People usually get promoted because they are at good at their jobs. Then they become a leader and may not have the skills that this role needs. What are the two key ingredients a leader needs?
It is not uncommon for people to be promoted away from what they do best! In many organisations a really good worker moves up the hierarchy to a place they are just not comfortable – but only because they have not learnt the skills of managing people. You can probably identify at least one person for whom a promotion was the beginning of the end! Stress? Lack of confidence? Irritable? Losing control of what they are good at? The effectiveness of the people they lead decreases?
The whole nurture versus nature debate about whether someone can be a born leader is still bubbling on, but you can’t get away from the fact that leadership skills are just that: ‘SKILLS’.
When people first sit in a car to learn how to drive they are very probably very bad at it until they learn what they need to do. Then they practise those new skills. It is the same for the set of skills required for leadership. They can be learnt, BUT there are two main considerations. Firstly can the person use emotional intelligence to learn how to deal with different people with different approaches? (According to http://www.emotionalintelligence.net/ this is 58% of a leader’s performance- the ability to use emotional intelligence.)
Secondly, is the person willing to GIVE AND RECEIVE feedback?
For effective leadership to happen there must be a culture of learning- shared learning. A leader needs to be able to develop an environment where learning through effective feedback is part of the way of life. This way performance improves.
“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” – John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Courtesy of Will Taylor, Chair, Department of Homeopathic Medicine, National College of Natural Medicine, Portland, Oregon, USA, March 2007.
