What Type of Leader Do You Want to Be?
Defining the Type of Leader You Are
As our businesses adjust to the global pandemic, this period has been understandably stressful. New protocols, measures and considerations have been required to ensure a safe and gradual reopening of the economy. We have had to recalibrate the way we work and live. Organizational climates have changed significantly. By that I mean the work environment experienced by an employee, where they work (from in-person to virtual, to hybrid models) and how they feel about work. Leading from a core set of principals is quite different from leading from a place of self-preservation. A leader who is driving progress and innovation, ensures fairness, and creates opportunities for all can be a real motivator for staff. Doing the right things for employees first and foremost, mentoring and supporting as required and paying positivity forward helps equate to team results.
Effective Type of Leader
We have all had experiences in our career where we have worked with an effective and enthusiastic leader, and the opposite side of the spectrum a reactive and rushed leader. It is important to note that we can also move from being one to another if we do not remain mindful of how we are connecting with people and managing our stress levels. COVID has been a real test for many leaders, how are you fairing?
Remaining Diligent
We need to remain diligent in checking in and identifying our behaviour and energy levels. We will be more intentional in having a substantially increased number of good days in comparison to bad if we do so. At the end of the day it is really quite simple, do you want to feel energized and enthusiastic in your position, or exhausted and frustrated by the little you have accomplished? Without adjustment of our attitude and behaviour, our days can slide into weeks, months and easily years of being a certain type of leader.
Which column do you more resonate with today?
| Dissatisfied and Burnt Out | Motivated and Focused |
| I feel like I have to be on 24/7. | I have a good sense of purpose and know that I am having an impact. |
| I have too much to do, in too little time. | I am focused on goal attainment and result achievement. |
| I can’t focus on the long-term vision as the daily grind takes up all my energy. | I enjoy and am satisfied with the work that I am doing. |
| I am so busy and tired; I don’t have the energy to motivate my team. I need them to see what I am doing, step up, show more interest and take on more. | I have great collegial connection and synergy with those in the team – real flow. |
| I don’t have the time or resources to work on my own professional development. Seriously, professional development is not even on my radar. | I am passionate about continually developing both professionally and personally. I am driven and am ambitious to do better and be better. |
I am the first to admit that there can be a fine line between being highly engaged and a continuous producer of exceptional results, to being burnt-out. I can think of one of my leadership roles that I derived great satisfaction in for an extended period of time. I attained consistent results, had a brilliant team of dedicated and motivated staff that I enjoyed working with, was happy to take on more and more responsibility, and never said no to an innovative project. However, a change occurred at the executive level that impacted the culture of the unit. Values were no longer aligned, nor was there appreciation, trust or recognition of efforts. The day-to-day sacrifices, expectation of working 12+ hour days and being on call 24/7 was understandably not worth the personal and professional sacrifices. This resulted in a stalled career, inability to grow as I would not promote the flawed culture to my team and stakeholders, in addition to a negative impact on my health. The ripple effect of this experience cascaded through my team and directly onto my family. When you are not operating at your optimal leadership and performance level it can ultimately affect all aspects of your professional and personal life. My best learning experience on how ‘NOT’ to lead, and one that ultimately changed my professional trajectory from that period onward.
When there is the ability to continually develop, grow and stretch into new opportunities, a direct result can be found in greater job satisfaction, engagement and bottom-line results for all levels in an organization.
Questions for you to ponder:
- Are you doing your best work? Does it have meaning, impact and is it making a difference?
- What type of leader are you being?
- Are your professional practices, or routines working for or against you?
- How can you raise your game on the professional and personal front?
- What can you be doing to help raise the game of others around you?
- Do you lead from a position of trust and support, or stress and ego?
In my leadership and development consultancy I work with leaders and teams locally and globally to improve their ability to drive business performance and increase productivity. I focus on helping and equipping clients with skills and tactics to enable them to become a better type of leader and achieve their professional, and personal best. I help individuals to move from feeling dissatisfied and burnt out to motivated, energized and focused.
Contact Me
If this article has resonated with you and you would like to move from being dissatisfied and burnt out, to motivated and focused please reach out to askme@jennyreilly.com
Make this week a great one.
