Leadership is dynamic. Numerous factors affect the effectiveness of your leadership. The external environment may present challenges for growth, but growth in your leadership depends on you more than anything else.
In moving your enterprise forward embrace the fact that it is not only dealing with your external environment that will give you the edge, but yourself. To beat adverse circumstances a leader must not only focus on the circumstances per se, but on growing himself.
Leader, the level of maturity of your leadership depends on no one but you. Instead of beating the outside factors affecting your enterprise negatively, focus on growing yourself as a leader. Some leaders fail because they never focus on getting better as people and leaders. It is important that you embrace feedback as your leadership growth strategy.
feedback is a tool that can be used for growing yourself as a leader
Leaders who never get and or accept honest feedback about their leadership are guaranteed to fail. Getting honest feedback when it comes to areas of possible growth is not always an easy thing, yet helps makes you, leader, better.
When was the last time you asked for honest feedback on your leadership from your colleagues, those that serve under you and your superiors? If people, especially your colleagues, hardly give you any feedback, have you considered why? Do you have any systems and indicators that serve as feedback about your leadership?
Not only focus on building a feedback system for processes in your organisation but also focus building a feedback system that gives honest feedback about your leadership. I am not suggesting a means of making leadership a punching bag but one where leadership can hear what is important to better themselves as leaders and ultimately their enterprise.
How you can build a feedback system:
Your Team
One of the best sources of feedback are those who serve under you. Most leaders default to being guarded. Being vulnerable, is necessary to get feedback from those you lead. In a controlled environment, engage your team to find out what you could do to lead them better.
Being vulnerable will also challenge your team to vulnerability and more open to feedback. If you model it, your team will follow. Some of the questions (not comprehensive) you could use:
What do you think I could do to better serve you?
What do you feel I do well?
What would you do differently if you were in my seat?
What do you feel I need to start, stop and continue doing?
How can I help you do your job better
Close to You
One of the most significant things I’ve done is marry Ingrid. Being close to someone does not only allow you to know others better, but yourself as well. There are things that Ingrid points out and can say that not many people can. Also, she has pointed out things about myself very few people have. Take a poll in your household or among your closest friends.
Create a platform where they can be honest with you and you will be surprised how well they know you and what you can learn about yourself.
The Point
With all the above out of the way, I need to point out that feedback does not mean finding out the negative only. Good feedback is honest with what you are doing well and possible areas of growth.
Feedback is not a stick that you use to beat yourself, but a tool or platform to better yourself. Without feedback as your leadership growth strategy you will fail. Therefore, embrace what you are doing well and figure out ways of doing it even better. Let the possible areas of growth be a reminder and celebration that you can be a great leader.
The first step to becoming a great leader is being aware of areas of possible growth. The second, seeing them as enablers and not obstacles. Third, acting on them.
[image by Orange_Beard | cc]