ExtraOrdinary Times – ExtraOrdinary People
I recently attended a seminar on personal development which got me thinking about the phrase “ExtraOrdinary”. We hear it mentioned so many times in the market place and in the media; “these are extraordinary times!”
And indeed they are, and they need extraordinary people to step up and take the reins. So who are these extraordinary people? We believe they all have a few common shared characteristics which we have incorporated into all our new programmes. Below is a quick summary:
Energy: Extraordinary people have loads of energy and as such they are infectious to be around.
Positive: For them the glass is always half full. Where others see difficulty they see opportunity. They understand that adversity makes you stronger.
Futurists: Vision is such a core component of leadership and yet is still remains the most under used tool of the self leader. Visions are not the sole responsibility of the board room, but are a key component for us all. Extraordinary people look to the future and set themselves powerful, scary goals.
State Management: Extraordinary people spend time developing their emotional intelligence allowing them to access their best, more of the time.
Authentic: People who excel tend to have a strong vein of authenticity running through all their actions. You know where you stand with them, there is no role playing going on and they are thus able to communicate in a powerful, authentic manner.
Personal Development: “Leaders are readers” is a phrase from the past but still tends the test of time. Extraordinary people are constantly looking at ways in which they can “sharpen the saw” (to quote Covey). They understand the need for constant improvement in all they do.
This list is obviously not exhaustive, but it is the basis of an exciting nesw programme Votive Leadership is developing, simply entitled ….
ExtraOrdinary
Authenticity: Why should I be led by you?
This is a much talked about facet of Leadership Development, however when you look at the vast array of development programmes which exist out in the market place, you will find very few that focus on authenticity. The reason is that it does not conform with the standard competency based approach to leadership development; develop your areas of weakness and hey presto you have a good leader! No.
Of course the opposite is true. Develop an individual’s weakness you end up with a demotivated average employee with nothing to distinguish them to potential followers.
Employee Engagement: The Challenge of Today
Employee engagement is something we hear a lot of at the moment from Human Resources directors. Companies are continually looking for ways to engage their employees and to achieve higher scores in employee satisfaction surveys.
At Votive Leadership we believe that engagement is part of each of us learning how to Self-Lead. Self-leadership is something that we believe is a key element of a happy and successful work life and yet is a topic that is rarely taught. From our experience of working in many different organisations, in different sectors, we find many unhappy, disgruntled, disengaged, disenfranchised employees. These tend to be those who are not yet in leadership positions – the “followers” in an organisation; those who are carrying out immensely valuable pieces of work for their organisation.
During October and November 2007, we ran a series of self-leadership programmes for the operations/clerical function of a FTSE top 100 financial institution. Up to 15 people per time were invited to a 3-hour session and overall we worked with around 200 people. Comments that we heard at the start of each of these sessions are typical of those we hear in many organisations:
“We’re just a number these days”
“Management only care about costs”
“It never used to be like this”
“We’re understaffed”
An Exploration of Followership
Over the years there has been much talk about “leadership”, and indeed LySB is a good example of the highlighted status this topic receives. However there has been much less talk about the important topic of “Followership”. Leaders need followers and followers can behave in a variety of differing ways, some more effective than others. Their behaviour in turn is usually a combination of the consequence of the culture generated by the leader and the capability and capacity of the individual follower. But all have their roots in Leadership.
Leadership is apparent at different levels within an organisation, but key to the release of potential is the effectiveness of “Personal Leadership”. This is ensuring that you as an individual are able to self lead in a variety of situations. For example, consider you’re coming in to work and you discover that a report you have asked for has not been completed. Although there is a huge temptation in letting the individual know, in no uncertain terms how you are feeling about their lack of respect, would this be the most effective way of dealing with the situation? Successfully coaching the individual (raising their awareness and creating ownership) may generate a better response from them, especially over the longer term. In order to do this you have to keep very tight control over your own emotions and choose your response carefully; self lead. Another example may be you find yourself in the canteen having lunch when a colleague sits with you and begins to complain bitterly about the process found within the company. The easy approach is to join in the moaning and get a few of your own complaints off your chest. Of course this may not be the most resourceful thing to do. The resourceful response needs self leadership.
This article aims to briefly explain the five different categories of “Followership” and to highlight some of the core traits found therein. Read the full post
