Did you ever think that you as the leader create the culture of your company? Are you happy with the culture you have created? A culture has much to do with your organizational values. Are those value, however, just on paper or are they living values? Leadership and management are behaviors that are much more complex than mastering an individual job. For that reason and others as well the failure rate of managers is higher than for individual performers.
Management consultant and author Ken Blanchard believes that leadership is responsible for creating positive work cultures, customer loyalty, and organizational change. Ken reinforces the values and beliefs that have been proven to create positive corporate cultures.
You have it wrong if you consider yourself a leader because you have been placed in charge. On the other hand, a person with no direct reports can be a very effective leader. The reason that is true is because you need to learn how to lead yourself before you can lead others. Moreover, a change in your thinking will create energy and change in your life and you can affect others. Your thinking revolves around seeking to serve. According to Blanchard there are four dimensions of leadership.
Leadership with heart--
This concept of servant leadership is one in which a leader who encourages, supports and enables others. According to Blanchard, a servant leader has humility. Jim Collins, who wrote Good to Great, also concurs that humility and encouragement of others were several of the traits of his “Level 5 Leaders.” Now there is nothing wrong with self-esteem. To be clear people with humility don’t think less of themselves—they think less about themselves.
Leadership with the head--
A good leader is a visionary. A good leader begins with a clear vision that can be explained to others. A visionary role of leadership is one of “doing the right thing.” The other part of leadership is the execution of the vision and that is “doing things right.”
Leadership with the hands—
Leaders use their hands to produce good results. They help their people plan their performance and achieve. The leader stays with them not to manage but to coach them to reach their full potential. Performance discussions are necessary but not so that you can have a bell-shaped curve. Why do you need a bell shaped cured in the first place? Don’t you want everyone to be successful at the right job? Blanchard slams those who talk about doing forced ranking. Instead of forcing someone to be a bottom performer why not attempt to lift everyone up.
Leadership habits--
Developing successful habits and behaviors is the fourth dimension. In my opinion, it is one of the most important. Consistency and accountability include discipline and maintaining accountability relationships. Persistency and consistency and leading by example each day will change the culture of the organization. For a similar post on our web site see EVERY ORGANIZATION HAS CULTURE - IS YOURS THE ONE YOU WANT?
We can help you become the leader who creates and promotes culture
or call 914-953-4458.
Comments(29)