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.
The other necessary ingredient to the vision is the articulation of "how we will know we are achieving" - don't forget that this aspect is just as important to provide as the why.
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 provide clear individual communication and set their people up for 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, what tools and training necessary for them to do the job, and are they available to this person? This is the second part of setting people up for success.
LEADERS provide the tools necessary for the job.
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!
Telling people when they not doing well is a skill that can be learned - and will be greatly appreciated by those who are lead.
LEADERS provide appropriate feedback for the team so they know how it is going.
5 - Incent: Make the journey worth my while
Not all people are motivated by money. Yes, it does play a part, but what REALLY gets the team fired up? What is the thing that gets the team hungry for more and really
passionate about sharing how great it is to work for / with you? 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 share in the things that make the journey worth while.
A Leader's Job Description looks easy - right?
While these five 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?