Wanna Be an Effective Leader? It’s Not What You Think…

I am often asked how I develop leaders, and the most common traits that makes them successful. Truthfully, I haven’t found a simple answer to this. Rather than creating a box in which to define effective leadership, my work with leaders aims to build their own individual leadership box, in which they can excel at leading by being themselves, authentically.

Effective leaders lead people by having a sense of self-awareness, identity, honesty and passion, genuinely embodying their true selves into their leadership role.

We need to draw on the very essence of our values, beliefs, principles and morals and create a guiding compass in the job, not somebody else’s.

Authentic leadership holds making the most of our strengths, recognising and trading off our weaknesses and taking full self-accountability for the impact we have on others. What authentic leadership is not about is adopting the styles or traits of other leaders.

Authenticity is the alignment of thinking, saying, feeling, and doing the same thing – consistently. This builds trust, and followers love leaders they can trust.

An in-depth study by the Harvard Business Review of effective leaders found that there is no “cookie cutter leader”. Every person interviewed had a different idea of what an ideal leader looks like, with each individual having a unique combination of characteristics, traits, skills and styles that led to their own success. The one common theme was that all the leaders were consciously or subconsciously taking in their real-world experiences continuously, and using those experiences to frame who they were at their core. As a result, they found the purpose of their leadership and learned that being authentic made them more effective.

The rampant pace of change in our world in itself requires agility, flexibility and adaptability of leadership styles and approaches to an ever- changing landscape.

Perhaps all of us striving to be our unique, authentic selves will create a collective array of authentic perspectives, values and principles to complex situations.

To your success,

Isabel

#leadership #leadershipdevelopment #effectiveleadership