What is Leadership?

Leadership.

What does it mean?

According to the New Oxford English Dictionary it is ‘the action of leading a group of people or an organisation’.

Forbes define leadership as “a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal.”

Meanwhile, Harvard Business Review defines it as “the accomplishment of a goal through the direction of human assistants.”

Simple.

Yes but no…. the definition of leadership is easy to understand.

The difficulty comes in the doing.

How do you lead people? How do you influence the effort of others towards achieving a goal? How do you direct human assistants? The answer to these questions is far more complex and it’s why there are over two billion Google responses to the question, “what is leadership?”

Nowadays we use the word leadership in the same way we use the word communication. When was the last time you heard the words or found yourself saying, “You need to improve your communication,” or “They need to be a better communicator.”

We often talk about communication as if it is an inanimate object, a ‘thing’ but it isn’t. There are numerous facets that make up communication. And the same is true of leadership.

You can read a zillion different books and articles about leadership and the one thing that comes through is that there is no one route to success. Unfortunately, there is no ten-step plan that you can follow with any guarantee that if you follow it, you will join the A listers of leaders.

And that’s what makes the world of leadership so challenging and why at the end of the day only you can decide the type of leader you want to be. You can read all the latest books by the current leadership gurus, you can watch endless TED talks, you can attend webinars, conferences, and courses but at the end of the day at some point you must turn your focus inwards and ask yourself this question “What do I want to be known for as a leader?”

Unfortunately, there is no book, talk or conference that can provide you with the answer.

Over the past seven years of running my business I have worked with lots of different teams and individuals, from those that are customer facing to senior executives. One of the topics we often explore is what makes a good leader, either from the perspective of the leader themselves or the people they work with.

We do this by thinking about leadership as a wheel – what are the eight most important attributes of a leader?

This is what my clients have told me:

Now the eight attributes aren’t ranked in any order of priority although there is one element that is on every wheel my clients create, so that would be the best place to start.

Great leaders are respectful
Surely that’s a given. Absolutely not. You just have to look at those who are supposedly leading our country currently to know that respect is still very much an area for improvement when it comes to leadership. Often, we talk about respect in terms of equality, diversity, and inclusion but respect is much broader than that and one aspect of respect that is very rarely talked about, is respecting ourselves.

We will often talk to ourselves in a far more disrespectful way than we would anyone else in our lives. We will often respect other people’s boundaries but ignore our own. How can we hope to truly respect other people when we can’t respect ourselves?

Great leaders are honest and trustworthy
Wow this is a biggie! For me, trust is fundamental to any of the relationships I have with people, personally or professionally. Let me ask you this; how well do you believe your team trust you? When I ask the leaders I am working with, they will often nod their head vigorously and say, “they absolutely trust me, they know I have their backs.” When I follow that up with, “how often do they disagree with you? How often do they pull you up for your actions and behaviour?” their response is not so effusive. Perhaps the odd, “they do challenge me,” and very rarely, “they will tell me when I have stepped out of line.”

One of the best barometers for assessing whether there are high levels of trust within a team is whether people are comfortable challenging each other and dealing with conflict. I have witnessed so many teams that are performing well but have not nailed trust.

How often does your team challenge you and each other?

Great leaders are able to listen
This is one of the most undervalued leadership competences out there. Now be honest, when you are in a meeting, having a 1-2-1 conversation or giving feedback, are you listening with intention of crafting your response or are you listening with the intention of understanding?

Many leaders will do the former and struggle with the latter. Be warned if your leadership style is dominated with this intention of just responding, your team will know this. They will not feel seen, they will not feel heard and ultimately this will negatively impact your ability to build trust.

Great leaders are a good role model
Lead by example. If you want your team to deliver great service, be kind and compassionate, then you need to ensure you embody those qualities. Not just some of the time but all the time. If there is an incongruence between what you say and what you do, you will create confusion and resentment within your team.

How well do you role model the behaviours and actions you want to see in your teams?

Great leaders plan ahead
Undoubtedly, some of us are more comfortable working with the big picture, whilst others love the detail. Wherever you sit on that spectrum, it is imperative you look ahead. As their leader, your team want and need you to be looking forward and planning for the future.

Given the challenges brought about by the pandemic over the past couple of years, when it has often been a challenge just to make it through the day, it is important that as we transition back to our new reality, we start to take a longer-term view of our businesses.

Great leaders communicate well
Communication could have a wheel all to itself given that there are so many different aspects to communication! With any team I have ever worked with, communication has always been part of the problem and the solution. Interestingly though, it is never usually the volume of the communication that is the issue, it’s how communication is used.  Another honesty moment…how do you prefer to communicate; email, phone, face-to-face? Does it depend on what you need to communicate? How would you prefer to communicate bad news?

As leaders we need to ensure we don’t hide behind emails and we are willing to have those difficult conversations.

Great leaders are empathetic
Sometimes when we are mega busy and being pulled in a million directions it is easy to flick off the empathy switch, to see our teams and our customers as a means to an end, no longer human beings with lives that may not be running smoothly. Do this at your peril. As leaders our teams want us to demonstrate empathy and remember empathy is not the same as sympathy. Empathy is shown in how much compassion and understanding we can show others, whereas sympathy is about feeling sorrow and pity for someone and having a judgement about their experience.

Great leaders are inspiring
It’s easy to get caught in the trap that inspiring leaders must be big, bold, and bright. Whilst this may work for some individuals, if this isn’t you don’t worry. For most people, seeing someone who is their true authentic self and consistent in their actions and behaviours is as inspiring, if not more so. Getting comfortable in your own skin, understanding your superpowers and blind spots, and not being afraid to show up as who you really are is the best way to inspire others.

It is by no means easy, and it takes a brave soul to do this but then the best leaders are those who are courageous and willing to go where others fear to tread.

These are the top eight leadership characteristics put forward by my clients. How do they resonate with you? Which ones are your superpowers? Which ones are your blind spots? Would your team agree?

If you are ready to turn your focus inwards and answer the question ‘what type of leader do I want to be?” then why not join my six-month transformational leadership programme. Click here to find out more.

Dive deep. Climb high. Can do leadership in a world of can’t.