Build a track record of formative experiences
Developmental career experiences that shape leaders are called formative experiences. They help leaders to their skills to develop their strategic thinking skills, conquer challenges more effectively, and increase their bandwidth for handling more responsibility. The more formative experiences a leader accumulates, the greater their potential to be successful when promoted to the next level. To position yourself for leadership positions, consider taking on high-impact strategic initiatives that support your company's goals, seeking experiential learning opportunities to simulate on-the-job experience, and pursuing volunteer work to gain experience.
Learn from experience
Not every experience goes as expected. Sometimes, achieving the desired result requires time and persistence. At other times, avoiding failure may require a different approach than expected. And, there are times when you may find that your outcome is not what you expected. It is very important that leaders take the time to reflect and understand what happened and why and how to address the problem. This learning agility is the difference between a leader who learns from past mistakes and sidesteps this derailer in the future and one that finds themselves stuck in a repeating pattern. Tips are to reflect on lessons learned from each significant encounter, to do formal post-mortem reviews at the end of projects, and to take a moment to celebrate victories and successes.
Develop self-awareness
Nobody's perfect. Leaders come from all sorts of backgrounds. And chances are, there are skills, traits, behaviors, and mindsets that help you to accomplish more and situations when it is best to rely upon the instincts and abilities of others. Having a keen awareness of this moment-to-moment state, called “mindfulness”, is the ultimate state of taking in and adapting to situations in real-time enabling managers to manage themselves and others more effectively. Self-assessments at key moments are a good starting point.
Developing self-awareness is particularly challenging due to blind spots. Blind spots cause leaders to perceive themselves differently than how others see them. This is common. Being open to and requesting feedback from others are effective means of becoming more aware. In addition, a lot can be learned by being observant of how others are responding to you. Finally, consider enlisting the help of a professional coach. (Caution: Be aware of exhibiting a DJE (Defend Justify and Explain) tendency. If your response to feedback is to defend your approach as being right or make excuses for why it isn't, this won't change anyone's mind. They will simply see this as an indicator that your leadership potential is limited or constrained. Instead, relax your mind, aim to see the feedback as a gift (i.e., oftentimes people don't share what they are thinking), and then seek to fully understand the other person's perspective.)
Manage derailment risks
Acting on potential derailers is the difference between making progress and taking steps back. The right approach for managing derailers depends on what they are and when they occur. An example of a potential derailer for some leaders is unconscious bias. These biases influence a manager's judgment and, if unchecked, biases can lead to them unknowingly treating people unfairly. As suggested in my Video: 5 Ways to Combat Unconscious Bias as an example, multiple steps can be taken. The remedy may come from knowing what your triggers are and deciding in advance what you will do if that stimulus exists.
Aptitude for logic and reasoning
Being an effective leader often requires that you are highly skilled at dealing with ambiguity. Critically looking at situations and creating robust solutions that will survive scrutiny, the complexities of reality, and competing priorities are necessary for moving the company forward. Having the ability to see a potential future state and then apply logic and reasoning to address the unknowns between the now and then requires advanced thinking stills. Thus, highly developed strengths in cognitive capability including conceptual thinking, strategic thinking, systems thinking, and critical thinking skills are key traits of those with high leadership potential. Top leaders routinely apply this to each situation they encounter keeping their skills sharp. Resist the urge to quickly converge to the ‘right' answer. Instead, take the time to gather insights from different perspectives before deciding on the best path forward. This can be done by interviewing others, reading, or applying brainstorming or diagramming tools, like mind mapping. A technique for applying logic and reasoning to decision-making is to aim to consider at least 3 perspectives, seek to understand what is compelling about each, decide which criteria matter most, and then choose the best path forward based on these criteria.
Leadership disposition
According to Korn Ferry, “The more an individual’s traits align with the traits that are characteristic of successful leaders, the greater the potential for future success at higher organizational levels.” The degree to which these traits are valued varies from company to company. Generally speaking, the following traits exemplify a leadership disposition:
- Seeks a bigger-picture perspective rather than the pursuit of minutiae.
- Possesses a sustained drive to accomplish their “agenda” – in other words persistently pursuing personally valued long-term goals – despite challenges and distractions – rather than solely focusing on achieving near-term goals or on goals set by others.
- Ability to be productive and effective in the face of ambiguity, i.e., situations where there are a lot of unknowns
- Willingness to step up and take charge of a situation (i.e., assertiveness)
- Steady healthy optimism and expectations of positive outcomes
To help develop your leadership presence, start by observing good and bad examples of leadership within your organization to help you to notice what your organization values and what others respond to. Set goals and then seek mentors or a coach to help you to learn how to accomplish them. Reserve time each day to consider the leadership opportunities around you and how you are or will respond to them.
Motivation to be a leader
Last but not least, taking on a leadership role is very demanding. As you will note from the above, it takes an ongoing and focused effort to develop observable leadership skills. It is a risky endeavor to take on additional responsibilities in a highly visible way. You can expect to take on the scrutiny and criticism of others who will question your decisions and be deeply impacted by actions that might have been unintentional or that you might not be aware of. And you may find that you have to occasionally be willing and able to enthusiastically support strategies that you do not entirely agree with. Leadership will demand a significant amount of your time. You may end up having to work long hours to meet aggressive schedules, make sacrifices, and change your priorities. So, it is imperative that you are driven to do the work to advance your career, that you are honest about and confident in your abilities, and that you genuinely want to make a difference.
If you feel that leadership is the right path for you, then I encourage you to make pursuing these seven competencies part of your day. I offer coaching, training events, and other learning opportunities for professionals looking to grow their leadership potential. If you feel that this is something that you might be interested in, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.
Sources cited
Korn Ferry (2015). Korn Ferry Assessment of Leadership Potential. Research guide and technical manual. https://www.kornferry.com/content/dam/kornferry/docs/article-migration/KFALP_Technical_Manual_final.pdf
Littlejohn, F., PhD. (2022, May 5). 6 Experiential Learning Activities for Workplace Success. http://felicia.premierjones.com/index.php/2022/04/15/6-experiential-learning-activities-for-workplace-success/
Mcnamee, J. (2022, October 11). How to Develop Leadership Skills in Employees: Insights and Strategies. Emeritus Online Courses. https://emeritus.org/blog/how-to-develop-leadership-skills-in-employees-insights-and-strategies/
Orr, E. (2021, May 12). Seven signposts: The unmistakable markers that identify high-potential leaders. https://www.kornferry.com/insights/this-week-in-leadership/694-seven-signposts-the-unmistakable-markers-that-identify-high-potential-leaders
PremierJonesProject of Felicia Littlejohn. (2021, September 30). Five Ways to Combat Unconscious Bias [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP6zsZ71XIQ
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