Are You Ready to Be REMARKABLE? The Synopsis Part 2

In my last newsletter, I introduced you to the first five qualities of REMARKABLE leaders, which are included in my new book, “Be REMARKABLE! Learn to Unlearn: The New Leadership Mindset.”

The book was inspired by my observation of many leaders, from novice to veteran, who firmly believed that what stood them in good stead as leaders yesterday would continue to do so tomorrow. There was a dangerous lack of comprehension that when the world around you changes, you must change too. Otherwise, you become irrelevant.

Be REMARKABLE! Learn to Unlearn: The New Leadership Mindset comprehensively examines the intrinsic qualities of effective leadership in today’s volatile world. The acronym “REMARKABLE” encapsulates the leader who is: Resilient, Empathetic, Mindful, Adaptive, Resourceful, Known, Accountable, Brave, Listening, and Empowering.

Whilst the book guides you through the individual elements of the REMARKABLE mindset, offering insights into developing each facet to its full potential, this newsletter can aspire to no more than a curtain-raiser to the new leadership mindset.

I will unpack the last five of the qualities in the hope that you may be galvanised into buying the book to dive in deeper, or at least acknowledge that you must learn-unlearn- relearn. You must let go of things that may have worked well for you in the past. You must challenge your long-held assumptions and be open to changing your mindset. It is about the courage to change and the humility to admit that what you knew yesterday may no longer be relevant. Unlearning is a process of questioning the validity of what you believe in.

Known

What are you known for? What do you want to be known for? The answers to those two questions are at the core of your leadership brand.

Your leadership brand is what makes you distinctive. It is your reputation. It is not only based on what you do but also on how you do it. It tells people who you are, what your values and beliefs are, and the worth that you bring. It should reflect what you are passionate about.

It showcases your character and your competencies. People know what to expect from you and what differentiates you. Your brand is what makes you unique. When you have a strong brand, people know what you are capable of and can utilise your offerings more effectively. In other words, you’re more likely to attract the right people to work with and get more of the work you like to do.

In contrast, you can go unseen when people are unsure what you are known for. You want to stand out from the crowd. With that in mind, how do you create or reassess your brand?

1.     Self-assessment: Ask yourself these questions and write down your answers. What are your values? What are your competencies? What are you passionate about?

2.     Other’s assessments: assess how other people perceive your brand.

3.     Create your brand statement.

You must build trust in your brand with a focus on character and competence.

Character reflects how you are on the inside, including your intent and the level of integrity you display in your relationships with others. Your level of emotional and social intelligence has a huge impact in this regard. You demonstrate intent through caring, transparency, and openness; you demonstrate integrity through honesty, fairness, and authenticity.

Competence reflects how you are on the outside, including your capability and the results you deliver. This depends primarily on your mental intelligence, your education, and what you have learned during your professional career. Skills, knowledge, and experience demonstrate capability. You demonstrate results through reputation, credibility, and performance.

Both dimensions are vital, and in the book I discuss them in detail.

Accountable

Accountability is when you take responsibility for your actions. Accountability is when you do what you said you were going to do. You take ownership and follow through. Everyone in the organisation, including you, must be held accountable for getting the job done. To quote the French playwright Molière, “It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.”

When you are accountable, you admit your mistakes. You take accountability when things do not go according to plan. You see these events as learning opportunities and take measures to avoid them happening again. You communicate honestly with your team about what went wrong rather than hiding the truth. When there is accountability, there is no blame game – a toxic culture in which everyone blames everyone else for mistakes.

Unfortunately, there is a big problem with accountability in the workplace. Accountability receives more lip service than action. You can see a lack of accountability when leaders and employees look one way while pointing the finger in another direction. This indicates there  is a blame culture.

A lack of accountability can have devastating consequences, including low morale, low productivity, poor quality of work, smouldering mistakes, the blame game, and high turnover.

Accountability starts at the top. It begins with leaders (you). If you don’t hold yourself accountable, you cannot expect others to be accountable for delivering outcomes, meeting deadlines, accurate reporting, and so on. When you hold yourself accountable, your employees will follow suit.

To hold yourself and others accountable, you must set clear expectations. You must know what you expect of yourself, and others must know what to expect of you. In addition, everyone needs to know what is expected of them. You cannot hold someone accountable for something they know nothing or little about.

Everyone must have a sense of purpose. It is hard to be accountable for something if you do not know why you are doing it. Everyone must know how performance and success are going to be measured. There cannot be any surprises. Communication is key to accountability. It must include two-way feedback on what went well and what didn’t.

Brave

Being brave is core to outstanding leadership. Great leaders have a courageous mindset. They believe in themselves without limits. Importantly, brave leaders are not afraid to be vulnerable. They are prepared to break the rules for the better of everyone, step outside their comfort zone, ask the tough questions, have the hard conversations, and make the hard decisions.

Vulnerability is seen by many as a sign of weakness when, in fact, it is a sign of courage. Brave leaders are prepared to admit their mistakes. They dare to say, “Sorry, I messed up,” or “I made a mistake.” It encourages others to do the same, ensuring fewer mistakes are swept under the carpet.

Brave leaders also admit when they are struggling. For example, there may be times when you are not at the top of your game due to your health or matters in your personal life. It is okay to let other people (including your team) know about it. Vulnerability is not about sharing an exhaustive narrative about the disagreement you and your partner are currently having. No one needs a blow-by-blow account of the last heated conversation you had. It is enough to say that an issue at home is causing you some angst, but you are working toward a compromise with your partner.

Great leaders are brave enough to challenge the status quo and are also prepared to break the rules for the benefit of others. They do not break them for personal gain but for the greater good. Of course, there are some rules you should not break, especially those related to health, safety, or security. However, leaders will break rules when they result in better outcomes for employees, consumers, customers, and the organisation.

Leaders with a brave mindset know that if they stay in their comfort zone, nothing will change. The comfort zone is where you feel calm and safe, but not much is happening. There is not much movement or learning. When you are in this zone, there is no growth. It is okay to be in this zone sometimes, but, if you stay too long, the comfort zone shrinks as you become more and more fearful as more things don’t feel safe.

The brave leader asks, “What’s the worst that can happen?” When you pause to ask this question, you put a space between you and your fear. The worst thing is often not that bad; that realisation can spur you to act. If the worst thing that can happen is really bad, then perhaps this is an action you do not want to take.

Brave leaders are not afraid to have hard conversations or make hard decisions; they do not avoid them.

Listening

Both communicating and listening require a mindset. The communicating mindset drives you to think and be intentional about the purpose of your communication, analyse your different audiences, and be empathetic about their needs. The listening mindset allows you to listen, empathise, and understand the other person’s feelings. It enables you to be present, attentive, and non-judgmental.

Ineffective communication can have devastating effects. Lack of communication or confusing messages can lead to misunderstanding, conflict, friction, confusion, frustration, and a disengaged workforce. Poor communication will result in an erosion of trust between you and your employees. Effective communication promotes a transparent culture, whereas poor communication promotes uncertainty and doubt. 

The impact of not listening manifests itself in many ways. You cannot empathise if you do not listen. You can only provide direction if you listen. You can only offer support if you listen. You can only coach or mentor if you listen. You can only communicate effectively if you listen, as you know your message has been received as intended.

You should be able to build good communication skills and effective listening, but that is where leaders make their biggest mistakes. They still fail to communicate and listen proficiently despite all the guidance available. As I work with organisations, I regularly observe the inadequacy of these two skills. This is why I continue to run customised communication and active listening workshops for employees at all levels of the organisation, including those designated as leaders. Unless you get this right, all your leadership development will be like building a house on shifting sand. In other words, you will be wasting both your time and your money.

I think people assume their communication and listening skills must be okay because they “communicate” and “listen” all the time. This is not the case. Just because you can speak does not mean you are communicating. Just because you can hear does not mean you are listening. It is time to relearn these skills.

Empowering

Leaders with an empowering mindset provide their employees with the autonomy to make their own decisions and own their work. They provide the tools, resources, and support needed. This environment of empowerment increases employee engagement, creativity, innovation, and motivation. Research has shown it can also boost job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and task and contextual performance while reducing employee strain and turnover intentions.

The opposite leadership style of empowerment is command and control. This has its roots in the military, where strict hierarchies, top-down authority, and defined chains of command were thought essential to win on the battlefield.

As military leaders returned from war and into the workforce after World War II, the command and control leadership style made its way into factories where management believed that standardised and repeatable processes needed a top-down approach to ensure adherence. At this time, there was also the prevailing belief in many societies that there was value in authority, hierarchy, discipline, and clear delineation of roles and responsibilities. Therefore, command and control became an entrenched leadership style. The leader was set apart by their position and had sole decision-making authority, and teams followed orders as directed.

Command and control leadership has an impact. Employees have no autonomy or authority to make decisions. There is no room for creativity, innovation, or experimentation. Employees do what they are told without necessarily knowing why. There is no consultation, collaboration, or shared decision-making. As I mentioned earlier, this environment decreases job satisfaction, motivation, and engagement. The employee attrition rate increases, and attracting talent is challenging. The organisation becomes inflexible and unable to adapt to a rapidly changing world. The leadership style is too rigid and fixed to adjust when needed.

Thankfully, this leadership style is disappearing – it’s even less common in the military. In fact, one former military leader is actively championing the move away from command and control leadership. Retired four-star United States Army General Stanley McChrystal led the US’s premier military counter-terrorism force, the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). In 2011, he founded the McChrystal Group, which improves the performance of organisations and their leaders.

In his book Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World, he says, “The temptation to lead as a chess master, controlling each move of the organisation, must give way to an approach as a gardener, enabling rather than directing. A gardening approach to leadership is anything but passive. The leader acts as an “Eyes-On, Hands-Off” enabler who creates and maintains an ecosystem in which the organisation operates.”

We need the same in our organisations, where employees are empowered rather than controlled.

Summary

Becoming a REMARKABLE leader is a journey, and as you move forward on your journey, these are the key points to keep in mind.

•      In the face of constant disruption, leaders and individuals alike must be resilient, not just bouncing back from setbacks but bouncing forward, using challenges as catalysts for growth and innovation.

•      Empathy must be the compass that guides your decision-making, ensuring that the mechanics of business never overshadow the humanity of your teams and the individuals within them.

•      A mindful mindset enables you to be present, in the moment, calm, self-aware, compassionate, and accepting without judgment. This will reduce anxiety and stress, increase focus and attention, improve relationships, and elevate creativity.

•      As an adaptive leader, you can lead with the courage and skill to challenge the status quo, deploy yourself with agility, and mobilise others to step into the unknown. You can stay ahead of the game and inspire your team.

•      A resourceful mindset will enable you to find efficient and innovative ways to overcome problems and challenges. You will do whatever it takes to complete the job with what you have available. You will be persistent, open-minded, and prepared to change your approach when needed.

•      You can make yourself known – for the right reasons and to the right people – by building your leadership brand. This means telling people who you are, what your values and beliefs are, and the worth you bring.

•      Your ability to build a culture of accountability will drive organisational success through increased employee engagement and motivation.

•      Being courageous is core to outstanding leadership, and you are now equipped to be a brave leader. You are prepared to be vulnerable, embrace setbacks as learning opportunities, break the rules for the betterment of everyone, have hard conversations, and make hard decisions.

•      A listening mindset allows you to truly listen to, empathise with, and better understand other people. It enables you to be present, attentive, and non-judgmental. In addition, being intentional about your communication helps you analyse different audiences and be empathetic about their needs.

•      You can empower your employees by giving them the autonomy to make their own decisions and own their work. You provide the tools, resources, and support needed. This increases employee engagement, creativity, innovation, and motivation. 

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I am an organisational change management rebel WITH a cause. 

I am the author of eight books on organisational change, workforce resilience, leadership capability uplift and leading remote teams.

I am an international keynote speaker, consultant, facilitator, coach, and mentor.

I am passionate about enabling individuals and organisations to be their best through performance enablement, outstanding leadership, adaptation, agility, and resilience in the face of constant and uncertain change.

I would love to work with you and your organisation. Contact me here.