In my most recent article, I covered the continuing evolution of the American workplace. Specifically, I spoke to the fact that millennials are now the largest generation in the workforce. As a millennial myself, I recognize that a defining feature of my generation is our drive to become leaders and our desire to occupy higher leadership roles in the future. Millennials crave opportunities to learn and grow, yet traditional organizational structure does not currently provide formal leadership training until managers are well established in their roles, often more than a decade after they first began managing people.
I also pointed out that we are currently living in an era of do-it-yourself leadership as a result of archaic corporate norms. As high performers with promising potential but without a formal leadership title, emerging leaders are uniquely positioned to catapult their careers. As the leaders on their teams, they currently operate in a low-risk, high-reward space in which they can experiment daily. They have the opportunity to practice their skills on the inside so that they can best showcase their skills to those on the outside. In other words, they are leading from the inside out.
And, I am here to help! Over the next three months, my series “Leading from the Inside Out” will address the gap(s) in formal leadership training by providing emerging leaders with the information and experiences they need to build the qualities, attributes, and skills of highly successful leaders.
But first, you must look inside yourself to lead yourself.
Becoming an effective leader begins with self-reflection and an awareness of your natural inclinations and tendencies. You must take a good, hard look at the thoughts you entertain, the behaviors you value and exhibit, and the habits you have formed so that you can truly understand what moves you towards action. A quote from a timeless McKinsey article says it perfectly, “many people aren’t aware that the choices they make are extensions of the reality that operates in their hearts and minds. Indeed, you can live your whole life without understanding the inner dynamics that drive what you do and say. Yet it’s crucial that those who seek to lead powerfully and effectively look at their internal experiences, precisely because they direct how you take action, whether you know it or not.”
Start to know “it.” In order to effectively lead yourself and eventually lead others, I agree with McKinsey when they say you must tune into what’s happening on the inside so that you can adjust and adapt now, rather than looking back later with regret. I know that this takes significant commitment and time, but it will ultimately guide you toward your goal of becoming a better and more effective leader. A notable method of managing your own development is the well-used exercise of what Peter Drucker calls, “Feedback Analysis.” This relatively simple task enables you to discover your strengths. When making a significant decision or taking an important action, document your anticipated results and ask yourself the following questions: What is my current mindset? What emotions am I feeling? What is my gut, or my “inner voice” saying? What labels and/or assumptions am I putting onto myself? What are my fears and hopes? Why am I doing this? What are my goals? The point is to have an honest, objective, and uncomfortable conversation with yourself. By pinpointing your thoughts and behaviors now, you can better evaluate their effectiveness later.
Six to twelve months later, take time to compare what actually happened with your previous expectations. When done consistently, this method can quickly reveal your decision-making patterns and your natural tendencies. This active reflection will help you concentrate on improving your strengths to extend results, understand your blind spots to acquire new skills, and expose the bad habits that limit your performance.
Peter Boumgarden, Professor of Practice in Strategy and Organizations at Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis, suggests seeking professional counseling as a means of improvement. He states, “many of our dysfunctional behaviors as leaders come out of emotional issue [that] we would benefit from having greater awareness about and strategies to deal with directly.In particular, I have found the methodology of group counseling enormously influential…In [this] context, the ‘here-and-now’ of a counseling session with multiple individuals and a professional therapist will generate an interpersonally complex environment, and thus one especially fruitful for personal learning. For example, in a room of the five or six strangers in your counseling session, you might notice yourself trying to win their affection or appear extraordinarily intelligent. Another person might have a hard time speaking up or pushing back against something with which they disagree. The chances are that if you do that in this room, you are likely doing something similar in spaces in your everyday life.” Peter notes that working with a professional, who can notice and identify specific tendencies, will help you recognize the interpersonal dynamics which often appear as frequently in your personal life as they do in a professional setting. This awareness ultimately allows you to develop and practice better alternatives so that you will stop undermining your ability to lead. Translation: it helps you get out of your own way!
Equally as important as recognizing your thoughts, behaviors, and habits is questioning the core assumptions you hold about yourself. This often means choosing to explore beyond your comfort zone, to experiment, and to practice outside of your typical professional environment. As Hilary Gould, Partner at Ginsberg Jacobs, says “you can gain leadership skills in a lot of different areas other than just work and then apply the skills you learned elsewhere to your job. This can feel like a less threatening place to build leadership skills and people see that you already have well-developed leadership skills. As an added benefit, it rounds out your resume. For example, you can join a non-for profit and work your way up from member, to committee chair, to the board; you can participate in a seminar, graduate to the planning committee, and then become the chair of the event; or you can play on a sports team and then become the team captain.” She continues by saying this approach helps you “round out your skill set in a demonstrable way that others respect. You are displaying leadership instead of asking for it.” In addition to building and refining new skills, leaving your everyday environment enables you to gain new perspectives and improve your internal tendencies in order to enhance performance and effectiveness when you’re on the job.
Engage and Aspire
To develop as a consistent and effective leader, do not overlook the need to make fundamental changes within yourself. Start to reflect and record with feedback analysis, consider professional counseling, exercise your skills, and experiment with new perspectives outside of your day-job. As the old saying goes, the best time to plant a tree was ten years ago. By putting in the work now to better understand your habits and tendencies, you are planting the groundwork to accelerate and nurture future growth.
“Leading from the Inside Out” is a special series and I’m pleased to pair an equally special learning opportunity with each article: a virtual event. Each event will recap that week’s article and include:
- Me! As your host, I will introduce the topic
- A quick interview the newly emerged leader and seasoned professional quoted in the article
- An open-discussion, Q&A-style conversation, no more than 30 minutes in length
Each article offers you the chance to learn about an important leadership quality and reflect on the information. By combining the article with the event, you will be provided with the opportunity to contribute to and learn from a useful and meaningful dialogue, from which you can sprout into action! Together, they will help you think about, practice, and refine your skillset as the leader on your team so that you are best positioned to become the leader of your team.
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