Leadership Across the Organization

It goes without saying that good leadership is critical to organizational success. It is absolutely essential to our reaching our fullest potential: as individuals, as teams and as organizations.  But leadership is not reserved for executives, team leaders or managers.

To let you in on a secret, ALL of us can (and should) be leaders. Leadership is not about position. It is about how you interact with your fellow employees, your business partners and of course your customers. Each of us has leadership responsibilities, but we often don’t realize this. We focus on tasks and doing our jobs, but we miss the potential impact we could have simply by thinking of the work we do as an opportunity to demonstrate leadership as well as technical or business acumen.

So, if leadership is so important, how do we define it?

Some say there’s no manual, no recipe for leadership. I agree to a large extent. However, having served in the military, where there’s a manual for EVERYTHING, having perused the management/leadership sections at Amazon or Barnes & Noble, and having read blog after blog about leadership on LinkedIn Pulse and other sites, I can tell you that there are many, many opinions on this subject!

Interestingly, all of these opinions prove the point that there is no recipe. The best primers on leadership talk about how leaders are consistent in what they do but differ in how they do it. 

Good leaders, whether in government, the military, academia, sport or business, have many things in common:

• They rely upon influence rather than authority. The easiest way to achieve mediocrity is to have those you lead do something simply because you have told them to do it.  This is especially true when you are in a position that doesn't have formal leadership authority.

• They elevate the work they do beyond tasks to a higher purpose, a mission of sorts. They develop an inspiring vision of what they want to achieve and get buy-in from others.

• They know people and what motivates each of them, and tailor their message accordingly. Some need a lot of context. Others need to be intellectually challenged. Still others need to feel respected for their experience and knowledge. Good leaders know one size does not fit all when motivating others.

• They have integrity and character. People can sense a lack of character and integrity the way animals can smell fear. Leaders will not earn the loyalty and commitment of others if they don’t “walk the talk”, if they fail to choose the “hard right” over the “easy wrong”, or if they fail to demonstrate the same loyalty and commitment to others that they demand from them.

• They are relentless in developing leaders in their organizations. They take performance appraisals and development plans seriously — both as givers and receivers of feedback – because that’s how they ensure excellent performance is sustainable.

• They are self-aware and authentic. Whether extroverts or introverts, detail-oriented or big-picture thinkers, innovative or conventional, they know who they are, and do not try to be something they are not. Similarly, they know they cannot be experts at everything, but that they need to surround themselves with others who complement their skills.

This last point is the most critical in my opinion, and it explains why there is no one recipe for becoming a leader. To be a leader, you have to be yourself and know yourself, but also focus on how to use your unique talents and temperament to help your colleagues see, embrace and achieve the vision you set.

And, again, we are all leaders. One of the many interesting things I learned in the military is that, despite their hierarchical structure, successful military organizations develop and rely upon soldiers, from the lowest private to the highest general, to lead. That’s the only way the unit can perform at a consistently high level.  I've seen this in business as well, where strong performing companies seem to stack leadership talent like cord-wood throughout the organization.

Ask yourself: how different would your work, your teams, or your overall organization be if we each saw ourselves not just as employees or team members, but as leaders? What can you do right now to live that vision?