Kelvin Eikenberry
I’ve
had a front row seat to observe and work with many effective leaders
over the last 30 years. Here is one thing that is certain: the best
leaders are learners. But leadership development for the best leaders
isn’t as simple as reading the right books and taking the right courses.
The best leaders believe leadership development and self-development
are synonymous. That is what I am doing today – helping you see the
connection between leadership development and personal or
self-development.
In the book Remarkable Leadership,
I wrote that as we become a better leader we become and better human
being, and vice versa. When you understand this idea, you can no longer
see efforts to develop our leadership skills as separate from
developing ourselves in general. In other words, we can no longer
separate professional development from personal development.
Think about some of the key skills that will make you a better leader. Highly effective leaders have great …
- People skills. As a leader you can’t escape people – they
are part and parcel of your work. You can’t reach outcomes alone, only
through people, so the best leaders are able to understand, connect
with, and build trust and relationships with other people.
- Communication skills. Can you be an effective leader
without being able to communicate successfully? One of the most common
complaints about poor leaders is their inability to communicate
inter-personally and with groups.
- Influence skills. Leaders get everything done with and
through other people. It isn’t done by control, but by helping people
decide to take the needed action. Influence is required to lead at any
level.
- Change skills. The organizations we lead in and
environments in which we lead are always changing. You can’t be an
effective leader if you can’t understand the need for change – and help
others get through it too.
- Learning skills. The best leaders are learners. I know I
said this already, but it deserves more comment. Leadership is far too
complex to reach a point where we know or understand everything. The
best leaders aren’t searching for an arrival, they realize they are on a
journey. Perhaps the biggest barrier to becoming an effective leader
is the arrogance of feeling you know it all. Do you want to follow an
arrogant leader or spend time with an arrogant person?
I could make a far longer list, which might include more specific
skills and abilities, but it is hard to argue the relevance and
importance of these five skills as a starting point for all leaders. If
you continued to get better in these five areas would your leadership
effectiveness continue to grow? Look at the list again personally. If
you continued to build your skills in these areas, would you be more
successful, happy, and content person?
Given this frame of reference, there is no question that as you
develop as a leader you will gain insights and ideas, as well as
specific skills that will help you in any other endeavor in your life.
Recognizing that self-development and leadership development are the
same, gives us the chance to embrace such learning as a selfish
opportunity and not just something we “should” or “need to” learn for
work. When we see the personal benefit, we become more willing and more
excited about opportunities to learn and grow.
And everyone – the organization, the team, and you – wins.
