1to1Many leaders come about the role and title by accident. Due to good technical skills, a great work ethic, seniority, or the unexpected exit of a former leader, a new leader is promoted. Without warning, and often without support or development, the new leader goes from “one of us” to “one of them.”….and oftentimes results in poor team dynamics.

It begins with you – take control of your path. Three steps to developing yourself, becoming the leader you want to be.

Step 1: Define your leadership.

Step 2: Make friends with reality.

Step 3: Build a plan to close the gap.

Step 1: Define your leadership

This first step is the fun part. Decide who you want to be as a leader. Here are seven (7) simple questions to help you start defining your new vision:

  1. What are your top two or three values?
  2. In order to lead by your stated values what is required of you?
  3. What tough decisions might you have to make in order to set a good example?
  4. How do you handle poor performance?
  5. What do you do to manage your anger and frustration?
  6. How do you speak?
  7. How do you inspire others?

After you answer these questions on paper – You are the creator of this experience. There’s no one stopping you from developing a vision of who you want to be, how you want to be perceived, how you want to feel, and how you perform your role.

Step 2: Make friends with reality

Telling the truth is the difficult part. This step is second in the process for a reason. If you start with facing reality before you define your vision you may get discouraged. Telling yourself the truth about where you are takes courage, maturity, and a certain amount of character. As you look at what you want to create, where are in in comparison? Do you tend to allow bad behavior from your employees? Do you lose your temper? Do you make promises you can’t keep? Are you a poor planner? Now that you have completed step two, you probably have a big gap between where you are and where you want to be. In short, you have a lot of work to do.

Step 3: Build a plan to close the gap

As a leader you need to be a good planner. There’s no better way to test and train your planning abilities than to start with yourself. Your plan includes shoring up your weaknesses, developing new skills and building empowering habits. Start thinking more like an entrepreneur — hire your own coach or go to a conference.

Conclusion

It’s great when your company invests in your growth and development, but why wait or rely only on that avenue? You have choices because you are a creator. You were chosen to lead because of your character, your initiative, your work ethic or other wonderful qualities. Don’t let any company determine your worth or your ability to elevate your leadership—embrace an entrepreneurial mindset and commit to your own leadership journey. No matter how much you invest in yourself, that investment is never wasted, and always gives you a return on investment.

Expert from Smartblog on Leadership, May 2, 2016