What kind of leader do you think you are?

Today, we have to be able to do a lot more things faster and with fewer resources. So, what should leadership be like in these circumstances?

Like most leaders have been managing in the same way for years or even decades and like they are either interested in results or people. Those who focus on results are referred to as autocratic while those who focus more on people are democratic leaders. Who is an agile leader? Three utils that promote collaborative leadership:

n this changing world, is it possible for leaders to lead themselves and their colleagues in a way that their presence helps employees and the organization to profit as well?

Are you an agile leader?

Topdown organizations worked well in the past. However, this operating model is too slow today. It doesn’t motivate people and kills the tendency to initiate. Customers demand faster services and better products so it’s important for everyone to do the best of their abilities. Since speed is the key to success today, leading in collaboration is much more efficient than the old command-and-control based system. Today, we have to be able to do a lot more things faster and with fewer resources. On the other hand, people expect a bigger sense of accomplishment and more value creation from their work. Are you an agile leader? here is an Agile leadership questionnaire.

So, what should leadership be like in these circumstances? Three steps that promote collaborative leadership:

This article is based on the book The one minute manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Jonhson:

One-minute goals:

  • Establishing goals is done together with the manager
  • The goal and the expected performance always fit on one page in 1 or 2 paragraphs
  • Establishing About 3-5 goals
  • They can be assessed daily checking whether the behavior is aligned with the goal

One-minute praisings:

  • Clear feedback about the progress and the satisfaction caused by it
  • Short calm to be happy about the success
  • Reinforcement of the praising and of the continuation of great work

One-minute re-directs:

  • Guidelines help correcting mistakes
  • Making sure that the goals established were clear
  • Facts about making mistakes and about the feelings that they induced in the manager
  • Calm to have time for things to settle
  • Reinforcement of continuing the work in hopes that this mistake will never happen again

Establishing goals makes it clear what we should mainly focus on, praisings enhance trust and confidence which are must-haves for success and re-directs are aimed at mistakes. All of these three elements help in making people feel good and achieve good results.

What do you think about these three elements? How would you use them as a leader?

Author: Zsuzsa Danka
This article is based on the book Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson: The one minute manager

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