Before you can start acting like a leader, you need to understand what leadership traits you need to develop, in order to become like a great leader. I will repeat this because its important. You can develop the skills you need to become a successful leader, no matter what field you are in.
In the table below I have listed two groups of leadership traits and I want you to give each one a score between 1 and 20.
But you can only use each number once. I.E. no trait must have the same number (basically you are placing them in an order of what you feel your strongest verses your weakest traits are.
I am happy for you to cut and paste the table onto a word document – you might want to keep a track of your scores over time. Although I have separated the boxes with the left hand box representing more junior leadership qualities and the right hand box representative of a strong and accomplished leader it is important that you score both boxes.
This is called self-assessment. !!
It only works if you are truly honest with yourself. Especially the more senior you are in the organisation – as Fred Goodwin, ex Chief Executive of RBS will testify.
‘The higher you get, the further you have to fall’. Understanding your current skill set, by being honest with yourself, will enable you to gain a real insight into your own personal strengths and weaknesses. Before you go ahead and self-assess, I would like to share with you a really powerful poem written in 1934 by Dale Wimbrow:
The exercises I have shared with you are designed to open up neurological pathways in your brain and tap into your emotional intelligence (much more to come on EI in article 19). Ultimately the most accomplished leaders, who create resonance within their organisation, have been shown to have very high levels of emotional intelligence. Developing strong emotional intelligence begins with developing self-awareness. Daniel Goleman writes in The New Leaders (a MUST have in your portfolio):
“Self-awareness means having a deep understanding of one’s emotions, as well as one’s strengths and limitations and one’s values and motives. People with strong self-awareness are realistic – neither overly self-critical nor naively hopeful. Rather, they are honest with themselves about themselves. And they are honest about themselves with others, even to the point of being able to laugh at their own foibles.
Self-aware leaders also understand their values, goals and dreams. They know where they’re headed and why. They’re attuned to what “feels right” to them. .. Because the decision of self-aware people mesh with their values, they more often find their work energising”
Perhaps the most telling (although least visible) sign of self-awareness is a propensity for self-reflection and thoughtfulness. Self-aware people typically find time to reflect quietly, often by themselves, which allows them to think things over rather than react impulsively.
Summary
I hope you have found this first article of great help at the start of your journey. As Lao-tzu (tao te Ching 6th Century BC) once said “He who knows others is learned. He who knows himself is wise”
I encourage you to spend the next 7 days really analysing yourself.
What do you want out of life?
How ambitious are you?
What motivates you?
What is your dominant strength and primary motivator?
What do you want to be remembered most for?
Is your Johari an open or closed window?
If you can answer all these burning questions, you will be well on the road to becoming an authentic leader.
Next week we will look at one of the core leadership traits – that of Enthusiasm. Here’s what Henry Ford had to say about that:
In the table below I have listed two groups of leadership traits and I want you to give each one a score between 1 and 20.
But you can only use each number once. I.E. no trait must have the same number (basically you are placing them in an order of what you feel your strongest verses your weakest traits are.
I am happy for you to cut and paste the table onto a word document – you might want to keep a track of your scores over time. Although I have separated the boxes with the left hand box representing more junior leadership qualities and the right hand box representative of a strong and accomplished leader it is important that you score both boxes.
This is called self-assessment. !!
It only works if you are truly honest with yourself. Especially the more senior you are in the organisation – as Fred Goodwin, ex Chief Executive of RBS will testify.
‘The higher you get, the further you have to fall’. Understanding your current skill set, by being honest with yourself, will enable you to gain a real insight into your own personal strengths and weaknesses. Before you go ahead and self-assess, I would like to share with you a really powerful poem written in 1934 by Dale Wimbrow:
The Guy In The Glass
When you get what you want in your struggle for pelf,
And the world makes you King for a day,
Then go to the mirror and look at yourself,
And see what that guy has to say.
For it isn’t your Father or Mother or Wife,
Who judgement upon you must pass.
The feller whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the guy staring back from the glass.
He’s the feller to please, never mind all the rest,
For he’s with you clear up to the end,
And you’ve passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the guy in the glass is your friend.
You may be like Jack Horner and “chisel” a plum,
And think you’re a wonderful guy,
But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum
If you can’t look him straight in the eye.
You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years,
And get pats on the back as you pass,
But your final reward will be heartaches and tears
If you’ve cheated the guy in the glass.
©Dale Wimbrow, 1934.
Ok lets score
The Johari Window:
The Johari Window was originally developed by two American psychologists called Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham.
They named the model by combining their first names, Joe and Harry. (Johari). The Johari Window model is used by leaders seeking to become more self-aware. It represents information – feelings, experience, views, attitudes, skills, motivation, etc – within or about a person in relation to their group/team, from four perspectives.
The diagram shows how others can see into our ‘window’. It is their perception of who you are. The public arena changes the more you communicate about yourself, e.g. ‘what I know about me and what you know about me = larger window’.
The essence of the Johari model is that the size of each area changes to reflect what you know about yourself and what other know and are saying about you. This is very important for leaders as the more you know about your own strengths and limitations, the more you are able to play to your strengths. You may decide to address your limitations or build a team of people around you who have the expertise you may lack. The late Steve Jobs was a master at recognising peoples talents and bringing them into his team to plug gaps in his or the teams knowledge. The late great Andrew Carnegie who despite being regarded as the second most richest man in history (1835-1919), had words to this effect on his tombstone “Here lies a man who knew how to get around him, people who were cleverer than he“.
Leaders who consciously display a larger open/free area have strong self belief and make it their purpose in life to communicate with the people around them, sharing both their personal vision and aspirations and those of the business.
They can relate to their team, engage in banter, socialising (to a degree) and open discussion. Their door is always open, but their mind is also open to new ideas.
They are considered approachable and they know what motivates their team. Such leaders practice self-reflection and have their own agenda of continuous personal improvement through self discovery. As such they demand high standards of their people, but they set and live by those standards themselves.
Consequently they can be challenging and difficult to work for, but inspirational at the same time. You will find the more you can share with your team and lead by example, the more they will learn about your values and what makes you tick; the larger the top left window. Often this larger window leads to a greater degree of respect for the leader as the risks of the other windows recede – backbiting and undermining in the blind area; assumptions and avoidance in the hidden area; lack of trust and respect in the unknown area.
Leaders can also increase the size of the open/free area through a process of disclosure and 360 degree feedback from the people they interact with. Getting people to share (anonymously) what they really think about your style and what you could do to improve and get the best out of your team can be enormously enlightening.
Here’s a useful exercise. If you were to describe yourself to your team/boss and could only do it in the form of a picture, what would you draw?
What does your window look like?
What picture do you want people to see when they look inside?
“Self-awareness means having a deep understanding of one’s emotions, as well as one’s strengths and limitations and one’s values and motives. People with strong self-awareness are realistic – neither overly self-critical nor naively hopeful. Rather, they are honest with themselves about themselves. And they are honest about themselves with others, even to the point of being able to laugh at their own foibles.
Self-aware leaders also understand their values, goals and dreams. They know where they’re headed and why. They’re attuned to what “feels right” to them. .. Because the decision of self-aware people mesh with their values, they more often find their work energising”
Perhaps the most telling (although least visible) sign of self-awareness is a propensity for self-reflection and thoughtfulness. Self-aware people typically find time to reflect quietly, often by themselves, which allows them to think things over rather than react impulsively.
Summary
I hope you have found this first article of great help at the start of your journey. As Lao-tzu (tao te Ching 6th Century BC) once said “He who knows others is learned. He who knows himself is wise”
I encourage you to spend the next 7 days really analysing yourself.
What do you want out of life?
How ambitious are you?
What motivates you?
What is your dominant strength and primary motivator?
What do you want to be remembered most for?
Is your Johari an open or closed window?
If you can answer all these burning questions, you will be well on the road to becoming an authentic leader.
Next week we will look at one of the core leadership traits – that of Enthusiasm. Here’s what Henry Ford had to say about that:
“Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes rise to the stars.
Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eye; it is the swing in your gait; the grip of your hand; the irresistible surge of your will and your energy to execute your ideas. Enthusiasts are fighters. They have fortitude. They have staying qualities. Enthusiasm is at the bottom of all progress – with it there is accomplishment, without it there are only alibis.”
Ref; http://www.leadership-expert.co.uk/
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