The Basics of Leadership Development – The Direction Phase

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” – Henry David Thoreau

Leaders who want to develop and grow to their full potential must have a sense of direction. This is where goals enter the picture. In his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey makes a distinction between production and production capability. In the Discovery Phase of leadership development, described last week, I discussed finding your production capability: strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes. While production capability enables production, it is not production.

Goals

Covey’s first habit is to begin with the end in mind. This suggests you need to know where you are going and to have a route (a plan) for getting there. In the destination category, we have goals which have the “end in mind.” Inevitably, you have more than one goal (destination) and what you want to do is make sure there is no conflict between or among them. In fact, ideally you want to have goals that call upon similar skills, strengths and processes so you can leverage multiple areas simultaneously.

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” – Henry David Thoreau

In my last essay I said that leadership development is human development. If we are to truly develop ourselves as leaders, we need to think about non-business goals as well as business/career goals. These personal goals enable us to be more complete human beings and they reinforce our ability to achieve business goals because they foster inner peace and a greater sense of fulfillment. A disconnect between our business lives and our personal lives causes angst and distraction relative to our ability to realize our full potential as business leaders. Here are some of the areas to consider as part of the development of personal goals:

  • Mental
  • Physical
  • Emotional
  • Spiritual
  • Family
  • Finances
Values
“Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.” – C. S. Lewis

Another direction we need to keep in mind is our values. We are not very well grounded if we declare values and fail to observe them. Whether it is by neglect, omission or contrary behavior, we drain ourselves of energy that could have been effectively employed in achieving our goals. Realistic values provide us a foundation for making the difficult decisions and clarifying our direction.

Values can be aspirational or they can be directional. For example, if you tell someone your number 1 value is integrity, this is aspirational. You literally know that every decision you make has to meet your standard of integrity. Alternatively, when asked, you can say you will conduct yourself honestly in all personal and business dealings. The tone of this is more directional. Whether your values are more aspirational or directional in nature, the point is to factor them into your leadership code.

“Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.” – Benjamin Franklin
Habits

You have your goals, and you have your values – now, what’s next? A leadership development plan considers your habits – those you want to keep and those you want to eliminate or change. In my last essay, I mentioned that simply because you like doing something does not mean that you should do it. When looking at your major life habits, ask yourself 3 questions:

  • Does this habit enable me to achieve my goals or does it take me away from achieving my goals?
  • Is this habit consistent with my values?
  • Is there a better habit I could adopt – one that is more consistent with my goals and values and gives me greater satisfaction?

Using the metaphor of the sculptor in my last essay, let’s assume that taking away the unproductive or bad habit is like the final touches on the sculpted piece. Attention to fine details enhances the final product.

Tools
“Our Age of Anxiety is, in great part, the result of trying to do today's job with yesterday's tools and yesterday's concepts.” – Marshall McLuhan

In order to fully develop your strengths, you should give some thought to the tools that you will use to assist you in achieving your goals and becoming a better leader. While they are not an end in themselves, tools can greatly enable you to keep track of where you are going and your progress. The first thing to remember about tools, however, is that the job dictates the tool rather than the tool dictating the job.

Whether it is a journal, a task list, a goal sheet tracking performance or technology, you have to be able to articulate how the tool enables you to move forward. If learning or adopting the tool takes primary importance you have already lost focus and energy relative to your goals.

Work a Leadership Agenda
“The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda.” – John C. Maxwell

It is important to know how you will lead. What are your principles, your code of conduct? What will you do on a consistent basis? A leadership agenda demands that you have 10 to 15 short leadership truisms that describe how you lead and what your efforts are intended to yield. As part of your principles, you can say what you won’t do but it is more powerful to say what you will do on an ongoing basis. What are the non-negotiable elements of your leadership behavior and how can you turn them into a declaration that says – This is what I will do? For example, you could say: I will never lie. This statement has power but the following has more impact: I will tell the truth all the time.

What is your credo? For what do you stand? People who are following need an idea of what you hold dear so they can carry out plans and actions you’ve set forth accordingly. If you do not stand for something, you will fall for anything – maybe even the latest bright shiny object that gets your attention. If that is the case you will constantly chase windmills and accomplish very little. Your leadership agenda provides direction, guardrails and clarity. I dare you to create a leadership agenda and stick to it. I think your leadership will shine when you have your goals, your values, your habits and a leadership agenda all wrapped up into a neat package that can be worked and further improved on over time.

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go.” – Dr. Seuss

And, there is more, there always is.

Be genuine.

Copyright 2014 © John J. Trakselis, Chicago CEO Coaching

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