Leadership – Time to Flourish!

In my previous blog, I wrote about leadership development and unleashing potential both in the organization and personally. Now, I would like to continue the thought process and talk about the direction of the leadership; in which direction and how should it be helped to develop? 

Leadership style builds practice, culture, and cooperation. It reflects values and builds brand. What can be seen in the mirror is also visible to those, who do not look in the mirror. 

According to the work community survey conducted last autumn, our leaders are good at their job. In the survey, supervisory work was rated 4.33 on a scale of 1–5. The figure describes, among other things, how our leadership style is perceived in the organization. 

What is interesting is how leaders themselves experience and see their own leadership style at Huld. As part of the License to Lead -leadership development program is Mindy – personal leadership development path, which gives us an idea of what works and what should be developed on the company level to support and enable success in leader position.  

What kind of Support Leaders Need? 

These results are based on leaders’ own views on how they perceive their own work and role. Based on the results, the development areas and targets of the leadership style can be divided into four areas: goalsetting, decision-making & clarity, handling difficult issues, and the image of leadership. 

1. Goal-orientation. We need clear goals and vision of how we will achieve them. Our leaders need goals and challenges. In an expert organisation, challenging topics include performance challenges and addressing unprofessional behavior. 
2. Effective decision making. Clear responsibilities and empowerment are the key to timely decision making. Decisiveness is required; one must be able to make decisions without hesitation with the information at hand. Indecisiveness and passing the “hot potato” around without a clear picture of what, why, and when is happening is inefficient and frustrating. However, not being able to decide at that point in time is a decision itself: more information is required, responsible person to gather the information is nominated, and the deadline is agreed. Clarity increases safety and trust! 
3. Psychological safety. An ability and courage to dare to raise topics tactfully and with respect, even if they seem difficult and perhaps sensitive. This requires psychological safety and trust from the entire organization. Without trust, acting is not possible, and the energy is directed to irrelevant things. Leading does not equal to pleasing. 
4. Courage to show incompleteness. As leaders, we need to be braver to show our incompleteness and imperfection. Instead of a need to show the façade of success and perfection, there should be more courage to be genuinely incomplete. 

Change Needs to be Strengthened – Authenticity 

Life, with constantly changing situations, challenges the commitment to agreed change and direction. In a matter of fact, nothing in life is as certain as change. Without obvious benefits and rewards, it’s difficult to push through any change. It is essential to stop, and reflect on your own actions and their consequences, as well as your own feelings and those of the environment.   

Life is all about communication. I believe in the basic pillars of effective communication: meet, listen, and be genuinely interested. For me, these mean for example being present, making an eye contact, mirroring, showing compassion while the other person is talking, asking questions, being open and curious, and being open minded to the other person’s thoughts and views. 

It is easy to return to one’s old habits, especially when tired, when feeling like retreating into the shell for safety, and just being silent. For me, it’s all about authenticity. It is about me being me without thinking and worrying too much about what do I say, how do I say it, am I being understood correctly – or perhaps not understood at all? A significant part is also an ability to tolerate shame and failure, and accepting your own failure at times.

It’s easier to comfort a friend or a colleague in a moment of failure, but it’s clearly much more challenging to accept your own. Self-compassion is needed, and it can be learned. I’m on that path myself!