4 Thoughts for Effective and Strategic Leadership (Blog Series)

About This Blog Series

Self-help lists are popular in the information age. The shelves of our local big box book stores and the content of most social media sites are filled with advice lists to improve our business success, productivity, social lives, athletic skills, and our health. Lists with advice for leaders are common too, and though they are often personal opinions based on diverse experiences, they can provide some common denominators useful in increasing the capacity of leadership in any organization. Having recently served as a strategic coach and mentor to a senior government leader program, I provided my students with a list of eight things to consider as they lead their teams. This list assumes a knowledge of fundamental leadership traits and skills and focuses on more senior leaders, however there is value here for leaders at every level of responsibility:

1. Building personal relationships early across domains outside of your own profession establishes the trust and confidence that can resolve the strategic problems of the future.

We like to stay within our own cultures and stovepipe, functional areas because we are comfortable in sharing similar values and have confidence in our familiar leadership skills. But today’s complex world presents transnational and trans-cultural problems that must be resolved through partnering with many other professions and organizations. Building personal relationships – one leader to another – early, and sustaining those relationships will pay off in times of crisis or conflict when trust matters. For example, on today’s complex battlefields military leaders are most successful when they synchronize with other organizations across the government, with international militaries, and occasionally with the non-governmental sector (e.g. the International Red Cross) that can contribute to mission success. Getting to know other leaders now through shared education and training experiences can help both accomplish a tactical mission and achieve strategic level success in the future. The creation of trust through building relationships truly matters to a successful senior leader.

2. Use the power of collective wisdom; it is a strategic enabler and reinforces the humility essential for a respected, successful leader.

No single leader is brilliant enough to solve every challenge an organization faces. Listening to and including the “wisdom of the crowd” is powerful. You are likely to have many talented, critical thinkers in your organizations. They want to move your organization forward in support of your vision, and share in its success. Listening to their insights and recommendations is essential to any team’s success. The best leaders take into account their staffs’ innovative approach to problem solving, support them, include them in mission planning and execution, and recognize them for their sound input. The organization will gain the benefit of a sum that is greater than its parts. You will also be developing the future leaders of your team as you respect and reward the competence of your subordinates.

3. Lead by walking around and listening to your team, control your calendar; get away from your email and your office every day.

Electronic mail and sophisticated informational technology systems have made it simple for us to remain comfortable in pleasant office spaces directing our organizations. We may think that we are be doing well because the calendar of appointments is full. The reality is that good leaders must lead by presence, by connecting with their teams. The German language has an expression for this: it is “Fingerspitzengefuhl”, the tactile sense of how something is going when you walk into a room and make an instinctive assessment. You do this as a leader by getting out on a regular basis to every domain for which you have responsibility. You listen, take notes, act on those areas which need improvement and promote those who are taking the initiative to improve the organization. It is easy to let your calendar be filled up with multiple meetings; many do not serve a useful purpose and can waste your time and those of all required to attend. Take a hard look at your schedule and cut back on non-essential gatherings that may be there because of “tradition’.  Ask what purpose they truly serve? Are they mandated by a higher organization? Is there another way to accomplish the requirement? Finally, do not play whack a mole with email. Unopened email that is clearly a lower level priority is fine. Do not let email distract you from the organizational goals you have set. Instead, concentrate your time and energy and move around to best lead your team.

4. A commitment to lifelong learning is fundamental to a professional. Your range should be broad: economics, history, future studies, demographics, cyber, climate change, mega-cities, cutting edge technology, and all aspects of the human dimension.

Successful leaders always keep learning. They must. The rate of change in all professions today is very high. It is exemplified by the range of topics above, by calculations like Moore’s law and the increasing percentage of all information which is un-grouped big data. To make send of this kind of massive, continuous change requires continuous education from leaders. Military leaders are professionally committed to a highly structured program of leadership development whose baseline is a diverse approach to education. That focus is foremost about the requirements of the profession, but it takes into account a wide range of other subject matter. The military must understand many domains in the 21st Century to succeed in this interdependent global landscape. Becoming a subject matter expert in your own functional area or vocation is fundamental. With increasing responsibility as a leader you must be able to navigate through many domains of knowledge. The payoff will be the learned insight that can avert a future crisis or allow you to seize an opportunity for growth or innovation. Your example of commitment to education and training will be noted by all who work with you. They will follow that lead, and in doing so, strengthen the organization.

Comments are closed.