Leadership: What Are Your Voices Doing To You?

Recently a young friend failed to bid at an auction for an apartment he'd decided to buy

. At the last minute, his resolve was undermined by adverse comments on the property from a trusted, older colleague. He could at least see in this case where the upset came from. As a leader, however, our decisions are often destabilised by the more subtle intervention not of friends but of our own sub-personalities. Below are eight examples. To what extent would your colleagues say any one or more intervene in your leadership decisions and actions? And, what are you doing to make sure you remain disciplined and balanced?

Across the weeks, Seth Godin's daily blog provides a mirror-maze of provocative questions, counter-intuitive ideas and amusing asides. The following check-up is based on a list from his blog of Tuesday 1 June 2010*. Why not rank the needs or aspirations below (from most to least) in terms of their sub-conscious impact on your leadership choices and behaviour:

Applause: I've certainly caught myself enjoying this one. It's seductive.

Inclusion: do you avoid initiatives, which will set you apart or attract controversy?

Impact: I like creative and innovative solutions. Fine, but only if that's what's needed!

Avoidance: do you create fun and distraction to avoid the tough stuff at hand?

Revenge: I regret once pursuing a disruptive colleague beyond what was needed.

Doing-good: are you the type, who's natural instinct is to make the world a better place?.

Prophecy: I love ideas that are going to revolutionise how the world works..

Success: is bringing home the bacon a central motivator for you?.

Now you've done your ranking, you might want to check it out with a couple of colleagues. However, most importantly, you need to decide what you're going to do to ensure you don't remain captive to unreformed or unhelpful needs and aspirations. As Seth puts it: to those voices inside your head.

It was in part to help myself and others overcome such inner biases that I developed my Leadership Action Planning framework. It asks you to identify the concerns holding your people back from full and energetic commitment. Then helps you choose leadership actions so they'll want to follow you on the project or journey, for which you're responsible. It seems obvious, but is not what we do often enough or with sufficient rigour. That's perhaps why one testimonial was blunt and to the point: "very simple but very effective". Wow, that plays to my desire for "applause"!

by: Tim Pascoe

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