If you search on Google for this: “Define Leadership”, you will receive in 0.33 seconds, 2,640,000,000 answers. That is a lot of definitions from a lot of blogs, posts, people, and other companies.
The Oxford Dictionary defines “leadership” as:
“The action of leading a group of people or an organization” or “the state of being a leader.”
Not very helpful!!!
Harvard Business Review explains in their blog titled “Understanding Leadership” as “the accomplishment of a goal through the direction of human assistants—a human and social achievement that stems from the leader’s understanding of his or her fellow workers.
But the article also goes on to read that its not the word “leadership” that needs to be studied, but the “essence” of leadership.
This makes more sense. Its hard to define a word if the word is in the definition too!
The article states that it’s easy to list what successful leaders do that makes them effective, but “But it is much harder to tease out the components that determine their success.”
To find your components, assessment tests are one way to find yours.
So, if we call ourselves leaders, does anyone know what that really means? Is it influence, common goal / vision accomplishments of many? Or is it the combination of what one does to achieve a goal?
If you are a leader – then what are your characteristics of your leadership style?
Indeed lists 10 leadership qualities: These include:
- Accountability
- Active listening
- Collaboration
- Courage
- Communication
- Empathy
- Flexibility
- Innovation
- Growth mindset
- Eager to learn
And the list goes on. And, with a Google search, the list becomes overwhelming.
In my career, I always wanted to a leader and an administrator. I was an administrator for a very highly efficient and productive, very busy, and ever-changing department and team for a very small city. It was a tough job as I changed processes, people, and things (as in software) to make it highly effective while running the department. After 3 years I was so burnt out, I was running around like a robot. But it taught me so much including how to communicate, how to really prioritize my work load, how to be flexible and have empathy, how to never stop learning, and lastly, how to increase my network.
But back to defining leadership……
As a mid-level professional, you already have what it takes to be a great leader. You’ve done the work, climbed some ropes, and built your credibility.
If you really want to define yourself as a leader and improve your skills, then look into what makes you a leader.
Do an assessment test or a SWOT analysis on yourself.
- Communication
- Delegation
- Confidence
- Prioritization
That’s a great first step.
Take communication. Create a SWOT analysis, listing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
- Your strength may be: you are a great communicator one-on-one.
- Your weakness may be: you are not a great public speaker
- Your opportunity may be: to practice your presentation in the board room with your co-worker. Bring your PPT. Always have your co-worker give critical feedback.
- Your threat may be: People asking questions in the middle of your presentation or playing on their phones, IT issues, etc.
Any skill can be learned or improved upon. By saying you are an awful public speaker is not helping your confidence level when you have to give a speech. Break it down into smaller steps so you can really see where the problem lies. The weakness will become less overwhelming and easier to improve. It will not only give you a goal to move forward to, it will also build your confidence level.
Pay it Forward: SWOT analysis is also good for any quality that you want to analyze. If you are great at public speaking, then find opportunities to help someone that is not. They will appreciate your insight.
This is Leadership: Let’s say you are on a team of 12 to bring in volunteers for a homeless program. (This is something I did years ago for my church). You watched how the program was run. You have some ideas. You step up and volunteer to help run the program. That is leadership.
