In the last few weeks a lot of leadership topics have come my way, the theme seems to have picked me and not I it. 

If we were good at everything, we’d have no need for each other.

Simon Sinek

I was recently asked, do you think you are a great leader? I started having a conversation to rationalize an answer (my default answer is always “it depends”) but I was cut off; ‘This is a yes or no question’. Well then, gun to my head, I have to say no. He asked how I can say something like that? You have had such a good track record, your resume is full of success stories that you could not have achieved had you been a poor leader. 

So the debate I had started ensued anyway. We need to first determine what my definition of a great leader is. To me a real leader is someone who has created a leader who in turn created a leader. If you have created a second generation leader then you are a great leader. 

To elaborate, being a leader is not being a manager. There is a big component of mentoring and developing the reporting to you. You need to give them all the information at your disposal to the point where they can replace you. A great leader is not threatened by the fact that they hold no cards close to their chest. And if you develop your team correctly they will have the ability to create leaders in their own right. 

The sports metaphor

I am an avid rugby lover and believe that there is so much to learn from a team sport. I have played games where we had a slim chance of winning but every player gave it their all. Some games we actually won against all odds but others we lost. It takes a special kind of character to give it their all under these daunting circumstances, but that is the guy you want by your side in good or bad times. 

That wasn’t even the metaphor; as an athlete you need to be improving your game every week. Had a good game but didn’t tackle as much? Focus on that the next few games, speak to your coach and see how you can improve. When you are happy that you improved then you identify the next issue, maybe your running lines can be better. So you speak to the coach and you fix that and so it goes. 

The same can be applied to every aspect of your life and I and apply it to my leadership ability. I don’t believe I am a poor leader, I am just not done learning yet. If you can admit that you need to improve and not be satisfied with your ability you are on the right track. Imagine if Arnold Schwarzenegger said ‘I look good enough, lets go have pizza’. He would certainly not be the acclaimed athlete we know him to be. 

How do we go about improving bit-by-bit? 

1. When you become a senior manager you are no longer surrounded by many peers in the same organisation. There are fewer of them so you need to reach out to your network.

I met many people when doing an executive MBA that studied for that very reason. They needed to have conversations with their peers to help them improve upon themselves which they were unable to do at work. If you are the Managing Director you may not be able to achieve the same learnings, you need to find Managing Directors elsewhere. 

Having regular meetings with them will give you the perspective that you need. You may have a formal mentorship relationship or not. But you will find things in those conversations that relate to you that you can improve upon. 

Simon Sinek speaks of a person that he thanked for being his mentor to which Simon was thanked for being that person’s mentor. The process is reciprocal and imbalanced. This means you can also have conversations with people that are not Managing Directors per se. 

2. Learn from the people that report to you. The first step is to recognize that you have room for improvement. Thereafter you will be more open to criticism, whether it is direct or between the lines. You will see that you had a conversation with an employee that left the room a lot less enthusiastic than they came in. 

Make a note, write in your diary or send yourself a reminder email and reflect on what transpired. Identify what happened and if it is unclear have a coffee with the employee. Maybe your point is valid but the delivery does not have a 10 point landing!

3. Don’t be afraid to go looking for criticism either. I have seen companies that didn’t want to do customer satisfaction surveys because they were worried about the result. If you are worried you probably need to do it sooner rather than later! The same can be said for your internal customers…your employees. 

Ask HR to do anonymous surveys or other feedback mechanisms. Maybe 360 reviews or net promoter score questionnaires. Once you have information on your shortcomings you can address them. Speak to HR or raise these concerns with your network. 

4. Reflect on your past. There is no teacher better than experience. You have had good and bad leaders, some that have been forgotten for their mediocrity and some leaders that you would like to work for again.

Reflect on what they did well or poorly and how you compare and if that scares you, well start fixing!

My last comment is that I don’t believe enough managers have the courage for true introspective examination. ‘I got this far without it right?’. That is the leader we should all fear!

Photo Credits: Jehyun Sung, Photo by NeONBRAND, Photo by Ronda Darby on Unsplash