One of the challenges we often see is that organizations reward people for their strong performance and technical expertise, yet those strengths alone don’t necessarily prepare them to lead well.
What’s often missing is a purposeful organizational developmental pathway that deliberately equips people to lead. Leading requires a shift from I matter because of what I produce (narrow focus with single function specialty) to a broader understanding of a full organizational system that entails multiple specialty areas.
Measuring leadership success is not only by output, but by behaviors, relationships, clarity, and the kind of presence that makes leaders others want to follow.
Consider this leadership experience with a director at a Fortune 500 company that resulted in an impactful discovery and transformed her leadership.
The director’s full plate of responsibilities became an excuse for not checking in regularly with direct reports.
As fiscal year-end drew near, the director decided to meet with all direct reports in person. She was surprised to learn that one direct report had spent the majority of her time on projects she believed were meaningful, not the initiatives prioritized by organizational leadership.
When the misalignment was revealed, the director’s initial (internal) response was to blame the direct report for not prioritizing projects appropriately. When challenged and encouraged by her coach to see the situation through the lens of ownership vs. blame, the director discovered that the misalignment could have been avoided.
More specifically: had she traded overwhelm for behaviors such as slowing down, stepping back and regaining clarity, there could have been room in her mind for curiosity and time to check-in with the direct report more frequently.
She agreed to practice the new behaviors in the weeks between coaching sessions. As a result, she exchanged assumptions for inquisitiveness and connectivity. Moving forward, she can ensure the direct report’s efforts correspond with organizational priorities and leadership’s direction.
This example illustrates a director who initially blamed a direct report for working on misaligned priorities. Through leadership development coaching, she recognized her own role in creating the gap. By moving from blame to ownership, she learned to slow down, ask better questions, reconnect with her team, and ensure work aligned with organizational priorities. Research demonstrates the overall result of effective leadership includes:
- Increased productivity & KPIs
- Improved employee retention
- Collaborative teamwork environment
Leadership is a profession that must be developed purposefully. Effective leadership requires a deliberate shift from a focus on your own productivity to broader organizational awareness, intentional behaviors, and responsibility for how you influence others.
An impactful way to begin this transition is through the leadership development process at fullCIRCLE. Are you a growth-minded leader willing to consider this research-based strategy for you and your leadership team?
Let’s start a conversation today!
