Dot Connector Blog

As I’ve mentioned in my other posts on leadership, leadership is a choice – how you make decisions, trust your instincts, and allow yourself to learn from failure determines if and how you will become a leader.

My past week was filled with leadership development lessons to share with you. Some were lessons I learned myself, others were lessons I watched others learn around me.

Here are my top 3:

Leadership Development Lesson #1: Giving Feedback

• By having an honest feedback session with each person you lead, you have the opportunity (and responsibility) to share the positives about their progress, as well as the areas for them to improve.
• As Wally Bock says in his Three Star Leadership Blog, feedback is really the breakfast of champions. By not hesitating to give constructive criticism, you give people the opportunity to grow and learn faster than they would otherwise.

Leadership Development Lesson #2: Having the Right Attitude

• Giving constructive criticism is always easier when a team member has the right attitude. If you have an open mind and a true desire to constantly get better, you will be open to feedback that can help you get there.
• No one is right all the time. Everyone has times where they need to be redirected, coached, or talked “off the edge of a cliff.” Allowing yourself to accept feedback like this can only make you better.
• Feeling down? Need some inspiration to boost your attitude? Check out Orrin Woodward’s favorite quotes on attitude.

Leadership Development Lesson #3: Prevent a Communication “Vacuum”

• You always have to show people you are “driving the bus” on the projects you lead. It’s critical that whenever you are managing a high-profile project, you communicate early and often – even if you don’t have all the answers.
• This is especially important with key executives. When asked a question through email, it’s best to reply immediately, letting the executive know you are looking into her question, and when you expect to have an answer.
• Later, when you give your answer, make sure you completely answer the question, and give your own opinions. To most executives, giving your opinions is as important as answering the question.

Leadership lessons like these are around you every single day if you look for them! I’ll share more of my lessons as I come across them. If you have lessons to share, leave a comment or send me an email.

Leadership is not a title. Leadership is a choice. You earn respect. You earn experience. But you choose to be a leader.Whether you are an executive, middle manager, project manager, or intern, you choose to be a leader. And far too often, those who could be leaders choose not to.

How do you become a leader? Here are my top 3 leadership development tips.

1. Make decisions. Decide to be happy. Decide to be excited about what you do. Decide that you want to achieve your Top 3 todos for today. Decide that you will make a conscious effort to help those you work with to grow. Decide to speak up to your CEO in a meeting. You get the idea! Leaders are people who are not afraid to make decisions. Do you find yourself actually making decisions, or continuously seeking answers and approval? If it’s the latter, then stop! Look objectively at what you are trying to do, and make decisions for yourself. Just ask yourself: “is this decision the best thing I can do right now?” If it is, decide and do it.
2. Trust Your Instincts. This is intimately tied into #1 – Make Decisions, since without instincts, it’s very hard to make decisions! Instincts are what guide you through your thought process when analyzing any situation. Far too often, people “second-guess” their “gut instincts.” Don’t do this! All of your career, you are continuously fine-tuning your gut instincts. No report, no research, no opinion can make a decision. Those things can only help you to refine your gut instincts. Guess what? Start trusting your instincts, and a magical thing will happen: they’ll get better and better over time! You’ll be amazed at where it can take you.
3. Allow Yourself and Your Team (if you have one) to Fail. How do you learn a foreign language? You screw it up until you get it right! Secret: the “best” people you will ever work with were not born that way. They’ve made BIG mistakes OFTEN. Yet, I’ve seen it happen time and time again: by trying to make things “perfect” a person, or an entire team, will inevitably either miss an opportunity or limit personal growth. I know this is scary stuff, but it’s key to your leadership development. Take the training wheels off yourself and your team. Jump out of the nest and fly! It’s the only way you’ll grow as a leader.

I hope you keep these leadership development tips in mind throughout your day, when you are faced with times where you can use all 3 of them.

Starting right now, decide to be a leader!