One thing is clear these days. Nothing is set in stone. Not least your leadership style!
Whatever kind of leadership style you may have adopted in calmer times, the current pandemic requires – and demands – even more of you than ever before. Now is the time to be fully authentic, warm and human as a leader while simultaneously being able to pivot and demonstrate resilience. Now is also the time to hone and strengthen your own personal coping strategies. As a leader, your team – for the most part now in WFH mode – will be looking to you for a morale boost and for a strong sense of grip on remote team leadership with a good dose of creative innovation around it. Your personal coping strategies need to be up to the mark to support your team, and yourself, on this rocky ride across the next months and year.
It could also be the case that your own boss has been reviewing your leadership capabilities for a potential step up the career ladder and wants to see you move towards a more blended style of leadership. A truly blended leadership style is neatly summed up by Thunderbird School of Global Management’s Suzanne J Peterson who describes it as having ‘presence’, polish and gravitas and a rare blended mix of both power and attractiveness leadership markers.
People who cannot invent and reinvent themselves must be content with borrowed postures, secondhand ideas, fitting in instead of standing out.
Warren Bennis
So, how can you go about reinventing your leadership style? Three simple steps would be:
1/ REVIEW: Take a long honest look at your style, personality and leadership markers as well as taking on board peer feedback. Where are you too ‘nice’ or ‘passive’? Where could you take the initiative more? Where could you be more assertive? What kind of language are you using?
2/ REIMAGINE: Visualise yourself as a fully fledged dynamic leader with a powerful blended leadership style. From there, identify your weaker or over-favoured areas of leadership. Work backwards from there to establish a clear route map – and clear set of actions – for your leadership development strategy.
3/ RESET: Commit with intention to your leadership development route map strategy. Start to adopt and integrate new behaviours, attitudes and ways of thinking that will set you on your way. Observe the responses of your peers and team to your developing leadership style and adapt accordingly. Consider taking on a coach to help you wade your way to becoming a fully fledged leader for today’s needs. Stay mindful of your default tendencies and keep a grip on your leadership style goals. Know when to collaborate and when resourceful leadership is required.
Become your own Chief Leadership Reinvention Officer. Your leadership style will flourish.
