“We’re working together, independently,” the senior leader told me.
What do you mean?
“We work together in the same company,” they answered. “But how we go about achieving our so-called ‘shared objectives’ involves little cooperation or collaboration. We might as well be in different companies. We’re just a bunch of leaders acting independently.”
There are many pathways to developing your leadership. However, what good is improved leadership if that leadership isn’t in concert or aligned with other leaders?
Leadership matters – but only teams deliver.
Too many organizations continue to over-index on developing leaders minus the context in which leaders must operate and deliver results. This occurs despite the fact that today successful leaders:
- Are first and foremost an effective team member on a team of leaders;
- They deeply connect and earn the right to influence those they’re responsible for leading;
- And they accomplish 1 and 2 in the context of a business imperative – the outcome – the team(s) must deliver together.
The companies that are succeeding in developing the next generation of leaders understand the importance of this part-whole method.
Does your leadership development accomplish these outcomes?
While continuously improving and refining our methods, the principles stated above have been staples in our flagship program, Pathways to Leadership®. And there’s another significant reason why this award-winning program has successfully developed thousands of leaders in over 36 different countries.
Some tell us this next principle is the most important aspect of their path to effective leadership:
- Successful leaders ensure their family and friends don’t get their leftovers.
In other words: The best leaders are at their best when it matters most.
