Written by Susan Kuepfer

Error 1 – Everyone should be a leader, all the time

If you read current management literature, it seems everybody should have a goal to be a leader. If everyone is a leader, who is following? Should I feel bad if I am not being a leader? Here is my take on this…

(a) We should all be leaders of ourselves (we will talk about this in future posts).

(b) After that, we need to be specific about where and when we want to be a leader and why…

– At work, responsible for other people’s work and direction?

– At work as a thought or expert leader?

– At home, with the family, all of the family, for specific topics?

– In the communities we care about?

(c) And for those situations we have chosen not to be a leader, what is our role? How do we be a good and responsible follower?

Error 2 – It comes through practice

It does… if you take time to reflect, experiment, improve and actively practice the habits that produce positive effects! Are you doing that regularly? Most of us get so caught up in our jobs and lives, we don’t spend the time to reflect on what is working, what is not working (not just for ourselves of course, but for those following us!) and how to improve. This needs to be a weekly, if not daily, practice! Otherwise, we just keep practicing what is not working along with what might be working!

Error 3 – I don’t have time for development

If I look back at my career, this is the ONE BIGGEST MISTAKE I made. Once I became a manager & leader, I did not take the time to seek out development opportunities for myself. I was just too busy. Yet, if you look at who become the best leaders, it is people who study the art of leadership and figure out how to apply their learnings to their lives.

Choose a model of leadership, apply it to yourself, see what fits, what does not, what works, what does not, experiment, then move on to a new leadership model, see what is different and continue…

So, the picnic thoughts for this month are: if you truly want to become a great leader:

• Be clear on where/when you want to be a leader and why.

• Have a regular ritual of reflection and improvement experiments.

• Become an expert on leadership—read, expand your knowledge, find out what others do.

And my 2 questions to you this month are:

• What are you consciously doing that is helping you become a better leader in the areas that matter to you?

• What one thing could you do in addition, to focus on becoming an expert on YOUR leadership?

Some interesting links for more info

http://www.learn-to-be-a-leader.com/leadership-theories.html
http://www.leadershipchallenge.com/about-section-our-approach.aspx
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemyatt/2013/03/28/the-most-common-leadership-model-and-why-its-broken/