Leaders Are Made
Making yourself into a leader is not easy because it takes the unconventional path. Being conventional only gets conventional results.
To be exceptional requires a way of thinking, being, and doing that is not the norm. To get there takes the right kind of practices. Though most people may have the capacity for leadership, few have the commitment and discipline to practice what it takes to lead. We can provide you with the distinctions, attitudes, processes, and practices you will need to learn to lead.
Leadership Starts with Thinking, Being, and Doing
How you think, how you are “being”, and how you behave will determine, to a large extent, how people around you think, be, and do. No single thinking style is effective for all situations. You will learn how to develop diverse leadership styles and manage the tension between those styles. Expanding one’s diverse styles leads to greatness. One common tension faced by leaders is that between the realities and the vision for what is possible. Managing to see ahead is important BUT when a leader departs from the realities required to fulfill a vision, trouble sets in.
Milestones, Inc. has developed Leadership programs which provide your organization’s leaders with insight into the practical attitudes, processes, practices, and behaviors they can use to lead more effectively, motivate and retain good people, and improve productivity.
Are You Required to Lead?
“Empowering Leadership™” is our signature development program for managers and leaders who are required by their organizations to lead. Its five principles (see below) offer a starting point for most business engagements. These principles compose an integrated approach to thinking, being, and doing for developing a focus on what is needed for exceptional performance, not just sufficient performance.
To be “empowered” means to authorize oneself. To be empowering, see yourself as the author. Write your script and create your vision of your business and life results. In so doing, you lead the way, walk the talk, and show by example. That is how you gain followers and buy-in to a vision and purpose.
You increase your ability to lead when your “thinking, being, and doing” are aligned and integrated (there is balance and wholeness). These five principles that serve as the foundation to being an empowered leader are here: Responsibility, Commitment, Authenticity, Contribution, and Buy-In. Imagine you and your organization fully practicing these. What would it mean to the morale of people and financial well-being of your company?
Five Principles of Leadership
Responsibility
One aspect of what it means to be fully responsible means “no excuses.” That alone would be huge for an organization to not have people thinking that a “good” excuse was a reason to not perform. There is more to being fully responsible addressed in our work that removes any sense of being victimized. Be able to respond on purpose and not react defensively as victims do.
Commitment
Here, we consider what it means to be 100% committed to something. Most people are not or cannot commit to this extent on anything. We assess leader’s promises and the fulfillment of their promises. We invite you to live with a commitment to make and keep commitments as though your word (reputation) counted on it. It does.
Authenticity
To be authentic is to be true to one’s own personality, spirit, and character. Being “Authentic” means not being false. When we interpret a person to be who we know them to be, we say they are authentic. People attempting to hide their “true” authentic self, create distrust. People, in organizations who trust one another work in a more flexible, productive, innovative, and flourishing environment than those people who do not. Fear causes many people to protect themselves which reduces their authenticity. Discover how to step into your power with less fear.
Contribution (being “in service”)
Contribution is acting from a motive of giving and serving. Being in “contribution” is realizing that you matter and that you are not separate from others (we are all connected) and that you belong to humanity and humanity reflects what and how you and other people are being. For example, when a family or team is “loving,” everyone in the family or team experiences love. When you demonstrate “teamwork,” others experience that and you contribute to being a team. When you embrace a serving attitude, you focus on others and they love that!
Getting Buy-In™
Getting Buy-In™ is gaining agreement with people to act together, collaboratively, co-creating solutions together. This principle is about action. To “buy-in” is to decide to act, even if the “act” is you agreeing with a statement or idea. To get buy-in is first and most about understanding other people and what they want and need. It’s NOT primarily about “telling” other people about what you want and need and how you should have it. Getting Buy-In™ is a process that involves four main steps. All effective leaders, salespeople, and successful people have learned the serving attitude, the four-step process, and the four key skills for getting buy-in.
Building A Team?
We have articles and papers on these five principles. We incorporate all five principles into all of our programs where possible. We also offer various assessments that help measure a person in several areas that we use in our Empowering Leadership™ work. One measure, acumen, is how a person discerns and decides based on how they value systems, tasks, and people. Acumen is about a person’s decision-making abilities, their ethics, empathy, and ability to prioritize and stay on task. We also measure behaviors, motivation drivers, competencies, and emotional intelligence for a total of 67 measurement areas. These 67 measures provide you and them with great insight that is useful for self-awareness, coaching, and development.
If you are building a team and need to select the right people, learn more about selection.
