7 Levers of Leadership

7 levers a leader needs to understand and know how to use.

Strategic Execution - how does a manager deliver more value from accomplishing any important project? It begins by stepping back and examining the project before any action takes place and asking a simple question: what is the value creation opportunity inherent in delivering this project? Answering this question will highlight the collateral value that can be generated as a specific tasks within the project are completed. Involving your team in this discussion gives you a genuine and very natural place to discuss vision or core purpose, values and strategy. When this lever is properly engaged team engagement rises and with it productivity and speed.

Leadership Discipline - know yourself first. Why is it that some people seem to stay more on top of their game than others? People who lead well are conscience of themselves and the impact they have on those around them. Discipline should not be confused with following “the rules”, its about understanding and managing your emotional triggers. Those who achieve greatness in their field stay focused on how they act and how others see them, they prefer to nurture behaviour for long term success over short-term, often very satisfying, emotional outbursts.

Embracing diversity - too often this is limited to ethic or minority groups. This is really old hat. Great leaders past, now and in the future look past the obvious differences and focus their energies on understanding the individual differences that each person brings to the team. A friend of mine coined this as a specific inventory of each person's strengths, qualities, preferences and experience. With this inventory in place it is easier to establish respect amongst the team members, reinforce the value each brings and set up complementary working groups to solve problems and learn from each other.

Unleashing the Power of the team - how do you get a group of people to work as a team? You teach them how to be a team. Teams need to learn how to be a team and how to be successful working together. Teams are only needed when the solution cannot be obtained working as an individual. The leader must steadfastly work to hold the position of working on the team while the team works on the problem. This usually requires the manager to take a great leap forward into a space where they no longer see themselves as the solution provider, they must be ernest in accepting their role as facilitator not operator.

Relationship builder - Who should be in charge of relationships? In the 1960’s managers seem to portray the stereotypical ideal that it was the employee’s job to build the relationship with the boss, basically suck-up to get on. This is still out there and not just in isolated male dominated pockets. Leadership obligates you to flip this old concept on its head. The leader must be the relationship builder. Building networks top, middle and bottom. Your role requires you to know and be known by those who you need to get things done and build value; long term sustainable value for your shareholders.

Power constituencies - Its not about politics, its not about vanity networks, its about building networks inside and outside your company that enable you to successfully get decisions made and implemented. Your constituency builds because people enjoy being associated with success and or working on the right stuff. Power Constituencies comprise of people at all levels in an organization. You connect with them because you have identified them as playing a key part in helping you generate an appropriate solution to a strategic problem.

The LMO Equation - this is measured as valued created over time spent. Its not about time management, that’s for first line junior management trainees, its about judgement. Where and on what should do you spend your time? Great leaders are very aware of what work is important and which ideas/problems have the potential to add most value to the company. Ask yourself often, am I leading, managing or operating? Get the balance right and you maximize the return the time you invest in the business.