This Makes Leading So Much Easier…

Let’s be honest, carrying all the responsibility that comes with leadership is never easy. And if we really want to make the kind of lasting impact that only comes from developing the positive leadership qualities we’ve been working through to this point, we’ll have our hands full - even with the humility and trust we just looked at firmly in place! But what if I told you there was one thing we could each do to lead with humility and earn trust fast? Would that help make developing those positive leadership qualities any easier?

Cindy and I open several of the different sessions we do covering the foundations of recognizing and understanding communication styles by facilitating an exercise that shows how much more effective we can be in nearly anything we do when we have a format in place or a pattern to follow. Earning the authentic influence we’ll need to lead our teams well and have a lasting positive impact on their lives is no different. And when we get this one positive leadership quality right, making it part of who we are, there won’t be any question as to whether we’re working to manipulate or to inspire!

So what could be that effective and still be a simple quality to develop?

I’ve said countless times that I don’t believe leadership comes from a position or a title; it’s not a thing we can be or have. I’m convinced that leadership should be viewed as a verb; an action we take. And the most powerful positive leadership quality I’ve ever seen that exemplifies that action is service! When we look for ways we can serve our team, helping them be more effective in everything they do, and ways we can eliminate turmoil or conflict from their jobs, we make a lasting impact that won’t likely be matched by many other things.

Don’t misunderstand what I mean by service though! I’m not suggesting that we do things for our team members that they’re required to do. Just like catering to a child’s every desire typically creates an entitled adult, not holding our team members accountable to do what they’re required to do is anything but serving them…

The kind of service I’m referring to from a leadership perspective is doing the things to help our team members be more effective that can’t do for themselves, the things that only a leader has the power or authority to do. That will look different in any organization, but the intent will not! When we can identify the specific things we can do to truly serve our teams, eliminating conflict and providing them with the resources they need to be the best they can be, we impact their performance right away but we also set an example they can follow from that point forward.

Next time, we’ll take a look at a few folks throughout history who have lived out positive leadership qualities. After that, we wrap this all up by looking at some tangible benefits we can expect to see in our organizations from how these qualities make lasting impact on our teams.