Business/life coach Carol Heady writes about six dimensions of leadership in this week's Equalizing Work & Life column.
Leadership is multidimensional. Experts in the field of human resource development and leadership development research have identified core competencies to being an effective leader. Based on that research and my experience working with hundreds of managers and leaders over the past 10 years I have identified what I consider the six dimensions of effective leadership. These six dimensions create a framework for development and success.
1. Self-awareness. Being self-aware means having an accurate assessment of your strengths and areas of development (weaknesses or limitations). A self-aware leader can leverage their strengths and compensate or develop their areas of development to be more successful. Increasing your self-awareness allows you the opportunity to change or approach situations differently to get better outcomes/results. Additionally, being self aware is the willingness to learn and be open to feedback and other people’s ideas, even when they differ from your own.
2. Visioning. This is the ability to develop and maintain a long term vision of a desired future state or outcome, and being able to communicate that vision. Some of the skills and competencies associated with this dimension include maintaining focus on the vision while leading change, setting clear goals aligned with your vision while being adaptable and flexible as business needs or focus change/shift and be action oriented.
3. Interpersonal communication. Effective interpersonal communication greatly depends on knowing and understanding yourself — in other words, being self-aware. This reinforces the importance of the first dimension. The other skills and behaviors to develop are listening and demonstrating empathy to others, the ability to influence and inspire others, build relationships and the willingness and ability to collaborate.
4. Technical competence. This is having the requisite experience in required skills. This includes your technical knowledge and skills, functional expertise and managerial experience. Additional skills to develop are project management, planning and executing, critical thinking, decision making and problem solving.
5. Team effectiveness. This demonstrates your ability to create and lead teams. More specifically, you must allocate decision making, establish roles and responsibilities, allocate resources, delegate authority and coach and develop others.
6. Authenticity. The behavior of a leader sets the tone for the organization and sets an example. Some of the behaviors that represent authenticity include honesty, integrity, and being trustworthy. Practice these behaviors, be a role model.
Carol Heady is founder and president of Learning and Performance Solutions, a company focused on helping individuals improve their performance and increase management and leadership effectiveness. Reach her at 845-226-8047 or email firstname.lastname@example.org.