As paradoxical as it might seem, stretching leadership skills is really about narrowing scope rather than broadening it.
Most leaders emerge from the ranks of management, and there is a substantial difference between leadership and management objectives. In leadership, the mission is to own the vision and inspire those in the organization or work unit to embrace it. In management, the mission is to create and execute the tactical action plans to achieve the leader’s vision.
What too often happens is that leaders feel confident in the management space and are tentative in the leadership space. As a result, they hang on to management tasks that feel comfortable and diffuse the power of their leadership.
To make the leap from manager to leader, you must stretch your skills by narrowing the scope and sharpening your focus on the main goal. For those who are ready to make the commitment to stretch their skills and become true leaders, the first step is commanding these three key elements.
Strategy – A true leader must continually be working on strategic imperatives around a forward-focused vision. Strategy in today’s world is not a fixed set of goals, but rather an organic and rapidly changing adaptation to shifting variables in the market environment. It’s a full-time job, and a true leader really has no time to stay rooted in the management tasks of his or her past. He or she must select an exemplary management team and effectively delegate to that team to advance the strategic vision, as well as delegate to the managers the responsibility for crafting the tactical action grids. The leader should provide review and oversight, rather than hands-on immersion. The leader must also clearly articulate the vision and stay “on message” — all day, every day — to inspire everyone toward their common goals. The two biggest failures of leadership tend to be: defaulting to management and failure to communicate.
Urgency – Most organizations (and leaders) are busy, busy, busy. Most people get paid to work an eight-hour day, but almost no one does. That’s because we tend to get caught up in what John Kotter, the master of change management, describes as “our pursuit of a false sense of urgency rather than a true sense of urgency.” You can recognize leaders and organizations caught up in the false sense of urgency; they’re the ones with too many meetings, too many reports, too much frenetic energy and too many complaints about the inability to get things done. The leader sets the tone for the organization. A true leader calms the organization down, without lowering expectations. He or she shifts the focus to the most relevant goals and aligns the efforts with the vision, which narrows the driving force of the scope to the most important elements. The organization’s time, energy and money gets sharply focused, and the work of the management team becomes informed by a real rather than a false sense of urgency. Meetings become more productive, data gets winnowed to the essential, and energy becomes intensely targeted — but not frenetic.
Results – Activity is not a measure of much of anything. If, for example, you faithfully work out at the gym three times a week for thirty minutes and each year your weight creeps up a few pounds, then, clearly, your overall fitness goals are not being met. To develop clearly defined goals, you have to create an organic strategy that identifies the most critical elements to drive those goals, and execute a multifaceted tactical plan over time to achieve those goals. In terms of results at the gym, it’s smart to set benchmarks for achievement at specific intervals, evaluate progress toward the overall goal against those interim benchmarks, and adjust workouts along the way to drive results. In a nutshell, the leadership imperative must be defined in the same with, with the primary difference being the organization. As a leader, you have a team of people working to achieve the overall goals. To keep them inspired, you need to paint a clear vision, set measurable goals that they understand, and give them reports along the way about how they are doing. Results are always the collective achievements of that team. If you are off-plan, you likely have to re-look at your leadership.
In today’s rapidly changing and sometimes disruptive environment, organizations are craving leadership. They want to know what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, and how they are progressing. As a leader, it’s up to you to set the direction, define the pace and provide the feedback.
A leader’s ability to clearly articulate the strategic vision, sharply focus the organization around true urgency, and identify meaningful results benchmarks, sets an ambitious pace for an organization. By the same token, a leader’s inability sets a different pace entirely.
To learn more about leadership coaching and consulting contact Jeff Cowart at jcowart@barlowmccarthy.com.