Real Talk on Leadership #2: Demonstrating Leadership

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This article is the second in a series about leadership, how to demonstrate it, and how to change others' perception of your leadership abilities. The first article set the foundation by addressing the differences between coaching, mentoring, managing, and leading. If you haven't read it, it will take you less than ten minutes and give us a common foundation for this series' remainder.

This second article will focus on demonstrating leadership skills regardless of the role you currently have.  The first article mentioned a few common problems: understanding what it means to be a leader and having real self-awareness about our abilities and the perceptions decision-makers have about us. To address the topic of demonstrating leadership skills, we're going to need to address these topics.

There are five competencies I consider critical to demonstrating leadership skills:

  • Demonstrate an external focus

  • Be self-aware

  • Think strategically

  • Innovate

  • Remain versatile

We'll talk about each of these competencies in this article; however, I'd like to cover two topics first.

Deserving a promotion isn't going to get you a promotion

Here's a refrain I often hear: "I deserve a promotion, so why haven't I gotten one?"

Businesses aren't in the habit of promoting people when there is no business need. The first question I always ask when someone is not getting the promotion they think they're due is: "Have you validated that there's a business need, and have you made a business case?"

A business need can consist of multiple parts. Sometimes there will be a headcount involved; there are only three spots at a certain level due to business volume. Unless you can increase the business volume, you'll need to be patient. Another option is to create a business need where there is none today by making a new revenue stream or uncovering an existing market that others have not seen. Then you put numbers around it like how much sales or how much savings - whatever will resonate with your audience. But you should have quantitative data. Do your homework before you make your ask.

Another situation that arises is "I work so hard - that should be enough to get promoted." Employees don't earn promotions based on hard work alone; hard work plus differentiation leads to advancement. We'll talk about these differentiators with our five critical leadership skills.

Key take-away: Working hard is what you get paid for; hard work alone isn't likely to earn you a promotion.

 Culture is always a variable

Your workplace culture has nuances that I don't know and cannot account for in this article. When you plan to demonstrate your leadership abilities, you must consider the culture at your company. Here are examples of cultural considerations I have observed at companies when it comes to demonstrating leadership:

  • Ability to generate new raw business

  • Demonstrated recruitment of new hires

  • Standing up a new line of business or business offering

  • Published articles or other thought leadership materials

  • Public speaking on behalf of the company

  • Community service

These are cultural aspects of individual companies that I have observed to demonstrate leadership at those companies. Understanding your own company's culture is critical because you'll want to consider those special considerations in your development plan.

I've also seen some other cultural considerations for promotions. These are often a bit trickier. Examples I've seen include:

  • Relocating to another area of the country or another country

  • Working in multiple business divisions

  • Speaking more than one language

  • Extensive experience outside the company

  • Advanced degrees or certifications

If your company has non-negotiable requirements for promotion, you'll need to decide if you're willing to entertain them. You need to understand your company's reality and have a healthy self-awareness about yourself and your place there. If you are not ready to make the changes required in your current environment, it may be time to consider finding a new environment that is more aligned with your career goals.  

If you are aligned with your company's culture and determine you want to demonstrate your leadership more deliberately, consider focusing on the following five areas.

Key Take-away: Know what is considered the "ticket to entry" for leadership in your company's culture.

Demonstrate an external focus

When you're looking to demonstrate your leadership ability, you need to look beyond yourself and your own needs and wants. I understand that this can seem counterintuitive, but a large part of being a leader is putting the business and your people before yourself. If you can't do that now, how can you be trusted to do it later?

Show that you understand others' needs by looking for problems to solve, gaps to fill, and ways to add value. Regardless of how much you want to be recognized and rewarded, don't focus every conversation on you. Proactively bring creative ideas and solutions to your discussions as evidence that you are thinking about the business without being explicitly asked.

Ask questions to understand the company's issues more deeply. That way, you're more prepared to be part of the solution. Contribute meaningful work outside of your role's daily duties, whether that is thought leadership, speaking at internal events or in the industry, or other options that excite you. I'm not suggesting that you take on an overload of extra work – that will not work in your favor. Be deliberate about it, take on additional work items that align with your goals, are interesting to you, and demonstrate value to the company.

I've heard two responses to this approach that I'd like to address. The first is that leaders should approach employees about taking on work. This response is what I call the "they should come to me" attitude. I think this attitude is fair as long as you aren't expecting to be recognized or valued for being a leader. Leaders speak up, and leaders take on additional responsibility without being asked.

The second response is that this is giving something away that should receive compensation in return. This response is what we'll call the "I'm being taken advantage of" reaction. If you are looking to grow your brand, additional responsibilities and extra work outside your normal activities should be considered an investment in your brand. There needs to be a balance, which is why you should not take on work that you cannot manage.

Key Take-Away: If you want to be considered a leader, it can't be all about you!

Be self-aware

We've talked about how you need to consider the business's needs if you want to be a leader—being self-aware means that you also need to keep in mind your strengths and opportunities for growth. You can't possibly know everything, and there are some areas where you have outstanding skills and others where you're still developing.

Self-awareness is made up of two components in a leadership context—knowing yourself and knowing what others think of you. You will need to assess your strengths and opportunities and then build an actionable plan based on your findings. You will also need to solicit feedback from trusted advisors who will give it to you straight. Now is not the time to ask people who tell you only what you want to hear. Honest, constructive feedback is hard to hear, but it makes us better leaders. It allows us a golden opportunity to address growth areas on our terms before a decision-maker tells us that growth area is what's holding us back.

When we disagree with feedback given to us, it's an opportunity for us to gain feedback on our brand. Why does the person have this opinion of us? Is it grounded in reality, or is it a perception formed on hearsay or a false narrative? Is there a way to address the feedback through your own actions, or is it something that will require changing the story about you or the perceptions this person has about you?

Once you have a solid understanding of your skills, strengths, and areas for growth, it's time to lean on those around you. Ask others for help when you need it. Lean into your strengths and take on opportunities to give you the freedom to develop in the areas where you need room to grow.

Key Take-Away: Ask for feedback from people who will give you some you don't want to hear.

Think strategically

Strategic thinking means that you use a deliberate approach to problem-solving.  Leaders who are excellent strategic thinkers can often anticipate multiple outcomes and account for them proactively, making them more prepared regardless of how the situation ends up playing out.

When you are looking for ways to demonstrate this competency, it helps to be in a strategic role. But regardless of your position or level, you can find ways to bring a point of view to discussions. You can also find new and creative ways to solve problems and then spread those methods to others. Being a change agent is valuable work regardless of level. Another way to demonstrate this competency is to bring solutions along with your complaints. If you are going to bring up a problem, make sure you have ideas ready to go on how to solve them.

Key Take-Away: Formulate your point of view on important topics; Bring solutions along with your problems. 

Innovate

Paired closely with thinking strategically, innovating is a critical leadership competency. Demonstrating that you can find creative solutions to problems and new business opportunities will differentiate you. Innovation is a guaranteed way to generate the positive attention you will need to turn decision-makers into your advocates.

Not all innovation is disruptive. You can make small, incremental innovations that add up to massive positive change over time. The key here is to identify ways to improve and that you're doing it consistently.

What about when you are trying to innovate, but your leaders are quick to say "no"? This situation is so frustrating! The bottom line is that not all cultures are open to change or creativity. I recommend being persistent but reading the non-verbal cues so that you don't cross the line to annoying. Look for ways to reframe your request. Is your business case formed around factual information, and have you had other people look at it and accepted constructive feedback on it? Quantitative data, even when it's a projection, often helps build a more compelling case. Don't take the first "no" as your final answer; most great ideas don't get the green light on the first ask!

As a leader, it's also critical that we foster an innovative environment for our teams. We can do this by creating a culture where appropriate risk-taking is encouraged, where the response to failure is to learn, and where continuous improvement is encouraged. Also, as leaders, we can look for ways to say “yes”, even if we need to qualify it, rather than immediately jumping to “no”.

Key Take-Away: Look for big and small ways to create positive improvements; don't take the first "no" as your signal to stop trying.

Remain versatile

Remaining versatile allows you to fit the various situations and people that you'll need to work with as a leader. We'll find ourselves outside our comfort zone often, and we'll also find ourselves with people and situations that are not a good fit for us. As leaders, we need to be the ones to flex and adapt. 

Another aspect of versatility is that of our assignment. We often have a particular domain of the business or subject matter we're attached to. As a leader we must be willing to try new areas – sometimes that's where the opportunities are. And sometimes we can have more impact by moving to a place where there is a need.  We can demonstrate our learning agility in addition to our versatility.

Key Take-Away: Leaders work with the situations and the people that need them.

Your call to action

Consider these five leadership competencies:

  • Demonstrate an external focus

  • Be self-aware

  • Think strategically

  • Innovate

  • Remain versatile

How do you rate yourself in each? Are there some that you could focus on improving or demonstrating more deliberately? Do you have enough feedback gathered to share with your trusted advisors so that they can help you in crafting a plan? Add one or two of these five competencies, along with a few specific action steps, to your development plan for the next quarter and get started!

Additional Resources

For a refresher on self-awareness and building it. Also, a great, short breakdown of the two types of self-awareness.

 Self-Awareness can help our growth as decision-makers, managers, and colleagues. This short article suggests 4 steps to assist in the self-evaluation process.

If you aren't sure where to start with strategic thinking, this is a tactical problem-framing process from Google.

 If you have access to LinkedIn Learning, there's a short course called Strategic Thinking available. It's just over 30 minutes. The instructor is Dorie Clark. I'd suggest following that up with another class from Dorie called How to Make Strategic Thinking a Habit, which is also about 30 minutes.

 This article gives ideas for innovating in even the most boring of current circumstances.

Real Talk on Leadership #1: Mentor, Coach, Manager, Leader: What’s the Difference?

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This article is the first of a few in a series about leadership, how to demonstrate it, and how to change others’ perception of your leadership abilities. We won’t tackle this entire subject in one article because that wouldn’t do it any justice. In this first article, I will build a foundation that we’ll build on in subsequent articles.  

Where I see people get tripped up the most when it comes to this subject is confusing what it means to be a leader. I understand the confusion because understanding the nuances of demonstrating leadership is not as easy as it might seem. The second most prevalent problem area, in my observation, is a misalignment of self-awareness. What is meant by this is as follows: you may consider yourself a leader, but the people deciding on your next opportunity don’t.

Here’s the plan for this article series:

  • In this first article, the aim is to explain the differences between mentoring, coaching, managing, and leading.

  • The second article will focus on demonstrating leadership, whether you’re in a formal leadership role or not.

  • The third article will tackle the formidable challenge of changing perceptions when you’re not looked at as a next-level leader, whether you’re already in a formal leadership role and looking to get promoted to the next one or looking for your first chance at one.

I’m always interested in hearing what would be helpful for you to read about, so contact me if there’s a particular question or topic that you have in mind.  

Mentor, Coach, Manager, Leader: What’s the Difference?

I’ve had so many conversations over my career, like the examples below. I also talk to friends and family who share similar experiences, and in my interactions with people I mentor and coach, I hear the same types of stories.  

Example number one: A co-worker says, “You’re telling me I need to show that I can help other people develop in their careers, but I can’t coach people when I’m not a manager.” (Not true.)

Example number two: Someone I’m mentoring says, “I’m trying hard to get promoted, but I’m told I have an experience gap leading people. I can’t lead people if I can’t get promoted to a formal leadership position!” (Absolutely not right.)

Example number three: A person I’m talking with says something along these lines, “I hear all the time about what great work I do…so why can’t I get promoted?” (So real it hurts.)

And, a final example: “I’ve been serving as a mentor for years. How can they say I’m not qualified for a formal leadership role?” (Keep reading.)

These situations often lead to long conversations about coaching, mentoring, leading, and managing. There’s a difference between coaching and mentoring, and there’s also a difference between managing and leading. Different situations call for each of these tactics, and some problems are tough enough that we need to use all of them.

When we’re looking for people to help us with our development, we must be specific with our ask. It’s also helpful that we use a common vocabulary. As we map a plan for our development goals, those same things are essential - we need to be specific and use terminology that people understand. When we aren’t straightforward and use words that aren’t understood, it is harder for us to get what we’re looking for. So, let’s make things easier.

The roles of mentor, coach, manager, and leader are all important and valuable, and each of them is achievable for each of us as a development goal. But they are very different. If we’re going to find people to play the parts in our development, or if we’re going to inhabit the roles ourselves, we need to understand the nuances of them. We also need to understand the boundaries and which of these we can play outside of formal job titles. Spoiler: all of them except the manager.

Mentor

A mentor can help you grow and succeed in your career. Mentors can provide expert guidance on a specific subject and serve as a role model. In many cases, we can pattern our development after our mentor; we look at their skills and competencies, identifying our gaps.

A mentor can help guide us to success, but they aren’t necessarily going to tell us exactly how to go about it. They can provide a positive example, guidance, and a wealth of information. A mentor is not usually a job title – any person at any level can act as a mentor if they meet the other criteria described above.

When I evaluate whether someone is meeting the mark as a mentor, I look at whether their mentees are making progress towards their goals. Mentors can and should be a guide, a resource, and a helper on our development journey. They are not a magician. All the work of developing, getting promoted, and changing your brand is still up to you.

Key Take-Away: You can be a fantastic mentor, which does not automatically mean you are also a leader. These two terms are not interchangeable.

Coach

A coach focuses on helping you improve your performance. A coach can help you identify gaps in skills and competencies and works with you to create an action plan to address those gaps. A coach doesn’t have to be an expert in the same field as you, but they need to be a great observer and deliver candid feedback. You’ll sometimes see a coach used as a job title or formal role - an example of this is an agile coach.

In terms of your development, the term coach doesn’t have to be a proper role; it can be an informal one. For instance, a peer can be assigned as your coach when you join a new team, and that can be considered an “other duty as assigned” that they take on for a short time to help with your onboarding.

They will likely give us ideas on how to go about doing it, too. They provide feedback and action ideas. There are times when your manager or another leader in your reporting chain will act as a coach to you. A peer may sometimes act as a coach if there is a skill or subject matter that you need assistance with developing.  

To determine if a coach is performing effectively, first, I look at their assessment of who they’re coaching (what did they establish as the areas for growth?). Then I compare that against their suggestions for development; what are they “prescribing” that the target undertakes to make progress? Are those suggestions reasonable, actionable, and will they help create change?

Key Take-Away: A coach can help us gain specific skills or address performance areas that need development.

Manager

A manager is responsible for activities that need to get done and the people who need to do them. A manager is a formal role or job title. You don’t get to decide to be a manager, it’s something that you either are or aren’t, and you and everyone else will know it. This role is the only one on this list that you don’t get to decide to be on your own.

The manager’s specific job responsibilities will depend on their assignment, but there are a few broad skills and competencies that apply to the role of manager. Managers need to be able to communicate clearly so that their employees understand expectations. They also use their communication skills to deliver clear feedback when necessary (good feedback and constructive feedback). Managers use their organizational skills to ensure that work completes in a timely and efficient manner. They use problem-solving skills to solve problems that arise in the course of conducting business.  

When conducting a manager evaluation, the job description and the year’s goals provide context. I also assess whether the manager builds strong relationships with their direct reports, peers, and stakeholders. I’ll then look at the manager’s coaching and leadership qualities; while not always required, they are certainly differentiators.

Key Take-Away: A manager doesn’t have to be a mentor, coach, or leader, but good managers are all of these.

Leader

First, being a leader isn’t tied to a title or a role. Anyone at any level can be a leader. Some of the finest leaders I’ve ever known have been in individual contributor roles with no direct reports. Please don’t be fooled by the notion that you need a title or a formal role to be a leader. Suppose you’re struggling with getting the opportunities you’re looking for or are dissatisfied with the perception decision-makers have of you. In that case, I can assure you that this belief that you need a title or role first is at least part of what’s holding you back.

A leader is a person that other people want to follow! That’s the first part of my definition. What makes people want to follow? The ability to influence, engendering loyalty, articulating a common vision that builds a sense of shared mission - those are all ways to create a following.

Creating the following must be combined with acumen. This second part often gets overlooked. But just because you can recruit people into your fold doesn’t mean that you make good choices about using that power. That’s why the second part of my definition is the much more difficult part. True leaders exhibit the ability to make the right decisions, especially when exercising their power. And the power you have when people are willing to follow you is immense.

When I need to determine if someone is demonstrating leadership effectively, I use the definition I’ve shared with you in this article. I first check whether the person in question can convince people to follow them. If they can, I gauge whether they exercise sound judgment in deciding how to use that power. That’s the most effective measure of leadership I’ve found, and it’s worked for me in quite a few different business contexts.

Key Take-Away: Creating a following + using it wisely = leadership.

Your Call to Action

If it serves you and your development, spend some time thinking about these roles: mentor, coach, manager, and leader. Where would you rate yourself in each? Do you have a need and a desire to grow? Do you need a mentor or a coach? Do you know how decision-makers perceive your leadership abilities? Do you need to influence that perception in a different direction? Once you understand your current state and the gaps you have, you can start making a plan for moving forward.

As I mentioned in the opening paragraphs, the next article in this series will focus on demonstrating that you’re a leader, whether you’re in a formal leadership role or looking to move into one.  

 

Additional Reading

  • This article has been around for many years, but it's still a great primer on the fundamental differences between managers and leaders.

Managers and Leaders: Are They Different?  Harvard Business Review, Zaleznik, A.

  • A continuous focus on self-improvement is critical for all leaders, especially new ones.

Anyone Can Learn to Be a Better Leader HarvardBusinessReview.com, Valcour, M.

  • Ready to look for a mentor? This article has some great tips to help with the search and the beginning of the relationship.

10 Tips for Finding a Mentor - and Making the Relationship Count themuse.com, Roepe, L.R.