Infuse leadership - the 5 Activities
If you were to write a job description for "Leader"....
What descriptions would you choose? How about keeping it simple
Job Summary: Earn the TRUST and RESPECT of the PEOPLE.
Qualifications: DESIRE to be accountable to help others succeed
Responsibilities: DELIVER on the following activities: (repeatedly)
1 - Inspire: What is the Vision? What are we doing and why?
Have you ever worked at a place and wondered "what are we all about"? Why do we do what we do? What are we trying to achieve? Providing the big picture is the place to start if you want people to follow.
But the vision is really two-part:
1) The Big Picture - the "why"
2) The "how we will know we are achieving"
If, when coming up with the why, you can't articulate the way to know, you will lose the people before they have even bought in enough to act.
LEADERS provide the big picture and describe what success will look like.
2 - Involve: How does what I do affect our success?
People want to see the big picture and relish in the lofty goals, but once seen there are several questions we all ask - how do I help? How does what I do matter? How will my contributions be judged?
LEADERS communicate clear expectations so people know how to contribute to success
3 - Invest: Give me the tools to do the job.
Once the team has the vision, and then understands how they are expected to contribute, invest in their success.
What tools and training necessary for them to do the job?
Are they available to this person?
The investment, remember, is in PEOPLE. In order to properly invest in anything, you should do your homework up front. What really motivates your people? What do they crave? How can you REALLY invest in the things that matter? That is the real incentive - find it and you will be able to get more out of the team because of what
you have given them.
LEADERS provide the tools necessary for the job, and make the journey worth while
4 - Inform: Tell me how I am doing?
Leaders are not afraid of having the "hard" conversations, mostly because they realize that they people they lead want to succeed!
The team needs to know how the work is progressing. Feedback includes updates, good and bad, on the state and trajectory of the company - and while you're at it.... remind them of the vision and the journey you are on together.
LEADERS provide appropriate feedback for the team so they know how it is going.
A Leader's Job Description looks easy - right?
While these activities are important, and simple, implementation can be very situation dependent - want to learn more, or just talk about how these might look in your world?