The Leader's Role
There was a time not so long ago when it became trendy to distinguish between people who are "leaders" and people who are "managers." Though it is certainly true that some people are more effective in one of these roles than in the other, I never bought the notion that the two roles ought to be embodied in different people. I'm happy that this artificial distinction seems to have died down. Now, it is commonly understood that any willing manager can be assisted in strengthening leadership skills.In developing a workshop for managers on coaching and leadership, I found it helpful to provide participants with an overview of their leader role. (During the workshop, we also talked about managers' coach, facilitator, and talent-developer roles.) The overview divided the characteristics of a leader into three areas: what the leader is, what the leader knows, and what the leader does.
A leader is respected.
- Professional — loyal, takes personal responsibility
- Has strong values — honesty, candor, commitment
- Self — strengths and weaknesses of character, knowledge, skills
- Human nature — needs and emotions, how people respond to stress
- Own job function — even though much work is delegated, functional expertise is essential for competent decision-making
- Organization — where to go for help, the organization's culture
- Provides direction — articulates a vision, gives employees a reason to believe in the vision so they unite around it, sustains values, sets goals, facilitates problem solving, makes decisions, plans
- Implements — communicates, coordinates, guides, coaches, evaluates
- Motivates — gets people engaged so they apply their minds and abilities to reaching the goals, accomplishing the mission
With this overview in place, each workshop participant can construct an individualized picture of what leadership entails in their particular part of the organization.
Labels: Leadership
posted by Karen Nelson @ 9:02 AM
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