One of the many pleasures of my work is that I have the opportunity to observe, work with, learn from, and laugh with some incredibly good leaders. I also am able to experience others, who, though well-meaning, create more work, confusion, and frustration than they realize. One of the fundamental differences in these two types of leaders is that those who I view as ‘good leaders’ intentionally reassess and develop their own leadership skills while they dedicate time and resources to developing the leadership skills in others. Why? Good leaders realize one simple truth: The more skills their teams have, and the more united they are in their actions, the stronger they will perform. Win – Win – Win.

Good leaders realize one simple truth: The more skills their teams have, and the more united they are in their actions, the stronger they will perform. Win – Win – Win.

We are currently working with a variety of clients. Some deal with life and death, others support the physical and financial well-being of their customers, and others are challenged to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Yet regardless of how complicated and challenging their work is, those leaders who intentionally step back and make time to reassess how they – individually and as a team – are performing, have more cohesive, engaged, trusting and effective teams and work environments. Those leaders who don’t address the need for continued leadership development and cohesion, have less effective teams and therefore, poorer organizational performance.

Those leaders who don’t address the need for continued leadership development and cohesion, have less effective teams and therefore, poorer organizational performance.

It doesn’t take much to quickly identify ‘good’ leadership from less effective leadership. I can feel the difference in leadership styles when I walk into a client’s meeting room. I experience it when I facilitate their debates and discussions. I can see it when their managers engage and readily share their opinions and their reasons for disagreeing with those of others. I can also see it when their managers don’t prepare for work sessions, don’t confidently share their expertise and opinions, and don’t comfortably express their divergent views. The ‘good’ leaders have invariably taken dedicated steps to developing and managing a leadership team culture where open communication is expected and supported, where continually learning and improving – individually, as a team, and as an organization – is expected and supported, and where dedicated time to focus on team communication, collaboration and focus is made quarterly if not more often. Less effective leaders focus more on getting the work done, than on ensuring the people responsible for getting the ever-more complicated and challenging work, are properly prepared to do so.

Less effective leaders focus more on getting the work done, than on ensuring the people responsible for getting the ever-more complicated and challenging work, are properly prepared to do so.

Like most things in life, creating a solid leadership foundation is fundamental to an organization’s viability, effectiveness, and future success. Creating a solid leadership foundation isn’t especially difficult. However, it does take time. It does require patience, and it does take a commitment to developing the team as a whole. I recently experienced ‘good’ leadership in action. While discussing the design of their upcoming leadership training program, the President shared that he’d rather I pause on introducing new content, and instead circle back to a few key concepts discussed with the team during this year’s program. He’d been reiterating these concepts all year long and wanted to see how his work had resonated with the team, while also giving space for three new managers to become aware of the material from my perspective. The result? Inspiring. His work had been resonating. During the review, his managers took the lead and shared their ‘take’ on the concepts, how they’d been applying, learning from, and growing as leaders because of the information. They made the insights, application techniques, concepts their own. They were able to personalize the ideas so the new managers could easily identify where and with whom select ideas applied. This leader’s work has created a leadership team that not only works together, but they expect to learn and grow as leaders together too. Win-win-win.

This leader is building a solid leadership foundation to ensure his organization’s future viability, success, and effectiveness. Are you?

Copyright MMXIX – Liz Weber, CMC, CSP – Weber Business Services, LLC – www.WBSLLC.com +1.717.597.8890

Liz supports clients with strategic and succession planning, as well as leadership training and executive coaching. Learn more about Liz on LinkedIn!