Just as a contractor understands the importance of the foundation of the house, leadership also needs to have a solid foundation. A leadership is made up of key foundational elements and regardless of you being an existing or an aspiring leader, there are things you can do to work on your foundation.
Approximate Time Stamps
Key Foundational Elements: 1:42
Considerations for Existing Leaders: 14:10
Considerations for Aspiring Leaders: 20:42
Key Take Aways
Foundational elements
Know yourself
Understand or learn what it means to lead
Have the right motives
Willingness to Continually Learn
Be willing to adapt
Have the right attitude
For Existing Leaders
Self assessment
Ask for feedback
Build a plan
Get assistance as needed
For Aspiring Leaders
What are your motives for wanting to lead?
Talk to leaders about what it means to lead
Does leadership align with your personal/life priorities and goals?
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Other Launch Episodes
Leaders Lift
The State of Leadership Today
Bonus - What's Coming Up and Expectations
Transcripts
00:00 - Intro
Just like building a house, it all start with the foundation. And if you have or do listen to the launch episode on The State of Leadership, I think you will see why having a solid leadership foundation is so critical.
There are some aspects of leadership that can just be part of who a person is. I know people that naturally had some of the core aspects of leadership. Some of them had a desire to develop those natural talents. Others wanted to exploit them. I have also seen others that were willing to pay the price to become outstanding leaders.
I bring this up to illustrate that skill or talent are not the first thing you need to become a leader. I'd like to spend the next while discussing some of the things I think you need, even before you work on the skills.
01:42 - Key Foundational Elements
Life Lessons
Have learned some key lessons in life such as:
Learned to work hard
Learned what it means to do the right thing
Learn how to stand alone if necessary
Learned to deal with entitlement
Yours
Others
Learned how to set and achieve goals
Learned to agree to disagree
Learned how to work with others
Must Know Yourself
Do you really like to lead
What parts of leadership do you like
What parts of leadership do you not like
What are your strengths
What are your weaknesses
Personality Style
Communication Style
What do you really want to accomplish in life
Understand or learn what it means to lead
That is one of the goals of this podcast
Understand the right motives to lead and know that they need to be prioritized over any personal reasons for wanting to lead
Be part of a team
Make a difference
Be a multiplier
Help others meet their potential and achieve their goals
Lift
Serve
These are just a few
Willingness to Continually Learn
Curiosity
Reader
Take risks and make things your own (vs. just trying to replicate what someone else does)
Be willing to adapt
Have the right attitude
ations for Existing Leaders -:
Honestly assess yourselves
Life Leadership
What lessons have you learned
How can you leverage those lessons
What lessons do you have yet to learn
How do you mitigate your weaknesses.
How well do you know yourself
What is your real motivation for wanting to led
Are you willing to learn
How much learning do you do and how often
Are you willing to change
Ask for honest feedback from those that will provide it
Make an action plan and start following through on it
Include plans to mitigate your weaknesses or blindspots:
Learning
Through those on your team
If you want some outside assistance with this, reach out through our website and let's see how we can work together.
To Improve, Consider the Following Key Principles
Willingness to change
Ability to listen to feedback and not dismiss it
Honesty about yourself
ations for Aspiring Leaders -:
What are your motives for wanting to lead?
Higher motives
Practical motives
Personal motives
Write them down and prioritize them
Talk to leaders about what it means to lead
Identify things that sound good
Identify things that don't sound good
Does leadership align with your personal/life priorities and goals?
Leading is a sacrifice
Time
Mental energy
Other priorities
Where are you at today?
Personality assessment
Strengths and Weaknesses Assessment
Communication style
If you want to work on any of these and don't know where to start, stay tuned for future episodes or reach out via my website www.mtneboconsulting.com and we can work together on some of these things.
Actions for Aspiring Leaders
Build a Plan
Deliberate pathway
Mitigate weaknesses
Develop strengths
Identify first leadership step
Lead as an IC
Manage a team or group
Ongoing Learning
Develop management toolkit
Key Principles to Remember as You Get Started on This Journey
Patience - don't try and take on too much too fast
Have to work at it. Good things will rarely just happen.
You will make mistakes so be ready to apologize when you do
There is no room for pride when it comes to leadership
Wrap Up
Thanks for tuning in today. I hope that the content we covered prompted you to think about where you are at in your leadership journey. If you are already in a leadership position, think about what areas you want to focus on to ensure you have a stable leadership foundation. If you are just beginning or hoping to start on your leadership journey, these are some of the key foundational pieces you can focus on now.
And as always, if you are looking for someone to partner with you, regardless of where you are on your leadership journey, I would love to help you move down the road.
