Back in “the before”, I had the opportunity to listen to Carla Harris (Managing Director and Senior Client Advisor at Morgan Stanley) when she spoke about leadership and the responsibilities leaders carry.. Here are some of my notes about..
What does Powerful, Impactful, Influential, Leadership Look Like?
L.E.A.D.E.R:
- Leverage
- Efficiency
- Authenticity
- Decisiveness/Diversity
- Engagement
- Risk-taking
Leverage:
- Draw on the strengths of each person in your team
- The leveraging of the relationship in your team, will result in the success of the team
- The secret to growing in influence, power etc is to give it away!
- Your primary role is to create leaders around you… and that doesn’t necessarily mean position or title.
- As a leader, the more you empower your team, the better the environment to share, innovate and create becomes
- Create an environment where your team feels they work with.. and not for you.
- Allow mistakes to happen without fear of retribution
Efficiency
- Create and efficient environment.
- All teams want to do well… but they do want to know and be clear of what success looks like
- The lack of clarity from your position will lead to frustration/ anxiety
- Don’t be afraid of making a mistake… these will lead your team to success. It’s ok to have setbacks. As long as there lessons learned.
- Lessons serve to shape your story… and will ultimately be part of your success story.
Authenticity
- In your team, your authentic self will inspire others to be their authentic selves
- Influence will stem out authenticity
- Our human nature shows we can be duplicitous, how are you ensuring you are displaying your true self?
- Build trust with authenticity, this is the power of your influence
- People generally gravitate to / follow those who are comfortable in their truest selves
Decisiveness
- the price of inaction is greater than the cost of making a mistake
- Your team depends on you!
- Lack of decision-making leads to lack of productivity
- Trust your judgement… and trust that you will be guided!
- Every experience you have will bring a blessing or a lesson – value both!
Diversity
- Varying perspectives will generate varying ideas which equals constant innovation
- Build a team of diverse skills, cultures, points of view.
- if you’re gone through a series of interviews and struggling to hire then maybe it’s time to review the dynamic within the current team
- Are you creating diverse teams, environments, who share and create diverse ideas?
Engagement
- Be engaged with your team – remind your team “I see you.. and I hear you.”
- Generally, people are motivated by: 1) money 2) encouragement or 3) power/ position
- Leaders create inclusive environments!
- Transformative Leaders are:
- Tenacious
- Thoughtful
- Transparent
- How are you getting your teams individual signature / autograph on their work?
Risk-taking
- Be comfortable in being the risk-taker!
- Are we scared? Why?
- Fear has no place in the success equation
- Take courage!!
- It takes courage to be vulnerable
- It takes courage to speak first!
- It takes courage to speak truth!
- It takes courage to create the environment / space that allows others to be contributors!
Be a transformational leader.. Show people they are playing a winning game!
