I have had the opportunity to coach many young-in-career people with the potential to become outstanding leaders. We have candid discussions regarding what leadership entails, their motivation for being a leader, and their readiness for the responsibility of leadership.
Some key results that I attempt to clarify:
- Leadership is accountable for organizational performance
- Organizational performance correlates with employee engagement and organizational culture
- Employee engagement dependent on degree of perceived trust in leadership
- Organizational culture foundation established by leadership; sustained by employees
- Engaged employees (positive/productive citizens) in an organizational culture of accountability equals sustained competitive advantage
- Sustained competitive advantage=elevated organizational performance=effective leadership
Therefore, leadership’s primary responsibility is creating trusting relations with subordinates who in turn develop a sincere psychological bond to the organization. This psychological bond stimulates critical thinking, innovation, accountability, tolerance of change, willingness to volunteer, and organizational goal orientation. Individuals committed to an organizational goal become a team. Teams share knowledge, which further drives critical thinking and innovation. Innovation overcomes status quo and leads to sustained competitive advantage. Sustained competitive advantage equates with superior organizational performance.
Leaders are responsible for and must be held accountable for organizational performance. Exceptional leaders create committed followers attaining elevated levels of individual, team, and organizational performance. Ineffective leaders maintain the status quo as managers of employees who perform their daily tasks as outlined in their job description, collect their salary, and focus on personal goals.
- How is your organization selecting leaders?
- How is your organization developing leaders?
- How is your organization evaluating leaders?
- How is your organization holding leaders accountable?
As a leader, are you afraid to be evaluated based on organizational performance rather than your personal performance? Does the focus on organizational performance drive you to micromanage and remove autonomy from your subordinates?
If you want the responsibility of being a leader, your primary success factor is creating followership. Committed followership ensures elevated team/organizational performance; therefore, your team/organizational performance evaluations will lead to personal rewards for their leader! Focus on creating trusting relationships built through transparency, alignment of values and actions, accountability, emotional intelligence, and creating psychological safety. Get to know your PEOPLE!
Soteria Alliance creates leaders who achieve exceptional results!
