Premise
There are three things that we need to continue to work and improve as leaders, in order to continue to be an effective leader. These are fundamental in our evolution as a leader and true irrespective of where in the leadership ladder you are at.
Believe
What we believe have a significant impact on how and what we think is possible. The belief systems are usually sub-conscious in nature and most leaders are not aware of their own beliefs and how they affect our thinking and actions.
As leaders we need to learn how to make that which is invisible visible. We can do this by reflecting on our actions and thoughts and question why we thought and / or behaved in a specific way or responded to something in a particular way.
This intentional observation of our beliefs leads us to understand our strengths, weaknesses, potential biases and remove blindspots. Once we understand ourselves better, we have the ability to shift/change our what we believe in, of and believe about.
Beliefs are like an operating system of a computer. They enforce the limits and frames within which the computer can perform. So, we need to be intentional about the kinds of beliefs we want based on what we want to achieve.
Think
Once we are able to be intentional about what we believe in, we need to work on our ability to think better. While this is something that all of us engage in every moment of our lives, not all of us are taught how to think well in our formal education system.
If we want to do well as a leader, we need to develop our ability to move between abstract and practical thinking, between logical and creative thinking, between thinking with emotions and trusting our instincts, between thinking as individuals and as a group and making sense of whatever we observe and think.
We need to be able to think from not only our perspective but also take the perspectives of others. We need to develop our imagination and think from our imagination. We need to develop our ability to be curious. We need to develop our ability to ask deeper and more meaningful questions, that allows others to think deeply.
The ability to know when is it a time to ask questions and when is it time to give instructions. The ability to weigh different options and to know when is it ok to make decisions with incomplete data and when to wait for more data.
Act
All our beliefs and thinking is for us to enable us to act or maybe not, we just need to be intentional about it. When we are intentional about not acting on something is also an action that we are taking.
This is probably the one skill that everyone that we lead and who lead us will see and be able to judge us on. So, it is important for us to get really good at this.
This skill is all about how we are able to leverage our belief systems and sense making ability (thinking) and convert it into clearly defined action items, either for ourselves that we act on or for our teams, in which case, clearly articulate what we want them to do, why and show up as a leader based on how best we can add value.
This requires us to know what we are capable of. This is also about know how to work with and within constraints – sometimes real or made up. This also requires us to have the ability to get people to take action based on our decisions, which is what fundamentally leaders are expected to do.
This requires us to know how to create governance structures, know when is it a good time to turn something into a project and whom to staff in the project and when is it a good time to just do it.
We need to know how to design and run practical experiments, which then informs us about the next set of actions. The higher we are in the leadership hierarchy, the more we need to get very good at creating institutional structures, with checks and balances, while at the same time allowing enough freedom for your teams to bring their own strengths to play.
Conclusion
We will always find that we are drawn towards one of these three skills as we are naturally good at. However, if we really want to become leaders worth following, we need to be intentional about developing the other two skills and strive to maintain a balance in bringing all these three skills to play according to what the situation requires.
