A cookbook for sharpening your personal leadership foundation
As a leader, you should consider what you stand for as a leader and strengthen the definition of your personal leadership foundation.
Why is that? Because leaders with a clear idea of why they lead and a well-reflected starting point for how they approach the leadership task simply create better results. They do so because they have greater impact and are able to mobilize those they lead. A leadership foundation is therefore not 'just' a finished definition. It is your personal foundation for working with your leadership life and your leadership identity.
Below you'll find five ways to define your personal leadership foundation so that it both strengthens your leadership identity and connects it to the organization and context in which you lead. We've also created a format for you to write out your leadership framework so you can anchor your definitions. Download it right here.
1. Start with the organization
A leadership foundation formulated without any connection to the strategic and professional task you've agreed to take on becomes a very private exercise. Most organizations have already defined a number of leadership qualities that strengthen the ability to execute the strategic task.
For example, your organization may have worked with leadership values or defined a leadership foundation based on the Leadership Pipeline approach.
Ask yourself: What is your role in the organization?
- How does your organization define 'good leadership'? What elements of this should you include in your leadership framework?
- W hichhat task do you need to succeed with? How does your task relate to your organization's strategy? What leadership focus does your task call for? (e.g. sharp prioritization and resource optimization, or reverse development focus and attracting more resources? Do you need to be concerned with cross-functional collaboration, or should you focus sharply on your own operations?)
Once you've reflected on the questions, you can articulate your leadership task in clear language that connects to the leadership traits and qualities your organization stands on. This provides the right organizational foundation for further work on your leadership foundation.
2. Make it personal
Reflect on who you are and where you come from. Without understanding why you do what you do, it's hard to be reflective about it. It's called self-awareness - without it, you risk 'blindly' trusting that what you're doing is right and only playing to your strengths.
Creating self-awareness can be a difficult exercise because you (like everyone else) don't have a privileged place to look at it from. A good place to start is to look at how you've acquired your practices and the underlying values your practice stands on. Try to develop a reasonably clear picture of your own motivational factors. This will put you in a better position to understand what might be at play motivationally among employees and colleagues.
Take a historical approach:
- What work values have you brought with you from home? What people and events have influenced these values? How have they changed over time and how do you live them today? What experiences do you want your work life to give you in the future?
- Think about situations where you've had a good flow at work. What was motivating and energizing? For example, do you thrive on thorough analysis and attention to detail or, conversely, are you energized when something happens and you can be decisive and create momentum? For example, are you energized by completing a well-executed task, or are you more driven by developing and innovating and participating in a good process? Conversely, what demotivates and drains your energy?
Define in simple terms what motivates you so that you have a fairly clear picture of your motives and preferences when you go to work. Include the things that are absolutely demotivating, so you'll find it easier to highlight the values that are most important to you. Articulate how they relate to the organization's values and leadership qualities, especially those that are perceived as conflicting and possibly dilemmatic. Consider and articulate what it takes to integrate these into your leadership.
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3. Consider your balances
You probably have a narrative about what you're particularly good at and what makes you successful as a leader. This gives you a set of preferences that you can draw on and act upon with relative ease. And herein lies the imminent risk for the modern leader - overplaying your strengths and overlooking the fact that the context of your leadership calls for complementary qualities and behaviors in leadership.
Strengths AND opposing traits
Your leadership foundation should therefore address BOTH which strengths and preferences you can easily draw on, AND which contradictory behavioral traits your leadership situation calls for. For example, if you are particularly good at setting the overall direction, you may tend to overlook the need to involve and create individual meaning in the task at hand. Or it could be that your strong strategic focus means that you don't find it necessary to worry about whether the tasks will be completed. If you're good at coaching and motivating your employees, you may be overlooking the fact that they also need a direct and unambiguous message from you. You can read more about this in this article on versatile leadership.
One way to gain insight into your strengths and any 'overlooked' weaknesses can be feedback on your behavior from, for example, personality tests or other assessments. Here you can reread well-being surveys and reflect on the feedback you've received throughout your management career.
Consider the following questions:
- What are your strengths and weaknesses as a leader from your own perspective, i.e. how you see yourself succeeding in the role? What energizes you? What takes energy? When have you experienced that your strengths were not enough to succeed?
- What do you believe, deep down, works in leadership? If you had to formulate good leadership in one sentence, what would it sound like?
Highlight your strengths and preferences in leadership so it stands out loud and clear.
"Focus on the two to three most important strengths and formulate how they relate to your task and what you should focus on in terms of leadership. Supplement your formulations with the elements and concepts of leadership that you don't cultivate, on the other hand, and that could be relevant to consider"
It can be an advantage to divide your wording into strengths and, if applicable, weaknesses.
development points in relation to your boss, your colleagues/cross-functionally and your employees. This will clarify what is important in terms of leadership in your different organizational roles and how you play them out.
Formulate your personal leadership theory:
Finally, it may be worthwhile to formulate your own personal leadership theory. Read your formulations around strengths and development points, and
revisit what you have written under point: ''2. Make it personal'. Try to extract one sharp sentence that says what you believe in leadership. It should be a bit general, sound like a principle and include what you believe in when it comes to motivating people. You can use the wording to measure your practice against, so you can continuously assess whether you're doing what you believe in. And you can reflect your experiences in it, and perhaps over time expand or adjust your theory of good leadership as your practice teaches you that you need to.
4. Clarify your passion
As a manager, you are the bearer of the ambition for your area. Partly because you are responsible for the results that are created, and partly because the core task and the professionalism your organization delivers is your responsibility. With a strong vision and ambition for your area and its professionalism, you also address what your employees and any middle managers are driven and go to work for. Namely, to be productive, quality-conscious and deliver tasks with the professionalism they are passionate about. When you as a manager clearly articulate what you are passionate about, where you are going with your professionalism and where you see the long-term development of your area, you will achieve far more effective followership. A clear ambition and vision for your area simply makes it possible for those you lead to mirror your drive and motivation.
Consider the following questions:
- What is your personal ambition for your area? What is important for you to help create?
- Where would you like to take your field in the coming years? What would you like to create more of? What do you want less of?
Articulate your passion based on the ambition and vision you have for your part of the organization. Start with what you are passionate about and be assertive in your wording, such as: "I want...", "I wish...", so that your wording makes it clear that it is YOUR passion. Remember to focus on the fact that your ambition and passion is forward-looking and works optimally because it addresses the fact that you have a goal of moving you somewhere attractive. Your passion should be articulated and attractive from a professional perspective as an employee.
5. End of the organization
Now you actually have your personal leadership foundation in place. But for now, it's just yours. If you really want it to be a leadership benchmark and use it as a guide to whether you walk the talk, you should involve your boss, your colleagues and those you lead in it.
"It's a commitment to say out loud what you stand for, what your strengths are and what you intend to work on as a leader"
When you involve those around you in your personal leadership foundation, you ensure you have the opportunity to get feedback and insights from them. This strengthens your ability to continuously work on your leadership. At the same time, you ensure that you develop appropriately in a way that maintains your integrity and keeps your attention focused on your task and context. This combination strengthens your leadership identity and allows you to fulfill your role in the organization as the best version of you.
Now it's just a matter of getting started. For practical help, download this template and fill in the blanks.
For inspiration, here's an example of a completed template .
