Leadership is simple yet complex and is, I believe, often seriously over analysed. There are many different leadership theories and styles supported by thousands of books on the topic. Try popping “leadership” into Google and you will immediately have access to millions of pieces explaining what leadership is, characteristics, qualities, styles, and definitions etc etc etc.
For me, quite simply, leadership comes down to WHO you are. Which includes: Your behaviour. What you stand for. How you engage with others. How you share information. The approach you take in a crisis. How accountable you are. The workplace culture you foster……… The key word here is YOU.
I believe that you can lead from anywhere – from any chair in an organisation, and that your behaviour always has the potential to influence the behaviour of others.
Hence the name of this Blog. Rather than keeping your focus on trying constantly to change others, I want you to focus instead on what you can control. This means your thoughts and behaviours. Keeping these congruent and authentic. Building your personal brand and authority by making the deliberate decision to change yourself. To be the best version of you every single day. What I have seen and experienced is that over time, others will respond to you. They will enjoy communicating with you, hearing your ideas and drawing on your knowledge.
True leadership starts with you. Whatever is going on for you and around you, reflects you. Which means that if things are a mess around you, then it is likely that you need to make some changes. Not to others. To yourself. Sooner rather than later.
My coaching clients know that I often speak about the various roles of leadership – leading yourself, leading others, leading leaders, leading the organisation and leading the process. No matter what role we have in our working or personal lives, at any given time you are leading yourself and it is very likely that you are modelling behaviours which, at the very least, contribute to leading others and/or the process. The fact that negative behaviours can and do contribute to leading others is a topic for another time.
One of my favourite quotes about leadership is this one by Eleanor Roosevelt:
“A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader; a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.”
Check out Great Leadership TED talk by Peter Anderton that reminds us about just how simple leadership really is and also about the very real benefits of focusing on changing yourself rather than changing everyone else.
I help people managers develop their leadership and communication skills. There are many different ways that you can work with me including my Deliberate Re-Set program, one on one coaching packages and team coaching. Drop me a note [[email protected]] if you would like more information or follow me on Facebook www.facebook.com/bethberghan Talk soon. xx