I was recently facilitating a workshop about, The 8 Dimensions of Leadership, to a group of Human Resource Professionals. We were talking about, “Becoming a Multidimensional Leader,” focused on three major themes:
1) The personality of the leader (that is, who you are as a person) is as critical part of the dialog about “what makes a good leader.”
2) Good leaders understand that being an effective leader requires integrating knowledge with a real understanding of emotional, psychological, and interpersonal “default settings” and “blind spots.”
3) Leaders who are rated highly effective by their teams are “multidimensional.” They have learned to be highly flexible in responding to the wide array of demands required by their organization. They can move outside their comfort zone and overcome the psychological barriers that keep some leaders from acting.
In essence, effective leaders are people who have a certain level of self-awareness and use that to more effectively respond or help others respond to challenges.
After introducing these themes, a hand shot up from the audience: “Defined that way, we are talking about leaders at every level of the organization – Right?” “Exactly,” I responded. But not everyone in the audience agreed. Some saw “leadership” as the work done by only group of people at the top of the organization.
The truth is that the definition of “who” is a leader has changed dramatically over the past 10 years. There has been a shift from highly hieratical organizations, which seem to create internal silos and limited collaboration and innovation, to flatter more collaborative structures. As Bill George, former CEO of Medtronic and current Harvard Business School professor writes, “The shift to collaborative organizations with flat structures is causing a reassessment of the ways that organizations develop leaders… Rather than just a few stars, organizations will need many talented leaders operating throughout the organization.”
Regardless of the method or the model, successful leadership depends, as George puts it, on “authenticity and how well-grounded leaders are.” That applies whether you are leading a global organization or a small team.
In your experience, what does successful leadership look like? Discuss in the comments!