Did you know that you are solely responsible for your leader development? Yes, you must make it happen! You are responsible whether you are successfully leading, struggling in your role, an emerging leader, or a leader in transition.
Your best lessons will come from the actions you take and your leader engagement. Why you ask? Because people, that is why. You need to act in a way that helps you learn to lead people and accomplish the mission.
I recently read a book called “Act Like A Leader, Think Like A Leader” by Herminia Ibarra that helped me put perspective on leader development. You can find this book on Amazon here if you are interested.
“The only way to become a leader is to act like one.” – Herminia Ibarra
People are the most important, yet biggest variable to leading. It makes no difference if they are superiors, peers, or subordinates. Oh, and don’t forget, you are people too.
But, what action do you take?
Allow me to introduce you to a saying I heard many times during my career in the U.S. Army, “Ready, Fire, Aim.” Yes, you read that correct. “Ready, Fire, Aim.” I heard that saying over and over to create an action mindset. So, I came to embrace it as a concept for leading and ultimately leader development.
Here is a simple explanation for clarity:
- Ready – you are where you are at the moment – time now! You know what you know and you don’t know what you don’t know.
- Fire – you must act, you must lead, you accomplish the mission or task at hand and take care of those around you.
- Aim – you are fully aware of the consequences, you learn from your actions, choices, and the results.
Leading occurs in the moment. And, leadership is changing. Traditional or gut leadership is giving way to what is being called emerging leadership as discussed by Jennifer Jordan, Michael Wade, and Elizabeth Teracino in their Harvard Business Review article. The go it alone, command and control, gut leadership has a very narrow band of use and results in significant costs to followers and leaders alike.
So, if gut leadership is out and we must lead outside of ourselves. Let’s look at an example of ready, fire, aim to test this out:
Not too long ago, I noticed a young leader who was upset and distracted during the course I instruct. When I asked how he was doing, Joshua – not his real name – answered flat out that his boss hates him and that he was going to get fired. Joshua was shaken by his perceived failure and his inability to fix the situation.
After a brief coaching conversation on completing the course, Joshua focused on the task at hand instead of his leader development challenge. We would talk later. Joshua understood that I would assist him during the lunch break or after class when he was ready.
Ready or Externalizing
You and I habitually create anchors based upon what we have done and learned before. We internalize because we are human. In fact, internalizing creates anchors, which hold you back from developing as a leader. When you internalize, your reflections keep you in the past because you concern yourself with who you are.
Herminia Ibarra discusses the importance of being ready because “who you are as a leader is not the starting point on your development journey, but rather the outcome of learning about yourself.” You are ready when you realize that you must externalize your leader development redefining who you are and what you do.
After the day concluded, Joshua was ready. He explained his situation and what he had been doing for the past few weeks. Then, I asked Joshua if he was will to try another approach, something outside of himself. He said he was ready.
Fire or Outsight
Leader development, like working out, is more about the doing than making the exercise plan or creating the journal entry. You have to consistently act to get the results. Additionally, you cannot just go to a gym and start throwing weights around, you must have the correct approach. For leaders and leader development the best approach may just be the outsight principle.
In her book, Act Like Like A Leader, Think Like A Leader, Herminia Ibarra describes the outsight principle as the changes you make to redefine you as a leader.
Outsight means looking at a new way of doing things by redefining your job, your network, and yourself. Outsight creates the experience (outcomes) for reflection to create meaningful and sustainable leader development. When you look at yourself differently, approach your job differently, and learn from others do we grow as a leader.
So, let’s revisit Joshua and see what he could change in his approach. Here is a synopsis of what he decided to act on:
- Think on his staff work differently and realize giving briefings and developing slides builds communication and thinking skills while supporting his current leadership.
- He would set up an office call with the commander (the organization’s director) to determine how she preferred to receive information.
- He would ask for assistance from one of the best presenters in the organization to help him improve his presentation skills as well as slide making abilities.
Over the next week, Joshua updated me on his progress. And, before the end of our time in the course, he told me that things completely changed between “him and the boss.” His experiences were beyond anything he could have imagined:
- The office call turned into an additional meeting where he practiced his presentation skill and received feedback.
- The meeting with the best presenter in the organization turned into a full blown class on making slides and presenting them for this organization.
- The relationship with the boss changed almost immediately when he stopped giving reasons and started asking what he could do better.
- His staff work was now a stepping stone to his next leader position.
Joshua had meaningful experiences based upon looking outward. Leader development requires outsight providing usable outcomes. The outcomes allow for the insights that will make the leader development sustainable and meaningful.
Aim or Insight
Your insights will come after you have accomplished activities that change you as a leader. Experience is one of the best forms of learning and by taking action you make it possible to connect the dots in your knowledge, skills, and attributes as a leader. Your best learning, as well as your work as a leader, comes from action. Then you have the experience needed to gain sustainable and meaningful insights as a leader.
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” – Steve Jobs
The pursuit of more knowledge, checklists, 7 better ways to lead articles, and even leadership and professional development classes will not help you until you put that knowledge into practice. And, practice you must.
Breath and Take the Shot
An athlete spends a great deal of time drilling and practicing before the season and each game. You too must prepare as much as possible before your next season – your next position. You too must prepare before each game – your next opportunity for leader development.
So, here are a list of three questions adapted from Herminia Ibarra’s book plus one from me to help you redefine your leader development:
- What are the one or two key areas I can focus on to aid in my leader development?
- Where can I spend some time outside my immediate work for leader development?
- Who are the people I can spend more time with to learn and gain inspiration from?
- What should I be watching, listening, reading and studying to stay ready?
Now fire! You must act to redefine yourself as a leader and create meaningful and sustainable leader development. As a leader, you are never alone. There is so many great resources out there for education and information. Yet, you must put that into action through outsight. Next week we will begin talking about the leader’s roadmap to development.