From Manager to Leader #3

This blog continues with the June theme of Leadership.  See what you think and leave your comments below.  Leadership skills can be developed at any stage in your career.  Some people naturally possess these skills, others do not.  Here are still more shifts to make when you’re aspiring to be a leader.

Shift 12:  Minimize consequences to advantages.  Many managers tend to hide, justify, color or reshape consequences such as bad news, dropping sales or business disruption.  Leaders celebrate the consequences, learn from them and go make a whole lot more money because each has been dealt with fully.  If you lose a client, get to the source of it and handle it; if a staff person leaves, start an employee retention program; if sales are down, downsize to restore profitability and work your way back up.  Bad news is always temporary – learn from it and become a much bigger person.

Shift 13:  Forced resolution to least resistance.  Managers like to control things and people in order to be a great leader.  Leaders know when to take the path of least resistance even if it is not the originally chosen path.  They know then to go with the flow vs always having things their way.  Use others’ opinions to help you get your result in the easiest way.  Ask yourself “Is this my Ego or my Standards that are motivating me?”

Shift 14:  Build a team to create leaders.  Managers need a team to cause results.  Leaders develop others’ leadership skills.  Set up your current team to be leaders, not just players.  Attract those who desire to perform as equals.  Ask your team how they could do this, figuring it out for them keeps them as players.  The results are less role playing, politics and child/parent behavior.  Your people will be more self-managed and less approval seeking.

Shift 15:  Being right to who cares who is right.  Managers who can’t afford to be wrong setthings up to justify their opinions and actions.  A leader is not afraid of being wrong and has a relationship with people so that errors of judgment are forgiven because of the trust.  Realize that creation is a messy process, and experimentation creates learning.  Make mistakes and be inclusive of these events letting go of trying to control the outcome.

Shift 16:  Externally to internally motivated.  Managers are motivated by the things around them – people, events, and opportunities.  The more the manager is prompted by externals, the less likely they will be motivated by their true wants and desires.  Eventually this will cause frustration, burnout and resentment.  A leaders can still be prompted by events, yet internally driven.  Unhook yourself from getting your motivation solely by what happens around you.

What have you shifted?  Have these shifts been helpful?  Need any additional information?  Leave your comments below.

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