both outside (as well as the inside) of your organization.That means they are not as intimately or politically involved and can give unbiased advice. Continue to learn to be open-minded and patient with constructive criticism.
“Feedback is my friend”
is one of the mottos we can live by.
To improve your ability to Challenge:
- Ask a lot of “Why” questions – drill down into the root of issues and problems.
- Question the status quo and any/all general assumptions.
- Create “safe zones”. In contrast though, set boundaries on criticism or negative feedback during problem solving round-table or idea generating meetings.
- Speak to all levels of the organization that may be affected by a problem as well as a solution.
- Look for intelligent initiative – in others as well as yourself.
3. INTERPRET
The ability to Interpret is directly related to the ability to Challenge. If you ask questions, you are going to create answers. The more you ask questions and challenge the status quo, the more complex and potentially conflicting data you may gather. If you have been doing it right, and seeking a wide range of input, you should be getting back divergent answers which you can then (and should) submit to intensive scrutiny.
“Wisdom begins by recognizing the facts and then ‘re-cognizing,’ or rethinking, them to expose their hidden implications.”
Finland’s Former President, J. K. Paasikivi
If I find a problem, I, to become a great leader, should want to consider more than one solution. Ideally look for at least 3 possible detailed and well-researched interpretations of why the problem exists. That gives you several angles to work with in order to solve the problem.
To improve your ability to Interpret:
- When analyzing problems/data, look at, and detail out, at least three possible explanations. Investigate the details as well as look at the big picture.
- Actively look for missing information, data or evidence that invalidates your assumptions and conclusions. Ask yourself a tough question: “What am I pretending not to know or missing?”.
- Invite perspectives from a diverse group of people, especially your stakeholders, end users or clients (who actually need the solution you might develop).
- Keep an open mind. Take time to look at the issue(s). Also take time away from the issue/problem(s) to clear your mind and come back to it fresh and open-minded.
4. DECIDE
Decision-making is probably one of the most important skills of any leader. Yet it can be so easy to get yourself into a situation where you are forced to make decisions either without all the facts, on the fly, or being under informed. To function as, or become a great leader, this should never be the case.
If you have been anticipating, challenging, and interpreting, there should be multiple scenarios and options when it comes time for a big decision. You may not like the options yet they should be apparent if you have done the work.
Create a team and work culture whose opinions you can rely on to give all of the possible scenarios and outcomes. Then have the strength of conviction that when you make a decision, it will be the right one.
FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real
To improve your ability to Decide:
- Constantly ask yourself “What other options do I/we have?”
- Divide big decisions into segments to better see (the) unintended consequences and the individual parts. Consider pilot projects to work out the bugs.
- Use the 10-10-10 Rule: consider the impact of your decision in 10 minutes, 10 months, and also in 10 years.
- Communicate regularly and be transparent about where you/the team is in the decision-making process.
Great leaders aren’t afraid to over communicate.
5. ALIGN
Alignment can be the trickiest skill to master because it involves dealing with conflict and nip it in the bud. It means communicating and creating alignment with your staff and your shareholders, keeping them informed, and addressing disagreement or dissent before it has any time to fester. What I never want to hear as a leader is for a key team member to say “Nobody told me,” or “Nobody asked me.”
Be vigilant to keep those in the loop who should be in the loop – all the time. This is what helps keep shareholders, your team and clients happy, feeling valuable and heard.
To improve your ability to Align:
- Communicate early and often to combat the two most common complaints in organizations: “No one ever asked me” and “No one ever told me.”*
- Suspend your judgement – of your feelings, of others as well as of the final outcome.
- Be realistic and look for hidden agendas and coalitions from possible dissenting or resistant clients, end users, or stakeholders.
- Be open to dealing with more ‘healthy conflict’ and be willing to have bold conversations. There will be dissent and resistance to change. It is a human trait.
6. LEARN
This last point is probably the most critical. Cultivate an environment of Learning. In other words, always be analyzing and studying your successes and failures in order to learn from them as well as exploring new avenues and opportunities.
Encourage your team or staff (even your management) to always be learning as well. In fact, reward people who are thinking of new ideas and taking their own time to learn more about competitors, products and processes or industry.
“Fail early, fail often, but always fail forward.”
John C. Maxwell
Remember the comment about intelligent initiative – foster it. Create a culture in which inquiry is valued and mistakes are viewed as “learning opportunities”
Also be willing to be more vulnerable about your “learning mistakes”.
To improve your ability to Learn:
- Appreciate people who take intelligent initiative and try something even though they may fail in terms of the desired outcome.
- Conduct learning audits and “after the fact” project reviews to investigate and document where the decisions or team collaboration may have fallen short.
What leaders do differently on the path to becoming a great leader.
These 6 leadership skills, when mastered and used in concert, help you to become a great leader. You become a leader who thinks strategically and effectively navigates the unknown. A leader who is empathetic to change and how people can resist; how to step into bold and consistent communication.
I am going to mention one more important caveat best explained by Scott Miller (EVP of Thought Leadership at the consulting firm FranklinCovey) who preaches something that leaders rarely hear:
“It’s okay to NOT be the leader.
Too many people become leaders when they just should have stayed amazing individual producers.”
Do you think you’ve identified your weak spots as well as your strong suits?
Want more support in your career? Contact me for your 1:1 Career Strategy Session
Excerpted from a column by Fiona run in womenwhorunit.com
* https://hbr.org/2013/01/strategic-leadership-the-esssential-skills