Leading From the Heart

There are a multitude of books and periodical articles that address the development of strong leaders. And as the world seems to spin even faster as borders around the globe seem to dissolve, it is clear that insightful and innovative leaders are going to be in continued demand. If you take a moment to think about the leaders that you have been asked to follow in the past, what are the qualities that most attracted and most repelled you?

Follow the Leader?

Did you ever play this game as a child? Someone volunteers to be the leader and everyone lines up behind him and copies the moves he makes? Sometimes the stunts were pretty basic—hopping, “giant steps,” and so on. Other times, they might have been more daring and challenged you to try out new activities that you might not have ever practiced before. Did the leader encourage her teammates or try to throw them off with tricks too difficult to copy easily? When you chose to be the leader, how did you handle the task? Were you checking in with team members to see how they were faring? Were you trying to create tasks too difficult for them to manage? While this childhood game is not a comprehensive guidebook to leadership, there are some parallels that might encourage us to recognize leadership skills we want to develop.

Are Leaders Born or Made?

Those qualities or lack of leadership that we display as children are not necessarily going to set our life path into stone. However, sometimes the most familiar path becomes the easiest rut in which to remain and trudge along. Yet the skills we appreciated in favorite leaders in the game of Follow the Leader are no different than those that touch our hearts and inspire our actions as adults. Amazing, but true—leadership that is most effective is able to change our beliefs about what we can do, inspire us to go beyond what we done in the past, and to affect our mindset in such a way that we feel a sense of belonging and strong loyalty to the goals. Just as in the children’s game, adults do not want to be the one who cannot keep up or who cannot perform to the level expected. A strong leader keeps her eyes on her team, encouraging them to move beyond the status quo, and shows them the way.

Step-by-Step Guide to Taking Leadership

In a classic leadership text, The Leadership Challenge (Kouzes & Posner, 2008), the authors set out five basic steps to growing into an effective leader. Each one of these can be tied back to our earliest experiences of positive and inspiring leaders, and hopefully simplifies the construct and gives you confidence to step up into a position of leadership!

1. Show the Way. This means that you should be the model of how team members should be treated and how goals should be pursued. Remember, if you are cutthroat and brusque, you are setting this tone for your entire team. Seldom does this build the environment that is most productive over the long-term. The Leader in Follow the Leader always models what he expects his team to perform—he shows the way and models his commitment to the group direction.
2. Know Your Team and Build a Vision of Success that is shared by the group. When a measure of success involves everyone on the team, not just the top dogs, there is much more likely to be buy-in from the ground up. And without group buy-in into your vision, you will not reap the richness of group cohesion and group energy. The point of the children’s game is to stick with the group and perform what is asked. Success is measured by how long a group can act before disruption occurs. An effective leader will check in with his group to make sure they are all on task and encourage support of those who are having trouble mastering new tasks.
3. Push the Boundaries of How Things Have “Always Been Done.” Innovation is essential in a changing world. Don’t allow yourself to be caged in by ideas that have proved effective in the past, but may have become limitations in the present. Do your research, but encourage creativity and innovation in your team—leaders reap the benefits of motivated team —they don’t have to function in a vacuum! Knowing that your attempt to leap across the creek might end in a tumble may just be the incentive you need to keep at it until you have mastered the new challenge. Leaders and their teams are not stagnant. They keep actively engaging in their pursuit of their shared goals.
4. Encourage the Involvement and Action of Your Team. By providing freedom to innovate at each level of the organization, you are building that much more confidence and buy-in throughout the whole team. Being willing to invite and integrate feedback from your team that you believe adds to the mission and enhances the process and or product can facilitate greater success than expected.
5. Lastly, the most important thing is to Reach Deep into the Hearts and Souls of your Team members and stir them to action! Leaders who are aloof, distant, or stiff and removed from their teams seldom achieve the best results. To believe that our actions have purpose in this world, humans need to have a feel for the value of their work—and in many workplaces or other organizations, this requires a “top down” acknowledgment of the appreciation felt for the work that they do. If I’m expected to toil long hours at the back of the line, I need to know that my work is of value to everyone ahead of me in the line. Effective leaders touch the hearts of their followers and create the environment that allows each individual to be fully valued and inspired.

Leadership is about team work and about knowing that each person on a team has an invaluable role in creating the finished product or reaching the final goal. Effective leaders build rapport and get their hands dirty, too. They set the tone for the organization and if a forward-moving, innovative, creative environment is the type of work place you aim to build, it is essential that you provide the model that you would like them to follow.

Effective leaders lead from their hearts and know the hearts of their team members. Passion, drive, and commitment to quality are all important, but a passionate commitment to your team is what makes the group function at its greatest effectiveness and enthusiasm.

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. (2008). The leadership challenge. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc