LEADERSHIP ENVY
Our first blog this month, Developing Your Leadership Style, provided an activity to help you identify your leadership strengths. In this blog, we suggested that personal reflection on your leadership strengths and aspirations is as important as consulting external leadership resources.
The methodology we provided is equally applicable to developing the leadership skills of your team. Leadership is often spoken of in the singular: Who is the leader? Who calls the shots around here? This construct only serves to reinforce a hierarchical, exclusive view of leadership, which identifies one person as being the “face of the organization.” The idea of multiple leaders in an organization goes against the grain of our often-inherited ways of thinking.
One of the thoughts that probably came to mind when you were completing your S.O.A.R. leadership analysis a couple of weeks ago is “Well, I might have these strengths, but I still lack the skills that (my favorite leader) has.” That is leadership envy. Ditch it. The idea that you should have a full set of leadership skills is unrealistic. There is no “full set of leadership skills.” You might have discovered, however, that your organization requires leadership in some areas that are out of your skill set. This is where teamwork comes in.
What we are suggesting is this. Engage your staff team in the S.O.A.R. leadership activity referenced in our last blog. For this activity to be fully effective, it is important that your team feels safe and supported. This will establish an environment in which your team members can engage with one another confidently. This is why it is an ideal activity for a retreat, where other work can set the right context for this activity
Activity:
Each staff member completes the individual leadership S.O.A.R. analysis
Debrief discussion:
Each person shares/talks through their analysis with the full group (or in groups of 2 - 3 if there are a lot of people)
The full group engages in discussion of the following questions:
How can we best utilize our collective leadership skills to work more effectively together?
How can we better achieve organizational goals?
The outcome of this activity is akin to the concept of collective through strategic partnerships and alliances. The journey from the traditional mindset of individual leadership to embracing shared leadership is one worth taking. It is through shared leadership that the greatest outcomes can be achieved.