What is Leadership?

L&D Spotlight

In this episode, we tackle a notion that has become a buzzword in recent years but is still sometimes misunderstood: Leadership. We're looking at defining leadership, how it ties into company culture and what mistakes we commonly see leaders and organizations make.
Guest: Andrei Postolache, Founder at Xeriously, leadership and soft skills consultant focused on the IT industry, author of "Fun & Fearless Leadership".
Highlights:
* Leadership is a fundamental human behavior whose purpose is to help us become organized around a specific objective. It is a way for us to "do things together".
* Leadership is as much about the individual as it is about the team; it only exists in a context where people work together to reach a specific goal.
* Leadership manifests both when someone takes charge of a situation and when that individual purposefully steps back and lets someone else steer.
* Both micro-managing and too much laissez-faire are approaches that are not good leadership examples. Healthy leadership sits somewhere in the middle between these two extremes.
* A good leader is both an idealist and a pragmatic.
* The size of an organization influences the reach of a leader. Within a small team, it's easy to align on values and debate decisions. In a large company, however, the leader rarely comes in direct contact with their employees. This forces the leader to implement effective, mass communication methods to keep people informed about and aligned to company values.
* Difficult situations are when the company culture is put to the test. Employees will internalize how leaders behave in these situations as company culture.
* If leaders aren't consistent between how they advertise their values and how they act when their values are tested, people become disengaged and will ultimately leave the organization.
* Most organizations fail at the implementation stage. Leaders must embody the values they promote without cutting corners to improve company culture. Any sign of compromise will create a ripple effect within the organization and make people doubt their reasons for being a part of that team.
Leadership How-To in 3 basic steps:
1. Leadership starts at the top: the leader's behavior sets the tone for company culture
2. Leadership requires effective communication: sending the appropriate message is crucial for value alignment
3. Choose one value and promote it relentlessly to the organization; the beneficial effects of upholding that particular value will overspill into other areas of the business
To join the conversation or get in touch, reach out to Liz Stefan on LinkedIn or email liz[at]niftylearning.io.