You can't lead others (effectively) until you know who you are. The Peter Principle (Peter, 1969) says competent people are promoted until they achieve incompetence. My observation is a bit different. Good leaders find themselves in situations which gradually demand a depth of insight only achievable through intentional personal work. If your manager doesn't do their work, they cannot authentically lead from their values, and may use fear, coercion, manipulation, or codependency to get their job done.
Values based leadership is not new, but it is trending. In Dare to Lead, leadership guru Brene Brown lists over 100 characteristics that people, consciously or sub-consciously, operate from Values.pdf (brenebrown.com). That's a fantastic idea, but what happens if your values don't align with the organization you work for, or your job description. What if you don't even know what your values are (or if they've changed)? What if it's not occurred to you to lead out of who you are, because you've traditionally acquiesced to an internally held mental model (Senge, 2010) around how you thought leaders operated?
I did some intent personal work this summer, spending hours mulling and determining my values. There are many resources available. I've already mentioned Brene Brown's (2018) Dare to Lead and would also highly recommend examining the multiple resources available through the Barrett Values Centre. Beyond that, type "values based leadership" in your search engine and you will be met with a plethora of insightful means for your consideration.
I was directed to determine a list of my values no greater than five, then I needed to cull it down to two. Initially, faith and creativity topped my list, and those felt good to me. Faith is my worldview, my belief that we are part of something bigger than just us, and because of that, there is hope. I parent my kids and respond to others out of that hope and it guides me. Creativity is what energizes me. I need to develop, build, bring forward, encourage. That is who I am. Creativity has paid my bills and given me a reason to get out of bed in the morning for much of my life.
But there was more.
Honesty, authenticity and challenge brought insight. Instead of looking at what I liked, I became aware of what I didn't like. I started examining my stressors and saw a value so ingrained in my psyche that it directs my faith and steers my creativity. It is my love affair with time. Time may be a construct limited to this solar system, but to me, it is the boundary I need to exist.
I am task oriented - I manage my time like no one else. I was raised in an environment that highlighted the completion of goals. It stuck - I can get more done in a day than many can in a week. It is not unheard of for me to go to bed while I have guests over because I need to be lying down for eight complete hours. If you want to see me come completely unhinged, take away my ability to manage my time. Deep breathing and a generous supply of paper bags to blow into may not be enough discourage a panic attack.
I grew up thinking my infatuation with time was a bad thing. I thought I should be more relaxed, more relational (I actually am very people-y but I need those relationships managed by time), and less concerned with ticking entries off a list.
This summer I learned that time is a value to be treasured, nurtured and a gift. If time is a creation for us - day and night - it is good, and I will sing the praises of planning, lists, and post-it notes.
Every day I practice being an influential leader - and I can do that living into my value of appreciating and stewarding time.
And yes, I would love to talk to you more about this, but we'll have to make an appointment. I don't have time right now.
Brown, B. (2018). Dare to lead: Brave work. Tough conversations. Whole hearts. Random House.
Peter, L. J., & Hull, R. (1969). The Peter principle.
Senge, P. M. (2010). The fifth discipline: The art & practice of the learning organization. Currency.
My list of qualities include honesty, morality, delegation, personability, self motivation, problem solving, and what some may consider negative traits like procrastination and leniency to rules.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of honesty translates to transparency, but can be used to disrupt or retaliate. Brutal honesty can hurt, but can also be conditional on available information... Which is why honesty must always be accompanied by integrity to apply it well.
Morality... There is no universal compass so by definition is personal in nature based on faith in a higher power or just faith in mankind. Morality is always on an evolving arc as to the societal changes exhibited not entirely on ethics, but social diplomacy.
Delegation... Over supervision defeats the purpose and under supervision doesn't have enough structure for business.
Personability is a tightrope for any manager. If too friendly with subordinates it gives the impression of special treatment and if too aloof it is the impression that the subordinates input is not wanted, respected, or valued.
Self-motivation is a strong asset with individuals frequently seen as self-serving or ambitious.
Problem solver... Inexperienced managers want to solve every problem as they arise and be definitive in their actions. Experienced managers realize a complexity in business that require not just an answer to a problem but an understanding of the larger picture and the complexity of inter dynamic relationships. Experienced management would know that this discussion would have to be made by a multi-discipline council.
Procrastination is generally thought of in a negative fashion but when used properly gives a breather the situations to fully unfold or to be considered without rash decisions to get in the way. It may actually work as a safety net in some circumstances.
Business is carried on with concise rules, regulations, and consistency. Good management understands that rules are strong guidelines for a consistency of business but maybe two confining in certain circumstances. If key members of your team have family issues, living arrangements or car failures, it may be in the interest of the business to give leniency and things like attendance, or tardiness, or even deadlines to be met. Given the circumstances many subordinates would lose their job rather than working with them in order to mutually benefit. It's not always best for the restructure out based on confining set of rules and a good manager knows when to negotiate those rules and still keep consistency was continuation of making your subordinates responsible for their actions and output of work.
I find myself reviewing this list of characteristics and find it impossible to pare down to one or two to be most important. Instead, I propose. Not discussed yet. The first is balance. I propose that every good manager has each of these characteristics in various quantity and quality. As an analogy, think of a stereo system with 15 speakers with adjustments 1 to 10 on each. Consider each characteristic described as one attend scale and place if each speaker and then consider adjustments on each one depending on where the speaker is, some being at 6, some being at 4. Everyone holds these characteristics to ourself in quantity and quality but the good managers have a balance and are able to navigate their less developed abilities which then needs to my second parent down characters dick to a good manager. I call it self aspiration. I define this as the need to evaluate ourselves regularly and always strive to improve ourselves. This is done by age, experience, patience, faith, prayer, and sometimes it's just drank and conversation with a good friend unwind.
Thanks for your well thought out comments. I'd like to challenge you to further consider refining your values. For instance, you likely need the support of certain values to carry out others. This can create a "two tiered" values hierarchy. Doing that gives your primary values a deeper texture and is helpful for you to lead out of a clearly articulated understanding of what drives you. I'd love to hear what you discover after you establish your two tiers of values.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe in a tiered hierarchy of characteristics, values, and skills. I believe there are all integral to the individual and that we have a quote formula unquote based on the quantity and quality of all of these characteristics combine. We may have a formula average of 7 to 9:00 for a good manager and a formula average of 4 to 7 on a moderate to poor manager but each and every skill is used on a continuous basis. Asking us to continue to look for a tiered hierarchy is like asking someone to use each limb as a separate entity rather than part of the whole, so establishing a hierarchy of characteristics is essentially tying a limb and not using it at all.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you to a point, but using your tree analogy, you need the support of your roots to keep the tree from falling. What qualities do you rely on to keep you grounded and keep yourself growing?
ReplyDeleteThe analogy was the human body, and that we use the entire body to perform at optimal pace. We cannot use a leg to walk with unless we have use of the knee, cannot use and function the hands without use of the elbow, so each and every trait that we have are all equally important and the use of each is the balance we have within ourselves. And to improve ourselves we should be striving to use each of our skills in better light, patience, and integrity. We can gauge our progress by our outcomes as well as our self perspective and retrospect of our own thoughts, and also in candid discussion with those close around us. In order to have our friends and family opine we have to be open and trusting to their view.
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