Developing Your Future Leaders Part 5... Traits that describe Leadership

Traits that describe Leadership

So… where were we?  Oh yeah… you have this team, some of whom you might have been able to hire, and the rest you inherited.   You are just starting to meet with them to get to know them and build relationships.  You can count on this process taking some time, as it always takes time for people to get to know us, and trust us enough to start to open up to us.  Once they do open up to us, we can find out who they are, what they care about, and what their goals are.  We can ask them many of the same questions we would ask if we were interviewing them, and find out how they see themselves, as well as how they see the world and how they fit into that world.

In the mean time, we need to start looking for Leadership qualities.  Like we talked about here, we are going to start splitting up responsibilities, and giving them to the team members we think have Leadership qualities that need to be developed.  In order to be able to choose the right people, we need to look at what they are doing, how they are acting, and decide which ones have Leadership waiting to get out.  We started this in the last post here, and we’ll continue it here.

So, I think the easiest way to move forward with this will be to list the qualities (for our purpose here we’ll use John C. Maxwell’s list from The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader ), and then list actions that describe that quality.  Last time we talked about self-responsible, so we might skip that one.  He lists them in alphabetical order, so here we go…

Character:  defined as the way we think, feel, and behave… our personality, or the mental and moral qualities of an individual.

It’s who we are on the inside, and how we act when no one is looking.  So, for actions, how we act from minute to minute is a good starting place.  Most of us can do almost anything for a short period of time.  We can all ‘be on our best behavior’ like when we were kids and we were going to church, or someone important was coming over.  And we can only do that for so long… then we revert to who we really are. 

So we are looking for the workers who are consistent.  The ones who always give their best effort.  Even if their best isn’t the best of everyone you have, if it is their best, and they consistently give their best, I’ll take them.  I’ll take them over the people who can do better, and who only chose to give their best when it suits them.   Character is concerned with why we do what we do, and so the person who always gives their best does it because it’s important to them.  The person who can do better, and who only give us this level of work when it’s important to them has some other motivation… they are not motivated by doing their best, or what’s best for the team.  We cannot make anyone give their best… it’s a choice that each of us must make for ourselves.  Look for consistency, and a desire to do good work for it’s own sake.  I do not believe that character can be taught… I do think that each person is able to change his or her character, and in my experience this only comes after some very trying time, or some very negative consequence. 

Charisma:  defined as charm or compelling attractiveness, that can inspire devotion in others, or a spiritual power or personal quality that gives individuals influence or authority over others.  Charisma can be hard to describe in terms of actions, and I believe that we can find it in our team members.  Charisma shows itself as expressing our feelings spontaneously and genuinely, which can allow Charismatic people to affect the moods and emotions of others.  They also show empathy, reading the emotional states of others, and connecting to them through those feelings.  They are able to make others feel as if they are the only people in the room!

Charismatic people are emotionally intelligent, and in social situations they are expressive, sensitive, and are able to carry themselves with poise and grace.

On our teams, these people will show themselves as the natural Leaders in most situations.  Other team members will look to these people for guidance when the team gets together.  Other team members will refer to ‘charismatic’ ones as the heart, or soul of the team.

Communication:  defined as the ability to convey information effectively and efficiently.  And, we all know that someone skilled in communication does much more than that.  Good interpersonal communication involves appropriate eye contact, reading body language, and using tone of voice, as well as hand gestures to convey not only the simple message, but also the emotional tone of the message.

People who have this quality will often take the opportunity to say something like “what I think Joan is trying to say is…” and then they will put the thoughts and emotional message that Joan was unable to convey into easily understood words and gestures.  I know you have one of these people on your team.  These are the people I always wish I had whispering in my ear when I am trying to ‘lead up’.  Almost without exception, I leave that conversation saying to myself “oh… I should have said this, or that…”.  These are the people you want by your side when attempting to change the culture of your team in a whole team meeting!

Commitment:  defined as working very hard towards, or being dedicated to, a pledge, promise, or obligation.   In the real world, we see commitment in those team members who work harder to be sure to get the job done on time; who ask to stay late to finish a task; who jump in to help others for the benefit of the whole team; and who are can be counted on to be there when needed.

These are the people who will stand up to their coworkers, perhaps able to rally others to get the job done.  These are your team members who are not easily discouraged, who will stay late, come in early, learn from their mistakes, and can work as a team player when needed.  You can probably think of at least one or two of your team members who fit this description. 

Competence:  defined as well qualified; able to do things quickly and efficiently; effective in a job.   In real life, competence is much more than qualifications.  Often we look at the way a team member sees his or her work.  How they see the job; what the work means to them; and how they feel about the desired results will better define someone who shows competence.  We are looking for workers who try to figure things out on their own before asking for help.  These people at least attempt to solve their own problems, and at the same time know when to ask for help.  These people are able to remember instructions (I think because they care about the job), lists of things to be done, and things to check.  They do not have to be told over and over.  They can also take lessons learned on one task and use those lessons when working on another task.

You are looking for team members who take their work seriously, and do more than shrug off mistakes.  They care about their job, and the quality of their work.  They are generally confident in themselves and their abilities, AND they have an accurate picture of their abilities… they are not overconfident, nor do they boast.  They are adaptable, and you will see this when plans change, or problems come up.  They are able to move forward and keep working towards the goal. 

Courage:  defined as the ability to do something that is dangerous or difficult, able to face danger.  In our workplace, we look for team members who are willing to ask questions… yes… this takes courage.  We want team members who will correct other team members when they don’t follow rules, are in some way endangering others, or just not working towards the team goals. 

Giving trust is a courageous thing to do, so we look for team members who are trusting of others.  It also takes courage to listen to feedback from others, and hear it without defensiveness.  Do you have any team members like this?  The ability to give honest feedback, to say what needs to be said takes courage.  And it takes courage to give credit, instead of taking it for oneself.

Discernment:   defined as the ability to see things clearly and intelligently, the ability to decide between truth and error, or right and wrong, judgment.  How do we see this in our team members?  Discernment begins with knowing our capabilities and ourselves.  Then, we can judge what we can do well alone, and when we need to ask for help.  You are looking for team members who ask for help when it’s appropriate; and not when they just don’t want to work alone, or don’t want to figure it out for themselves. 

Team members who show discernment will be the ones making good judgment calls.  They will be able to prioritize, and know that ‘first things first’ is best.  You will think these people are good at reading between the lines to figure out what is really going on.

OK… three pages are enough for today.   We’ll pick this up tomorrow.

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Developing Your Future Leaders Part 4... How to Spot Leadership Qualities in Your Team Members

How to Spot Leadership Qualities in Your Team Members        

We’ve talked a lot about what to do when we see Leadership potential in our team members, however I don’t know that we’ve really spent any time on just how to spot that potential… or what exactly we are looking for.  So…

In The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader he listed many of the qualities we will be looking for.  We talked all about them here.  I also talked about his The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player: Becoming the Kind of Person Every Team Wants .  If you haven’t read either book, you should, as he gives a much better description of each, as well as examples to make each one understandable to most anyone.

You’ll remember that when hiring, we are looking for how our applicant sees himself or herself, the world, and how they fit into their world.  We are not very worried about skills or qualifications when we are hiring for hourly jobs.  If you need specific skills, qualifications, or certifications for your job, use that list to weed out the applicants without the needed skills, and then use the method described starting here.  You still need to hire people based on how they see the world if you are going to build a high functioning team.

Hiring in this manner has a second benefit, in that it helps us identify Leadership qualities in our applicants.  Those qualities may be something that our applicant is aware of and trying to develop, or they may be lying dormant, waiting to be recognized.  So let’s talk about exactly what that means…

Whether we are interviewing an applicant, or developing relationships with current team members, we are asking the same types of questions.  If we have specific skills or qualifications that we need, we have already weeded out those without them.  So we are only asking questions that allow us to assess how this person sees themselves and the world.  Do they posses the qualities of a Leader?

Let’s use “trust” as an example.  Can you train someone to trust?  Do you think that you can find someone who does not instinctively trust others, and find a way to get them to start extending trust?  You cannot!  None of us can do that.  And yet trust is perhaps the most powerful influencer there is.  You cannot name one successful Leader who has not been able to extend trust.  We simply cannot do anything alone… we must trust others if we are to achieve our goals.

You can take almost any team member you have, and start building a relationship with them.  Get to know them, show them that you are human by sharing your faults and mistakes.  Find out about their lives, and what goals they have for themselves.  Over the course of these conversations you will build a relationship, which will gain you some level of influence over your team member.  If you then actively help them achieve their goals, so that they really understand that you care about them, you will achieve a higher level of influence.  If however, at the very beginning, you state that you care about them, value them, are happy to have them on the team, and extend trust, you will gain so much more influence almost immediately. 

You can extend trust by allowing them the freedom to decide how to achieve the results you desire; by giving them responsibility for ordering something; or by asking them to be responsible for some other task.  You are responsible for providing them with the tools and training needed.  You can, and should follow up to be sure that they are achieving the desired outcome, and you should be there to help them when they need help. 

Our job as Leaders is to gain influence over others in order to achieve the team goals.  There is no quicker way to gain influence, or a stronger bond than by extending trust.  And we cannot train someone to trust.  Either it is there, inside them, or it is not.  They can develop that quality if they choose, and it is no easy task.

As we talked about in the hiring series, we need to understand that it’s pretty normal for applicants to think they should tell us what we want to hear.  However that doesn’t do either of us any good at all.  If we fail to see that this is what they are doing, we will end up putting them into a role under false pretenses, and where they are likely to fail.  Not a good outcome for anyone.  So… it’s up to us to spend some time getting the applicant or team member relaxed and comfortable.  You are the Leader, so this is up to you.  You are in charge of speaking in a manner that will allow the person you are communicating with to let go of any ‘script’ or prepared thoughts, and just talk to you honestly.

As I’ve stated before, there is absolutely no need for any of this to be adversarial.  You should not be showing anyone who is boss, or exerting your authority.  Speak to them as if you just met them at a family picnic, and you are interested in getting to know all about them.  We need them to talk to us honestly and openly.  We can use our own faults and mistakes to show our humanity, and help them to talk about their own.  We aren’t necessarily looking for their faults… we all have plenty of them.  We are looking for actions, and attitudes that describe qualities.  That might be a little confusing…

This time, let’s use self-responsible as an example of a quality we are looking for.  We can probably agree that this is a quality we find in most every Leader, right?!  OK, so we will look for this quality in our team members.  So how would we define ‘self-responsible’?  We might state that self-responsibility is acknowledging that you, through your thinking, feeling, and behaving, are in control of how you experience life.   That’s fine, and how would you tell a team member how they might act, if they wanted to show that they were self-responsible?  That first definition doesn’t work anymore, does it?

Now we have to come up with some actions that show ‘self-responsibility’, so we can look for them.  Literally, self-responsible means not blaming other people or circumstances for anything.  So when we have team members who accept, or better yet, volunteer responsibility when something goes sideways, we are witnessing self-responsibility.  We also look for people who reach out to others to build relationships… they take responsibility for those relationships.  We see it when people accept responsibility for their feelings.  We see it when people ask for help when they need it, and before they get in too deep.  My own personal take will also add people who fully accept a job, role, or task as if they owned the company.  Those people will do their best without having to be told to; they will find new, more efficient ways to get things done; they will ask if they can change how things are done to save money or time; and they will keep you in the loop, because they are responsible for your relationship.

Does that make more sense?  Those are the actions we are looking for when we talk to our applicants and team members. For each quality, we look for actions that describe that quality.  

I don’t think it’s rocket science, and it does take some practice.  Most of us have been trained to look for skills and qualifications, and it can be tough to stop doing what we’ve been doing for so long.  And yet these qualities are the only things that are of any real importance.  So… with practice, we can look for, and see the actions, and the traits that show the beginnings of Leadership in each of our team members.

Next time we can look at qualities other than self-responsibility, and see if we can come up with some actions or traits for each of them. 

Oh… and if you like my blog, please ‘like’ my Facebook page.  The button is just up there at the top right.  I dare you to click it!  

The One Thing That Successful Leaders Do

I'm reposting this article by Tanveer Naseer because I almost always agree with his thoughts.  He speaks about Leadership qualities in a way that is easily understood, and he believes the same things that I believe, and have been talking about here.  Enjoy!

The One Thing That Successful Leaders Do