Theme 17: What does confident leadership look like and why is it an important characteristic?

What does confident leadership look like and why is it an important characteristic?

Confidence grows confidence right?

If you think about leaders you admire, it is more than likely their confident delivery of key messages is one of the dimensions of their leadership that appeals most and makes you feel connected.

Even if you don’t necessarily agree with the pathway, idea or direction – if the message is delivered in a confident manner, it is more likely teams will listen, consider and attach themselves to the strategy.

Confident leadership, powerful delivery followed by actions can positively influence people and outcomes, especially when there are tough decisions to make.

I recently observed a good friend demonstrating confident leadership by making a decision to not participate in or be part of an event that would have involved his entire team. He believed doing so would eventually have a negative impact so he made a tough call to pull him and his team out.

This decision could easily have driven a wedge between him and his team however because he has done his research, had thought through all the implications and delivered his rationale confidently (his WHY), his team accepted and embraced his decision. He helped them believe and understand it was about their welfare – a compelling message.

Leading confidently requires great courage and there will times that we will be ‘knocked off our perch’ when issues and challenges occur. We, therefore, need to develop a toolkit of strategies. Here are 5 approaches I have used in the past.

1. Making sure I lead according to my values. Do you have values that you live and lead by?

2. Being planned and prepared. This demonstrates you take your role seriously.

3. Using positive affirmations as an approach to develop a confident mindset especially when leadership is challenging.

4. Being decisive. This means sticking to what you say and do and not changing your mind unless there is a clear WHY.

5. Thinking about your demeanour and appearance. Great leaders take pride in how they come across.

sean bailey managing director – company owner m +64 21 059 8305  e sean@empoweryounz.co.nz   christchurch new zealand  w empoweryounz.blogspot.com

“Helping organisations thrive, by enabling and empowering leaders”

Theme 16: We Are Creatures Of Habit!

Since leaving my position as a school principal I’ve had time to reflect on the habits I had as a leader, especially the ones that I would change if I went back into a similar role! It’s also been refreshing to look at the landscape outside of education and observe habits demonstrated by leaders in other organisations. Habits are important when leading however they need a purpose or there is a risk they will start impacting on you or the organisation you are leading in a negative way. The purpose of this article is to outline some habits to avoid based on my past experience.

 
Practice what you preach
Managing the health and welfare of your team is a critical dimension to any leadership role. We spend time checking in with our people, helping them to navigate tricky situations that life and work can throw at you from time to time, ensuring they maintain a healthy work/life balance, ensuring they take a break from work and use their leave however we often do not apply the same rigour to managing ourselves or seeking support. One pressure I constantly placed on myself to my detriment was that feeling I had to be at work at a certain time every day, that I had to work across the weekend to catch up. These were not healthy productive habits and the reality was, having quality breaks and allowing myself to approach my day differently at times would have added value to my output and my energy levels. So .... have a think about what patterns or habits you have and try and identify which ones are productive and which ones aren’t.

The first to speak
Leaders can get into the habit of responding quickly especially during conversations and discussions. The wisest leaders I have worked alongside over the years have often been the best listeners and often the last to comment during conversations and discussions. They take their time to speak and listen intently to what their employees or colleagues are saying before providing their thoughts and comments. You are not going to lose any credibility in your organisation by not being the first to speak!
 
The need to demonstrate you are a subject matter expert
It is impossible to presume that a leader should know everything within an organisation. Leaders don’t know everything but they instead surround themselves with great people who can bring their expertise in and advise. It can also place a great deal of unnecessary pressure on leaders who try to be subject matter experts about everything, a trap many new leaders fall into as they navigate through establishing credibility in their role and within their team and even sometimes to colleagues. I learnt very early on in my career that surrounding myself with a great team and an understanding that leaders don’t always have all the answers, created a work environment where we could all contribute and learn from each other.
 
Favouritism
As leaders there are always going to be members of our team that we connect with better than others - that’s human nature. However one of our responsibilities is to ensure the culture within our organisation focuses on equality. This means we need to treat every employee the same and there is no favouritism. This often comes down to habits such as the time you speak to some people rather than others. These are things you will be judged on and remembered by. 
 
Stopping for breaks
One of the major regrets from my previous role was working through breaks. Sometimes this was a necessity, but it quickly became a habit and on reflection what I did, was miss a great opportunity to connect less formally with my team and my wider organisation. Catching up over a break is a wonderful way to check in with your people and engage on a more personal level. You demonstrate a true interest in them as a person and not simply an employee. You may learn something about them you didn’t know or you may learn something about yourself or what’s happening in your organisation through 'chat'. Getting into the habit of not taking breaks is also not demonstrating the importance of downtime and your people may start copying what you do! Breaks of course also ensure you get time to eat to rejuvenate your energy levels. Eating your lunch at 4pm is not OK!
 
After reading this article hopefully, you will be inspired to review some of your daily habits and identify ways you can enrich your own working experience and those of the people around you. Small symbols and actions can have far-reaching outcomes and remember, changing habits takes commitment and hard work, however, it’s certainly worth it.
 
As Steven Covey reminds us: 

“If we keep doing what we’re doing, we’re going to keep getting what we’re getting”

sean bailey managing director – company owner m +64 21 059 8305  e sean@empoweryounz.co.nz   christchurch new zealand  w empoweryounz.blogspot.com

“Helping organisations thrive, by enabling and empowering leaders”