Teamership: Distinctions and Decisions
Leaders differ by two things: the distinctions they see and the decisions they make. Photo by Jerry Kavan on Unsplash
The difference between leaders who are taking a Deliberate or Developing approach to their roles and those who are operating as Unintentional or Reluctant leaders comes down to two things, Distinctions and Decisions.
Here is how both of those elements help differentiate the leadership that your organisation will experience.
Distinctions
To be a Deliberate or Developing leader, there are a few key distinctions that need to be made. Without the clarity on what leadership is (and isn’t), what good (and bad) leadership looks like, it is very difficult to take a professional approach to leadership.
These are just some of the questions that leaders can use to get clearer on their views about leadership:
· What is leadership?
· What does a great leader do?
· How is leadership similar and different to other responsibilities in your role like management and technical expertise?
· Can leadership exist without hierarchy?
Interestingly, the answers to these questions are less important than the fact that leaders consider these questions and take a position.
Decisions
Once leaders have made some distinctions and gained some clarity on their views on leadership that include their lived experience and context, they are on their way towards an approach of Deliberate Leadership. The next part of the equation is to make some decisions.
These decisions are really just different versions of this one question:
What would you like to do about it?
A more nuanced set of examples around that theme includes questions like:
Is it important to you to be a good leader?
What are the practices that you can incorporate to improve your leadership?
Are there practices in your approach to leadership that are no longer serving you and your teams?
How can you make it easier to lead in a way that aligns to you, your team and your organisation?
What is your plan to continue to develop and grow as a leader?
Again, the answers for each of these questions will be different for every leader in your organisation. That is OK.
What we need is leaders who engage in these Distinctions and Decisions.
Distinctions to get clarity on their approach to leadership.
Decisions about how they will implement leadership within their role.
That is how they become Deliberate and Developing Leaders.
Here are a few things to consider this week:
Do you and your leaders make clear distinctions to get clarity on their approach to leadership?
Have you and your leaders made clear decisions about how they will implement leadership within their role?
Are you supporting leaders to make Distinctions and Decisions?