Sunday, March 20, 2016

L .E. A. D. E. R.

"The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things."  - Ronald Reagan

Lately I have really been focused on what true leadership actually is. Many times when I come across the word leader I see the word follower attached. In my opinion, leadership is not about attracting others to follow. To me, at least, this conveys a sense of power, authority, and control that might serve well in the short term by getting others to fall into line through conformity, but it doesn't create the conditions necessary for sustaining change.  I believe the definition and resulting perception of the term leader needs a makeover. 


Image credit: https://vladimerbotsvadze.files.wordpress.com/

Great leaders don't tell people what to do, but instead take them to where they need to be. There is no agenda to create a harem of followers or disciples.  True leaders know that their success is intimately tied to the work of the collective. One person doesn’t win a war, election, or football game.  It is a team approach where each person in the organization knows that he or she has an important role to play. I can also say with certainty that one person doesn’t single handedly build a successful business. This same principle definitely applies to schools and districts.  As I have written in the past, leadership is all about action, not position.

As an attempt to further begin the process of redefining the term leader I developed an acronym based on my thoughts shared above. The best leaders do the following on a consistent basis:

Learn 

Empower

Adapt 

Delegate

Engage

Reflect

Learn – Learning is the work. Great leaders take professional growth seriously as they know there is no perfection in any position, just daily improvement. Leaders make the time to learn and get better on a daily basis. They also make their learning visible to inspire others to follow suit. Leaders who lover their work are always learning.

Empower – A key element of effective leadership is to empower others to take risks, remove the fear of failure, and grant autonomy to innovate.  People that are empowered find greater value in the work they are engaged in. Empowerment leads to respect and trust, which builds powerful relationships where everyone is focused on attaining specified goals.

Adapt – Everything can change in a heartbeat.  As such, leaders must embrace a sense of flexibility and openness to change accordingly in certain cases. The ability to adapt to an array of situations, challenges, and pressures are pivotal to accomplish goals. Success in life is intimately intertwined into an organism’s ability to adapt in order to survive. As leaders adapt they evolve into better leaders.

Delegate – No leader can do everything by him or herself. The decisiveness to delegate certain tasks and responsibilities is not a weakness. On the contrary, it allows leaders to apply more focus to areas of greater importance.  It also builds confidence in others in their ability as co-leaders of an organization even if they don’t have a fancy title.

Engage – In the sharing economy there might not be anything more important than information. Leaders understand this fact and develop strategies to authentically engage their stakeholders through multi-dimensional communications, by taking control of public relations, and developing a positive brand presence. Increased engagement results by meeting stakeholders where they are at, encouraging two-way communications, and becoming the storyteller-in-chief

Reflect – It is quite difficult to find a great leader who does not reflect daily on his or her work.  Reflection in a digital world can take many forms and results in greater transparency. It is not how one chooses to reflect, but an emphasis to integrate this process consistently that defines a great leader. 

This is my stab at an acronym for L.E.A.D.E.R. that better identifies the characteristics, attributes, and mindset to create a much better meaning for the word. What are your thoughts on this? Are there any words you would replace for the ones I included and if so why?

15 comments:

  1. Love this!!! And, I think trust should be included somewhere. To me, it is essential to empowering and delegating.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great suggestion! Just added trust to the section on empowerment.

      Delete
  2. Love this!!! And, I think trust should be included somewhere. To me, it is essential to empowering and delegating.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is a fantastic post. I would love to share it with the leaders in my district. The Engage section is right on point. Thanks for sharing this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great to hear this Corey. I sure hope you do share the post with leaders in your district :)

      Delete
  4. Love your work and transparency--another trait in a leader that I find important :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great suggestions Amanda! I just worked both those traits into the post. Thanks for sharing.

      Delete
  5. Thanks Eric. I really like the keywords you selected and described. If I was to replace one, it would be Delegate because Empower has to do with this (in my mind). I can also see the word, Diligent as one to describe an effective leader. This person shows care and conscientiousness in his/her work. Great leaders are diligent!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks so much for inspiring me, Mr Sheninger! It is an honor to read you and follow you! Warm greetings from Buenos Aires, Argentina

    ReplyDelete
  7. When I think of leadership, I think of characteristics such as work ethic, communication, positivity, creativity, role modeling, sharing, inspiring, knowledge, vision, and the continual drive to improve. All of these, of course, are either included explicitly or could easily be linked to the key words of your acronym. It's quite an amazing acronym. If anything, I would say it is important that a leader sets the tone in creating and working toward a shared "vision" and that he or she has the ability to find "creative" solutions to problems. Really, great post. Thanks. I saw you in Wabash, Indiana a couple years ago, and I've learned a lot from you ever since.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fantastic perspective Keegan. So important to have a shared vision that is backed up with action.

      Delete
  8. Love this post Eric! Reading it affirmed for me some of my current thinking. My staff & I recently came up with an acronym that represents our new, teacher powered, PD implementation process. In this process we are living out some of your key ideas; Reflect, Empower & Trust - our only addition is Implement, when the PD actually comes to life. Thanks for affirming for us that we're on the right track!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sounds like you and your team are doing some great work Connie! Thanks for reading and providing your input.

      Delete
  9. Thank you for sharing. R could also be for Risks. Sometimes risks need to be taken to create change.

    ReplyDelete
  10. In addition to the qualities you've shared, I believe a great leader inspires (more through example than words) and has a clear vision of where the team/organization, etc. is headed.

    ReplyDelete