A lot of people discuss what great leadership is and what is the best leadership style to adopt.
For us, this is starting with the wrong questions.
Every single leader is a uniquely different person working in a unique context with unique requirements and expectations.
Therefore, leading and leading better, means starting with understanding your uniqueness.
Here are 8 steps to becoming a leader of the future:
Picture: Paul Morris, unsplash.com
1) Deeply understand your uniqueness
Like the great greek philospher said – “Know thy self”.
How can you ever achieve anything, have a clear vision and clear boundaries if not from that?
From who you really are and what you really want?
Understanding your uniqueness is a process. Everyone knows themselves, but everyone can learn a lot more and get a much deeper understanding of their uniqueness.
It´s about understanding your core beliefs about life, your core values, key strengths, what makes you deeply frustrated and deeply motivated. And why. Why why why!
Coaching, mappings and reflections exercises are brilliant ways to gain new insights!
Equally great are collecting very honest feedback from your clients and your colleagues.
2) Be clear about what you want and why – your dreams, your vision, your mission
When you deeply understand what motivates and frustrates you, what changes you would like to see in the world, and how your unique leadership qualities can contribute to that
– describing your vision and mission becomes a walk in the park!
Keep exploring your uniqueness until your vision and mission become a direct product of that.
3) Manage your doubts, fears and limiting beliefs
Once you get clear about what you really want and why, your fears and doubts kick in big time!
Who am I to do this?
This isn´t really possible, is it?
Why can´t I just be happy with what I´ve got already?
Fears and doubts are a natural part of re-creating leadership and achieving what you really want.
Therefore learn a lot about your fears. Write about them. Share them. Learn tools and techniques about how to manage them.
There are loads of them out there – and they are all super interesting and very powerful!
I can really recommend The Work by Byron Katie – simple yet transformationally powerful.
And here´s a blog post I wrote recently with another powerful tool:
What you hate about others holds the key to unblocking yourself
4) Realize you can´t do it on your own
Yes you are deeply unique and massively capable. No doubt in the world!
But you need people! Your people! People who share your vision, your values and your dreams.
Experts, supporters, challengers, investors, sponsors, helpers and many many more.
Embrace them them all and create your dream together with them!
5) Create a solid roadmap to make it happen
You have gained clarity about what you want, started to build your network and learned how to manage your thoughts and feeling – now it´s important to create solid roadmap!
How is your mission going to come to life? What will be the key milestones each year?
Yes you can adjust this as you go, and you´ll probably have to do it anyway, but sketching out a detailed roadmap with your top 5-10 milestones for each of the next 5 or 10 years gives both you and your people a shared understanding of where you are starting from and where you are heading.
The best way to do it is to sketch out an initial proposal and then engage with your partners, colleagues and network to get feedback on it.
Let them be all critical and give you their very honest feedback.
Then create a new roadmap according to your colleagues´ feedback. Make sure your take all their feedback into account! That way everyone feels ownership, commitment and passion to making their mission a reality.
6) Develop a mindset of creation
We know from research that our mindset is hugely mouldable.
Every single one of us, regardless of age, can train our mind to tackle stress and pressure and develop a mindset which is significantly more creative, flexible, adaptable, risk-willing and pragmatic.
So what is a mindset of creation?
It´s one of..
– curiosity
– thinking freely and fully for yourself
– not taking things personally, but focusing on tasks and dealing with whatever is
– a mindset of we as much as I
– a mindset of everything is possible if we really want it and believe in it
– faith and willingness to face the unknown
– patience – accepting that it takes years to grow something new
– risk willingness, knowing that failing is one of the most effective ways to learn
– strong boundaries, saying yes only to where there is alignment with what you do
– action and taking the next steps, daring to think short-term as much as long-term
– celebration – celebrating each milestone to ensure a continued and shared strong energy, commitment and motivation
– a mindset of fuck it and taking a break
– one of structure and direction – knowing that details and tactics are as important as vision, direction and goals – YES AND!
And much much more..
What is a mindset of creation for you?
7) Re-create your vision and goals
As you learn, and as more people take part in your shared journey, it is crucial to adjust your goals, vision, values and mission. Always staying loyal to the core of why you do what you do, but also being willing to adjust and re-create when it makes sense.
You learn as you go and the people you work with will also change. Inviting your team to adjust and re-create your vision is crucial to keep your work consistently thriving and blossoming.
8) Talk about leadership and the future of leadership
I´ve studied at business schools and universities and worked in many different offices and co-working spaces.
And it´s astonishing how little people talk about leadership and leadership of the future.
How are we ever going to innovate leadership if we don´t talk about it, think about it and discuss it a whole lot?
Leaders of the future do this a lot – over a dinner, lunch, over a pint or 5, at parties and in their spare time.
If you are passionate about your work and serious about making your mission a reality, it is important to start talking about the future of leadership and the future of organisations.
Become a leader of the future – start with your uniqueness!
