Want to Lead? Consider These Questions: #7 of 7
Filed under: 7 Key Questions of Aspiring Leaders, Developing Others, Developing Yourself, Leadership Tip of the Day
Note: the Seven Key Questions for Ambitious, Aspiring Leaders, are presented in the book, Practical Lessons in Leadership by Art Petty and Rich Petro. I’ll explore each question here at Building Better Leaders through individual “Leadership Tip of the Day” posts, offering ideas for investigation and discussion.
The first six questions in this series challenged you to think through issues that are both philosophical and powerfully practical:
- Why do you want to lead?
- Do you understand the true role of a leader?
- Do you understand that the skills that made you successful as an individual contributor are not the skills that will carry you forward?
- Are you prepared to give up your domain expertise as your foundation for results?
- What do you believe are the skills and personality traits that you need to succeed as a leader?
- Do you understand that you will be judged by the output of your team and held accountable for this output?
If you’ve made it through the investigation of questions 1-6, it’s time for you to consider what your daily work life will be like as a leader.
7. What do you imagine your workday life to be like as a leader?
For those accustomed to having some semblance of autonomy over their daily lives, the transition to a role as a leader can shock the system. This move from a “me-centric” daily routine to “everyone but me” focus has caught many an early leader by surprise. The “day in the life” discussion fostered by this question will help clarify what a leader does everyday and how it differs from the role of individual contributor. One suggestion is to allow aspiring leaders the opportunity to shadow you from time to time, as a means of understanding just how unglamorous leading can be. Another suggestion is to have the aspiring leader spend a little bit of time with other leaders and interview them about their daily and weekly activities.
The Takeaway from The 7 Questions:
The Seven Key Questions for the Ambitious Aspiring Leader are powerful conversation starters to support a manager’s leadership development activities. They are not intended to be delivered in machine-gun style, but rather to be used in concert with an approach to helping individuals discover and explore the profession of leadership. Not everyone should lead, yet someone motivated by advancement might believe that leadership is the best or only way to achieve this goal. An effective mutual discovery process is the leader’s best friend in helping identify leadership talent and in helping individuals come to their own conclusion on whether leading is a good choice for their own careers.
Want to Lead? Answer These Questions! #6 of 7
Filed under: 7 Key Questions of Aspiring Leaders, Developing Key Skills, Developing Others, Developing Yourself
Note: the Seven Key Questions for Ambitious, Aspiring Leaders, are presented in the book, Practical Lessons in Leadership by Art Petty and Rich Petro. I’ll explore each question here at Building Better Leaders through individual “Leadership Tip of the Day” posts, offering ideas for investigation and discussion.
The first five questions in this series challenged you to think through issues that are both philosophical and powerfully practical:
- Why do you want to lead?
- Do you understand the true role of a leader?
- Do you understand that the skills that made you successful as an individual contributor are not the skills that will carry you forward?
- Are you prepared to give up your domain expertise as your foundation for results?
- What do you believe are the skills and personality traits that you need to succeed as a leader?
If you’ve made it through the investigation of questions 1-5, it’s time for you to consider your new world of accountability.
Number 6. Do you understand that you will be responsible for the output of your team members, and that you will be judged on this output?
One of the transition challenges that many first-time leaders face is recognizing and accepting the new found accountability for the results of others. You can look left and right, but at the end of the day, you need only look in the mirror to find the person responsible for the output of your team. This issue underscores your need to focus on talent selection and development, creating the effective working environment and doing everything in your power to knock down obstacles so that others can plow ahead on their endeavors. You’ve moved from a “me-centric” role to one that is completely “you-centric.”
Consider your responsibility and new-found accountability very carefully and remember that you will now live by the Coach’s Credo: “If we succeed, it’s because of the team and if we fail, it’s because of me.”
Want to Lead? What Skills Do I Need to Succeed? #5 of 7
Filed under: 7 Key Questions of Aspiring Leaders, Developing Key Skills, Developing Yourself, Leadership & Career, Leadership Tip of the Day
Note: the Seven Key Questions for Ambitious, Aspiring Leaders, are presented in the book, Practical Lessons in Leadership by Art Petty and Rich Petro. I’ll explore each question here at Building Better Leaders through individual “Leadership Tip of the Day” posts, offering ideas for investigation and discussion.
The first four questions in this series challenged you to think through issues that are both philosophical and powerfully practical:
- Why do you want to lead?
- Do you understand the true role of a leader?
- Do you understand that the skills that made you successful as an individual contributor are not the skills that will carry you forward?
- Are you prepared to give up your domain expertise as your foundation for results?
If you’ve made it through the investigation of questions 1-4, it’s time for you to focus in on what it takes to be successful as a leader.
5. What do you believe are the skills and personality traits that you need to succeed as a leader?
This question allows the manager and aspiring leader to dig deeper into the role of leadership and to raise awareness of distinct skills and traits essential for leadership success. One potential assignment is to ask the aspiring leader to think about leaders that he/she has admired and to describe what it was about these people that made them positive role models. And as always, I encourage aspiring leaders to sit down with experienced leaders and talk about the role and challenges. Chances are the answers to this question will sound a lot like: patience, fortitude, comfort in coaching and delivering feedback, ability to connect the big picture to day to day realities and so forth.
All of these questions are about building context for the role and life of a leader, and through studying others, the individual can think about their own skills and how they apply or where they need to be strengthened.
Want to Lead? #4 of 7. It’s Time to Ask and Answer a Difficult Question
Filed under: 7 Key Questions of Aspiring Leaders, Decisions, Developing Yourself, Leadership & Career, Leadership Tip of the Day
Note: the Seven Key Questions for Ambitious, Aspiring Leaders, are presented in the book, Practical Lessons in Leadership by Art Petty and Rich Petro. I’ll explore each question here at Building Better Leaders through individual “Leadership Tip of the Day” posts, offering ideas for investigation and discussion.
The first three questions in this series challenged you to think through issues that are both philosophical and powerfully practical:
- Why do you want to lead?
- Do you understand the true role of a leader?
- Do you understand that the skills that made you successful as an individual contributor are not the skills that will carry you forward?
The next question in the series builds on #3 by asking you to consider whether you are truly willing to let go of some of that expertise as part of your transformation as a leader.
#4: Are you prepared to give up domain expertise as your foundation for results?
Consider the cases of the brilliant surgeon that takes on the role as Chief of Staff, or, the skilled tradesperson that becomes a superintendent. Add in the successful teacher that becomes a school principal and the successful law enforcement officer that is promoted to ride a desk. While prior experience and long-developed skills will prove valuable in the new pursuits, a very different set of skills are required for success.
The new skills focus more on supporting and serving others through teaching, mentoring and guiding. Instead of being the expert, the newly minted leader is now in charge of helping others develop expertise. For many moving from the role of individual contributor or knowledge worker to the role of leader, this loss of sense of self and the need to reinvent prove traumatic.
For good or bad, we tend to identify not only with our jobs but with the work and skills that others acknowledge us for in our daily lives. Thoroughly investigating and forming answers for questions 1-3 is a critical first step. Once you’ve progressed through those important questions, it’s time to stare in the mirror and ask and answer question #4. If you conclude that you cannot let go…that your skills are who you are, then say no. If you are OK with the notion of reinventing yourself, then keep moving forward.
The only mistake is to not ask and answer these questions honestly.
Want to Lead? #3 of 7-Your Individual Contributor Skills No Longer Count!
Filed under: 7 Key Questions of Aspiring Leaders, Developing Key Skills, Developing Others, Leadership Tip of the Day
Note: the Seven Key Questions for Ambitious, Aspiring Leaders, are presented in the book, Practical Lessons in Leadership by Art Petty and Rich Petro. I’ll explore each question here at Building Better Leaders through individual “Leadership Tip of the Day” posts, offering ideas for investigation and discussion.
The prior questions challenged you to ask and answer, “Why do you want to lead?” and “Do You Understand the Role of a Leader?” The third question focuses on the issue of skill sets. For too many early career leaders, it comes as a shock that the skills that brought them to the dance are not the skills that will help them win the contest.
Question number 3. Do you understand that the skills that make you successful as an individual contributor are not the skills you need to succeed as a leader?
I’ve noticed that new leaders on technical teams (software development, engineering, IT), often struggle with this issue. In part, the dilemma is created when senior leaders promote the best technicians into leadership roles, and then fail to provide the proper mentoring for the new role. This freshly minted leader is used to surviving and prospering on their technical prowess, and without proper context for their new priorities, they emphasize the technical topics over the issues of motivating, leading and guiding others.
One senior manager observing this repeated pattern, offered, “give a technical professional a choice between a technical or a people issue, and I guarantee which way they will go.”
While technical competence is important in many roles, the demands of leadership require that you shift your focus to priorities that emphasize forging an effective working environment and facilitating the development, coaching and achievement of others. Your job is to help create other technically adept team members, and to use your skills as a tool to cross-check on key decisions and encourage broader and bigger thinking.
Your value as an expert is now worth less than your value as someone that is responsible for creating experts. It’s critical that you focus on internalizing your new role and shift your focus to the people and teams in your environment.
Want to Lead? Answer These Questions! #2 of 7
Filed under: 7 Key Questions of Aspiring Leaders, Developing Others, Developing Yourself, Leadership & Career, Leadership Tip of the Day
Note: the Seven Key Questions for Ambitious, Aspiring Leaders, are presented in the book, Practical Lessons in Leadership by Art Petty and Rich Petro. I’ll explore each question here at Building Better Leaders through individual “Leadership Tip of the Day” posts, offering ideas for investigation and discussion.
The prior question challenged you to ask and answer, “Why do you want to lead?” This question focused on motivation, while our question today goes to understanding of the role of a leader. Clear answers for both are essential for making an informed decision on whether a role as a leader is proper for you.
The Second Question: “What do you think the true role of a leader is?“
This is a good open-ended question that can ferret out whether the ambitious professional has proper context for the role and purpose of a leader or whether he is preoccupied with advancement and perceives this as the best and fastest way.
I encourage people to talk to experienced leaders that seem to enjoy their work. Let them know that you are interested in pursuing a leadership role. Ask them the following questions:
- How would you describe your role as a leader?
- How has your view on this role changed over your career?
- Last and not least, what are your leadership priorities?
I have a sneaking suspicion that you will very quickly hear words and phrases like: developing others; coaching, providing feedback, clearing a path by knocking down obstacles and helping set goals.
Take good notes and think long and hard about whether the priority tasks described by experienced leaders fit well with your interest in leading. If yes, you’re on your way to building a solid foundation for your leadership career.
Oh, and for my two-cents worth on the role of a leader, check out my post at Management Excellence, “Leader, What’s Your Charter?”
Want to Lead? Answer These Questions! Number 1 of 7
Filed under: 7 Key Questions of Aspiring Leaders, Developing Others, Developing Yourself, Leadership Tip of the Day
Note: the Seven Key Questions for Ambitious, Aspiring Leaders are presented in Practical Lessons in Leadership by Art Petty and Rich Petro. I’ll explore each question here at Building Better Leaders through individual “Leadership Tip of the Day” posts, offering ideas for investigation.
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One of the fundamental tasks of any leader is to identify and develop his/her leadership bench strength.
In the ideal situation, the leader is watching her associates for signs of effective informal leadership skills, and then providing developmental assignments to those individuals interested in moving into more formal leadership roles. In this case, the aspiring leader gains valuable context for the role and challenges of leading and the manager is able to provide feedback and coaching.
Another scenario occurs when individual contributors or early career professionals recognize the potential benefits of a leadership role (usually it’s about money or title), and declare to their manager that they are ready to lead a team. Ask any experienced leader if they have been on the receiving end of someone walking into their office and making this declaration, and the leader will likely smile.
In either situation, the leader in charge can benefit from some simple but powerful questions to guide the ensuing discussions and activities.
The First Question:
1. Why do you want to lead other people?
This straightforward question can be disarming to the erstwhile leader. Often, well-intentioned professionals have not thought through what it is about leading others that they find appealing.
If the motivation is simply money, title or overall advancement (all reasonable desires), this question provides the opportunity to draw these objectives out and begin discussing the many ways that advancement can occur. Often, this question will clearly indicate that the individual does not have proper context for the true role of a leader, again opening the door for an important discussion.
The aspiring leader or coach/manager of the aspiring leader can use this simple question to encourage exploration and investigation into this heady topic. Try talking about the motivation to lead with other leaders of varying experience levels. A senior engineering manager offered to me that his motivation was very straight-forward: “I can contribute more to the firm by helping a group of engineers, than I can by working on my own.” Another people-savvy manager had discovered that one of her strengths was building coalitions across organizational silos. She found the ability to do this nearly-full time in support of helping people achieve their goals to be a rewarding experience and her primary motivation for leading.
Until the aspiring leader can plainly and genuinely articulate the answer to “Why?” they are unprepared to lead.
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