You know yourself, and you know what you want. You’re willing to take risks and make mistakes.

You insist on living your passion. You consistently see the big (and even bigger) picture.

You always choose to grow. These are the hallmarks of a thriving, transformative leader.

And Leap Solutions can get you there!

When to Manage, When to Lead

Both managers and leaders are essential to an organization, and neither can flourish without the other. The two roles are inextricably linked and wholly complementary. And often they’re played by the same person—you.

Managers assign tasks and organize team members for maximum efficiency. The most effective managers define the purpose of those assigned tasks and make the effort to nurture the skills and talents of those team members. Managers maintain current systems and structures within the organization. They plan, organize and coordinate while focusing on the bottom line and achieving short-range success.

Leaders develop people and drive results. They establish trust, cultivate relationships, solve institutional problems and take initiative. Leaders are continual innovators who challenge the status quo. They inspire and motivate people while focusing on what’s possible and progressing toward long-term vision.

In all likelihood, regardless of job title, you serve as both a manager and a leader in your organization. Your must learn to smartly and confidently transition between management mode and leadership mode—between administering and innovating—and to tailor your approach and style accordingly.

Expanding Your Leadership Style

When you’re committed to becoming a better leader, your first step is to evaluate your current leadership style(s) and competencies. A skilled leadership coach can help you discern your personality type and core behavioral traits and learn to distinguish your perception of yourself as a leader from reality. Together, you’ll explore leadership styles—including autocratic, bureaucratic, charismatic, democratic, laissez-faire, people-oriented, servant, task-oriented, transactional and transformational—to come to a deeper understanding of who you are (and who you could be) as both an individual and as a leader.

Initially, you’re likely to hone in on two or three styles that seem exceptionally fitting to the way you lead at work. Perhaps you see your leadership as typically charismatic, democratic and people-oriented. A seasoned coach will guide you to reflect further and consider other styles you adopt throughout your daily life—maybe as a parent you tend to be more autocratic and task-oriented, and as a volunteer board member you find yourself leading with bureaucratic and servant styles. Your coach will challenge you to acknowledge and value your many, varied leadership styles, broaden your strengths and leverage them to best serve the individuals you lead and the unique circumstances and situations you face.

Cultivating Leadership Qualities

Certain characteristics inevitably set the most remarkable and impressive leaders apart from the rest. Some leadership qualities might seem obvious—communication, passion and vision, for instance—and others seem less obvious but are just as crucial to your success as a leader—including generosity, servanthood and teachability.

None of these qualities are innate gifts; all are attainable through intentional learning and diligent practice. A qualified leadership coach will provide insight, tools and tangible ways to develop and cultivate these very qualities in yourself.

Your Leading Partner

The experts at Leap Solutions have decades of leadership development and executive coaching experience, and we’re here to support, energize and strengthen you into the leader you want to be—the kind of leader you want to follow!

Partner with us, and we’ll help you create a new vision for yourself as a leader, recognize and harness opportunities for your continued improvement and growth, and lead your people and your organization with renewed vigor, refreshing confidence and extraordinary impact.

https://leapsolutions.com/practice-areas/executive-coaching/

For further reading, check out:

On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis, Basic Books, 2009

The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow by John C. Maxwell, Thomas Nelson Inc., 2007

To download or print this newsletter, please click here