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.
What Self-Awareness Really Is and How to Cultivate It Harvard Business Review, Eurich, T.
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.
4 Steps to Becoming a More Self-Aware Leader Kellogg Insight - Kellogg School of Management.
If you aren't sure where to start with strategic thinking, this is a tactical problem-framing process from Google.
How to Become a Strategic Problem Solve in 5 Steps Think with Google, Kennedy, E.
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.