Barb Vann's Web Site

There have been a lot of terrific comments and perspectives offered in the post on Leadership Definitions. If all the comments provided were put together it may say something like:

• Leadership is developing a vision, establishing direction, and guiding and aligning people to meet that vision. Leadership is motivating and inspiring others to be the best they can be. Leadership is about being aware of your surroundings and understanding the climate of your team, your customers, and your company. Leadership is knowing how and when to initiate change that enables the company to remain competitive and profitable while providing customers with innovative, high-quality products and services.

Following are some of the attributes I think are important with great leadership. I tried to keep this to a top 10 list. It was not easy to do and in some cases I may have merged a couple of like ideas.

 I have tried to embody these in my approach to leading teams and organizations. Sometimes I hit a home run and sometimes I strike out, but these are some of the things I strive to incorporate into my approach, in a way they are my compass. I also believe that leadership happens and should happen across all levels of people in an organization.

1. Know your customer – understand their needs and expectations. It is not enough to do things right, you must also do the right thing. Understanding your customers needs and expectations is a foundation for doing the right thing.
2. Know your team – take a genuine interest in the issues and concerns of your team. Listen and ensure that people feel listened to. Make time for people when they need you no matter how busy you are. Display confidence and trust in people to make the right decisions.
3. Lead with vision – let people know expectations, priorities, and objectives. It is not enough though to just have a vision. It needs to be underpinned by a plan, there needs to be clarity in goals and metrics so that people can take action towards the vision and see how their day to day contributions fits in with attaining the overall objective.
4. Invest in your employees – develop the best talent, and put the right people in the right jobs (this is casting). Casting is everything – Draw upon the strengths of others – Don’t bring out the best in employees by focusing on fixing their “weaknesses”. Focus on each person’s strengths and manage around their weakness.  By developing talent within your team you really elevate the performance of the individuals and the collective team.
5. Invest in yourself – Know what you don’t know – continually keep learning, but leverage the talents and knowledge of others. Share the wisdom – pass your knowledge on to others.
6. Integrity & character – How you accomplish something is as important as what you accomplish.
7. Be decisive and flexible – make decisions, but be willing to admit when you are wrong. Honor your commitments – keep your promises.
8. Let others shine – need I say more.
9. Work with passion, energy, and enthusiasm – Attitudes are contagious.
10. Be agile and adapt to the environment – respond to new opportunities quickly.