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(E6) How a personal leadership strategy will improve your impact
Episode 6 • 20th November 2023 • Leaders with impact • Lee Griffith
00:00:00 00:21:42

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If you're struggling to make the right impact in your organisation and take people with you, you may think the problem lies with others - the people around you, the context you're operating in. But how often do you look internally at how well you've created the right conditions for others to perform well?

In this episode of the 'leaders with impact' podcast I'm exploring how having a personal leadership strategy can be the difference between low and high performance. I explain why relying on an organisational strategy is not enough. I share how you can get clarity on your own strategy and the steps to take to make sure it is aligned with others.

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About leaders with impact

Want to know the secret of great leaders? In Leaders with impact we'll be exploring what makes an impactful leader; sharing stories of success and strategies that set them apart.

If you are ambitious for your organisation but are struggling to identify what you can do differently as a leader to deliver the right improvements, then hit subscribe to learn how you can get clear on your strategy, implement some self-leadership and connect with those you serve.

New episodes are released every fortnight.

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If you enjoyed the episode please leave a review on Apple podcasts (or your app of choice) and let me know what you thought on LinkedIn or instagram.

I’ll be back with the next episode in two weeks so in the meantime remember to sign up to my newsletter to get notified of new episodes, guest appearances and further insights on how to lead with impact.

Transcripts

Speaker:

If you're struggling to take people

with you and make the right impact in

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:

your organization, you may think the

problem lies with the people around you.

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:

Whether it's your board, your

staff, your stakeholders.

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Maybe you think they're not up

to the job or they're willfully

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pushing against your direction.

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You might think you don't have

the right governance processes in

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place, you need another committee or

working group that has to be set up

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in order to make the action happen.

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How often do you look internally at

how well you've set out your stall and

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created the right conditions around you

in order for others to perform well?

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I'm Lee Griffith, a communication

strategist, executive coach, and

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all around champion of leaders who

shun the old school stereotypes.

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I'm here to help you get clear on your

strategy, implement some self-leadership

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and connect with those you serve

through your communications so that

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you can deliver improved organizational

performance, engagement, and reputation.

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Sign up to my newsletter to receive

even more useful insights into

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how to be an impactful leader.

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You can also find out how I can

support your organization to better

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connect with the people it serves.

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Visit Sunday sky's dot

com to find out more.

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In this episode of the leaders of

impact podcast, I'll be exploring

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how your personal leadership strategy

can mean the difference between low

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or high performing organizations and

what you can do to get clarity in how

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you show up as an impactful leader.

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In episode one, I talked

about my SLC framework.

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The three things you need in place in

order to make great impact as a leader.

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SLC stands for strategy

self-leadership and communication.

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And you may remember me saying that

these three areas almost work like cogs,

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they're interdependent on each other.

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If any of these three out of

kilter in your leaders, you'll

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notice it in your organization.

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It's going to show up in the performance.

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In the productivity.

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In the morale and ultimately in

the reputation of that individual,

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most likely in their team, and if

they're senior enough, you're going

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to see it more widely as it infects

the culture of the organization.

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I wanted to focus today's episode

on the strategy cog, because I'm not

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talking about organizational strategy.

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I'm talking about your personal leadership

strategy and there is a difference.

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And I think it can be hard for

some leaders in organizations to

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distinguish between having a personal

strategy and an organizational one

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it's perhaps perceived as something

for like personality led businesses.

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For entrepreneurs.

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Maybe when the leader of the

organization is the organization

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-and that in and of itself can cause

issues and plays into my point that

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you do need some distinction between

an organization and its leadership.

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If you think of companies

like Joe Malone, for example.

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Simply put your organizational strategy

is the overarching vision and direction

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the organization is heading in.

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High-performing organizations are

really clear on their strategy.

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And without that anchor, an

organization's going to flounder.

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But what also sets them apart is

that leaders of high-performing

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organizations are clear on

their personal strategies too.

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Organizational and personal

success happens when leaders have

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a personal leadership strategy.

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And I want to share with you why

you might want to be giving your

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personal strategy a lot more thought

than you might've done so far,

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Let's break it down.

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What exactly is a personal

leadership strategy?

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For me, it's that thing of being

intentional about who you are as a leader

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and what you can offer an organization.

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So it's your personal values, your

vision, your objectives in the role.

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What you're going to do to achieve

those objectives and how you're

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measuring the impact that you're having.

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Now, these are all very similar

phrases that you're going to see and

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hear in organizational strategies.

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But we're not looking at the

macro, we're looking at the micro.

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So what your contribution is

to an organization, how you're

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going to show up and deliver.

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In effect, what's your style and

approach to taking people with you

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to achieve the organizational goals?

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When I talk to organizations, you can

see when a lack of personal leadership

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strategy is getting in the way.

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The staff know what the organization

is trying to achieve, but they're

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confused because they don't know

what their leaders stand for.

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They don't know what matters to them.

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What makes them tick?

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They don't perhaps have clarity on

where the team should be focused

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or what they need to prioritize.

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Basically, they don't really

understand why they should

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be doing what they're doing.

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And that can also come across as

the leaders may be lacking some

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oomph, some energy, they might

be flip-flopping on decisions.

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Being inconsistent with

what they say and do.

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And all of that has a big impact

on the self-leadership piece,

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which I'm going to cover in a bit

more detail in another episode.

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So having clarity in your

personal leadership strategy

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absolutely helps you with that

connection piece with your teams.

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It's how you build trust

and take people with you.

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Yeah, they get you your values, what

you stand for, and they're willing

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to take the actions because they

believe in you and what you stand for.

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Your strategy helps you to show

up authentically and provides

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that compass so I would say for

your actions and decision-making.

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And then more broadly, it's going to

help you stand out from others when

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you're applying for that next row.

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You're able to articulate your

vision for the organization and what

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you're going to bring that might

be different to the next person.

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And this is a really important part

because quite often, I'll talk to

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people who go well, you know, I'm a

chief exec in a sea of chief execs.

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I'm a chief operating officer in

a sea of chief operating officer.

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How do I stand apart?

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How do I stand out?

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Well, this is how.

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It's the things that distinguish you

as an individual that will make you

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stand out and make you more employable.

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And it also helps you to understand in

what types of organizations and situations

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that are going to serve you best.

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Say for example, You might be a

leader whose strategy is always to

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focus on recovery and turnaround.

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You come in and you take

short, sharp action.

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Your really interested in

working in fast pace, in seeing

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some form of recovery happen.

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Seeing big results happen quickly.

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Um, and that's how you thrive.

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That's where you get your energy from.

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And that's where, you

know, you show up best.

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Now you're not necessarily going

to be the right person to pitch

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yourself to a company that's looking

for a nurturing, maybe a culture

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building, a slow burning leader.

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Because there's a misalignment

with, with what you're interested

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in and what you bring and what

an organization's looking for.

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So by having a defined personal leadership

strategy, you are going to be better

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equipped to deal with both the challenges

your organization faces, and you can

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maximize the opportunities around you.

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Now that does sounds like some corporate

BS bump for which I'm apologize.

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But what I effectively mean is having

your own leadership strategy gives you

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greater self awareness about the type of

leader you are, and that is only going

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to be a benefit to your organization.

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So let's look at how you start

building your personal leadership

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strategy if it's something that you

haven't really considered before.

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And it might sound obvious, but

you need to start with defining

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your purpose as a leader.

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And I think this is something that

we often don't do, particularly

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if we, uh, work in a specific

industry, or if we've moved up within

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organizations through a specific area

of expertise, we, we almost fall into

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that next job and that next career.

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And we don't look at

the bigger why question.

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Now there's loads of exercises you could

do to help you with this, that you just

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a quick Google online, for example,

but you can work with people as well.

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But what you're trying to tap

into is what sparks you up inside.

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So you might find, for example, looking

at your past experience is quite helpful.

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Or maybe chatting to some friends

or colleagues about what you

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uniquely bring to a situation.

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I've done exercises where I've

got teams of people to ask

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friends, family colleagues, what

type of chocolate bar they are.

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Just because it gives a really useful

insight into the type of person they

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think they are and the connotations of

a certain brand that it brings with it.

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But when you've got these words, you

know, you start pulling out the key

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themes and things that stand out,

and maybe the stuff that ignites the

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fire in the belly, that we heard from

Sharon Carter, who's the chief exec

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of Hexagon housing in episode four.

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There'll be things that

stand out of you that you go.

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Yeah, that's me.

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Yeah, that really excites me.

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Yeah.

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I'm really good at that.

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And that can help to start

forming an understanding what

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your purpose is as a leader.

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And I think linked to knowing your purpose

is also that understanding of your values.

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So these are the things that drive your

behaviors and guide your decision-making.

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And again, there's loads of exercises

that can help you with that.

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And some of my clients, we work through

eliciting what someone's values are

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and distinguishing those that perhaps

are aspirational and those that are

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maybe more closely linked to the

way that we operate on a day-to-day

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basis, because there is a difference.

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I think it's important that we can tune

into the stuff that drives us versus

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the kind of person that we want to be.

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It's important that you have an

honest assessment of where your

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strengths are, the skills you bring.

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And that reflection on where

you might need to improve.

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And that includes a reflection on

your emotional intelligence, so

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that self-awareness in terms of what

triggers you, how you respond to others.

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And again, make sure you're

factoring in feedback from others,

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whether it's formal or informal.

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It could be 360 feedback,

it could be appraisals.

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It could be things like the chocolate

bar exercise that I've said.

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All of this is going to give you a great

wealth of information about the type of

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leader you are coming across as, and how

much that resonates with you in terms

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of the type of leader you wanted to be.

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So we have purpose, values, that

assessment and reflection piece

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that's going to help us focus

on what we want to achieve.

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And then like with any strategy,

we need set out some goals.

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So they might be organizationally focused.

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They might be industry specific, or

they could be more broad than that.

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The most important thing is that

they are the things that are going

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to help you to deliver your purpose.

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And you're only going to

know how you're doing.

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If you think about how you're

going to measure the impact.

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So you need to ask yourself the question.

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How will, I know what I'm doing

is working, and that's going

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to be really personal to you.

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With any strategy, you have the

big picture, but then you also

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have to look at the implementation.

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So what are the actions you're going

to take to achieve those goals?

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How are you going to be living

your leadership strategy?

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This is that self-leadership piece again.

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It might be, what are the types

of boundaries that you're setting

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and how you stick to them?

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It might be how you decide how

you're going to run your team or

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your service or the organization.

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Um, those rules of engagement almost.

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You need to consider how you're going to

be communicating and engaging with people.

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So how are you going to be telling

them about who you are, what you

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stand for, what your vision is, and

importantly, how that aligns with the

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team or the company, vision and goals.

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How are people going to know what

your boundaries are and how you work?

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And what the types of questions that

you're going to continually be asking

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and testing as you go about in your role.

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You'll notice that these things

I've listed are the other two cogs

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in my strategy, self leadership

communication, SLC framework.

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Because they are so important

and interlinked with each other.

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So, what does the leadership

strategy look like in practice?

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If you remember in the interview with

Paul Matthews that we did in episode

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two, He talked about his interest in

next practice rather than best practice.

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Now that is absolutely part

of his leadership strategy.

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It sets him apart.

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It tells his board, his staff and

stakeholders what kind of leader he'll be.

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It drives where he focuses

his attention and time.

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It was part of the pitch if you remember

his story about how he explained

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to the organization, when he was

applying for the role of chief exec

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around where it needed to go next.

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So yeah, that he's absolutely

setting out his st all.

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When I worked in corporate part of my

leadership strategy was to demonstrate

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that communications and engagement was a

fundamental part of every leader's role.

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And not something to be

left to the comms team.

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Not very dissimilar to what I

do now in my Sunday skies role.

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So that absolutely drove my actions,

what my team and I focused on.

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it was how I framed my discussions

in the organization, the types of

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questions I asked him in meetings.

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It wasn't at conflict with the

organizational aims because I

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knew the board wanted to be an

outstanding rating organization.

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My aim was to improve the leadership

cadre in my organization, by focusing

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on great communication and engagement,

because I knew that would make a

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difference in taking people with us.

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And if we took people with us,

we'd improve performance, we'd

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improve morale, and we'd improve

our standing in the community.

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So can you see how my personal leadership

strategy drove the way that I worked, set

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out my stall to the people I worked with.

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But also set me apart from maybe

other people who could have been

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going for the same job as me.

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Now I've said a few times, and

I've talked about it in my own

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personal experience that your

personal strategy and organizational

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strategy are different things, but

that still requires some alignment.

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You can't be fundamentally opposed in your

values or key facet in the way of working.

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I mean, you can, but it's not going

to bring your job satisfaction.

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It probably won't keep

you motivated for long.

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And it will definitely frustrate

you if you think you can get your

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organization to do a 180 and they don't.

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And from a wellbeing point of view,

at least that isn't sustainable

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to have that type of feeling

angst all the time in your role.

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And if you look at the reasons

organizations, hire leaders is mainly to

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take the majority of people with them.

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If your strategies and approaches a then

you're going to struggle to do that.

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You might gain a few followers

who believe in you and your

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approach, but that isn't really the

impact an organization looks for.

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We only need to look at the recent

example with government, for

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example, where there is individual

self-interest within cabinet.

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That is completely misaligned with

where prime minister wants to go.

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You see that with private

companies who get taken over.

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If we take someone like Elon Musk

who has a really distinctive personal

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leadership strategy, he's all about

taking risks, breaking boundaries.

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Challenging that status quo.

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That can probably really inspire

organizations like Tesla who

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see themselves in the same mold.

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But he found real challenges when he

took over Twitter and rebranded to

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X, because there was opposing views.

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There was a different culture

within the organization.

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Now he owns the company.

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He could do what he likes

and he stays in place.

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But you do wonder about the longterm

future of an organization when you've got

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that severe misalignment in that case.

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If you compare it to someone like Uber.

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The co-founder and CEO was known as

being really aggressive and competitive.

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Which is not the leaders

with impact way I might add!

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He created a really toxic work culture

that started to overshadow everything

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that the company was trying to achieve.

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And so much to the extent that

he became a liability and had to

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leave, and they replaced him with

someone whose strategy was to focus

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on rebuilding trust and culture.

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So a completely different type of leader.

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Another example is when

Ellen Pao, the CEO of Reddit.

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A couple of years ago, um, she, she joined

and her leadership strategy was that

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she was a strong campaigner on gender

discrimination in the tech industry.

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And she wanted to rectify that at

Reddit but it was absolutely at odds

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with their strategy of free speech.

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And so ultimately she resigned because she

couldn't overcome that lack of alignment.

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So, what I'm not saying is that you

can only work somewhere where there

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is a hundred percent alignment, and

I'm not saying you can't close the

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gap either if things are misaligned.

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Gaining alignment is another a

key skill of a high-impact leader.

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And you can absolutely do

this between your personal

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and organizational strategies.

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Firstly, you need to understand

the organizational strategy and

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objectives where it's heading

in the short and longterm.

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Now you may be helping to set

that, or you may have joined an

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organization where you're implementing

your predecessor strategy.

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And then you need to look at

your own values and aspirations.

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The stuff that we did earlier on in

this episode where you want to go

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in the organization in your career.

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And you begin to map these out

against each other and see where

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there is convergence and divergence.

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And this is going to show you where

there are gaps, how far out you are.

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And most importantly, it allows you to ask

how much do you want to close that gap?

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If you do want to close the gap,

you need to look at how you're going

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to move towards the other side.

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And this is the key because we

can focus so much on how we're

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going to bring people to us.

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We make ourselves a focus.

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But get in alignment and buy-in in

whatever aspect you're trying to is

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about trying to understand what's

important to others, listening

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and responding directly to that.

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So you set some goals that are focused

on how you're going to move towards

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achieving the organizational goals.

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Look at what your responsibilities

are, what you're prioritizing.

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And communicate that clearly with

everyone so that they understand

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what you're doing and how it's

contributing to the bigger picture.

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You have to consider how

you're leading by example.

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So showing that your actions

and decisions are supportive of

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your organizational strategy.

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And look at your stakeholders.

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So identify where you need to

build relationships and maybe

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where you need to withdraw.

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As a senior leader, the alignment across

the executive team is super important.

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So you need to be having those

conversations about how individual

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and collective strategies

must work together to achieve

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organizational aims and have honest

conversations when there's conflict.

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And throughout it's important that

you keep checking on and assessing

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your progress and effectiveness

and adapt course if needed.

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You've got to be open to change.

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Seek feedback regularly and test

that the alignment is still there.

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So we've explored what a personal

leadership strategy is and how it

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differs from an organizational one.

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We looked at why there needs to

be alignment across your personal

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and organizational strategies.

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You've got the bones of your strategy.

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You might want to spend some

time thinking over, testing

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it out with others or a coach.

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My one day intensives are a great

way to do this in a safe space.

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I'm not going to pretend that once

you've got a personal strategy,

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everything is going to be smooth sailing.

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Remember the three cogs I mentioned

at the beginning, your strategy

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won't work without self leadership

and communication as well.

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As with any personal change, you're

going to meet challenges and resistance.

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It's normally other people

kicking against these things.

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No one really likes change, especially

if it changes power dynamics.

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You're going to need to be

able to distinguish between

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what is natural kickback.

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And what is your strategy

going off course.

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Now there's no such thing as perfect.

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And all high performing teams and leaders

within those teams get comfortable with

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taking risks admitting when things go

wrong and changing course when needed.

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If you do face resistance, go back to

the steps around building alignment.

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Be clear in communicating who

you are and what you stand for.

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Be the example that you're trying to

set and reflect, seek feedback, learn,

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and evaluate to help you understand

the next steps you need to take.

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Remember, like with any strategy.

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It's not something you do

once and leave on a shelf.

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It's a living document and an ongoing

process that's going to change and adapt

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as you do as a person and as leader.

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I hope this has given you some new

insights about yourself and some things

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to reflect on so you can take some

steps to be a more impactful leader.

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If you've decided that you need to be

more purposeful and intentional in your

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leadership strategy, then my one day

intensive is a great starting point.

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This is a full day, just you and me

unpacking and reconstructing what

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you want to achieve as a leader.

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Whether you're applying for a

new role and want to be more

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impactful in how you pitch yourself.

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If you're starting in a new role and

you want to hit the ground running and

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increase your chances of success, or

maybe you're already established in a

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connect to others and take them with you.

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Then this day will help you get clarity

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Visit Sunday sky's dot

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And drop me a line over on LinkedIn.

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I'll be back with the next

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So in the meantime, remember to

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Until next time.

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