The Leader to Leader Institute sends out great leadership tips on a daily basis.  On January 5, this tip came from Barry Posner and Jim Kouzes. "The very best leaders understand it's about inspiring a shared vision, not about selling their own idiosyncratic view of the world."

 

There is a lot of substance in those 21 words.  Three words strike me as particularly suggestive for thinking through the kinds of conversations we can convene to practice even better management/leadership - "inspiring," "shared," and "idiosyncratic."

Zenger, Folkman, and Edinger worked through a data base of more than 200,000 feedback instruments used to rate over 20,000 managers.  They found that "inspires and motivates to high performance" was the single most important capability that marked leaders who were respected and positively influential.  Inspiration was the "seasoning" that brought out the full flavours of other competencies.  Inspiration breathed flourishing life into the team, or unit, or whole organization.  Being curious to find out what your colleagues deeply value and helping them align their efforts around that core purpose is the key to providing sustainable inspiration.
 
Management and leadership do not happen in isolation or in a vacuum.  They only occur with others and in a specific context where influences are woven together to produce results.  Everything in management and leadership is a shared effort, a collective endeavour.  Convening conversations that allow colleagues to explore and co-create a deeply shared vision is essential to inspirational influence.  This is part of a subtle but powerful shift from idolization of the know-it-all celebrity to respect for the learning collaborator.
 
When I see the word "idiosyncratic," I can't help thinking of "idiotic," literally "a private person who lacks expertise."  Both words come from a Greek root meaning "private." To try and sell your own version of the world and what needs to happen, and pass that off as leadership, is "idiotic."  And I've met a lot of that kind of leader in my time.  I've also been that kind of leader more than I'd like to admit!  And because I've been there, I can tell you it doesn't work in the long run.  Without taking the time to build broad, shared ownership of an inspiring collective vision, your efforts remain isolated and private.  You lack the expertise to exercise inspiring leadership.  You lack the expertise to make leadership the team sport that it is.
 
So, what conversations can you convene today that will clarify and advance the shared vision around which you and your colleagues create value?

 

Cheers,