Be the leader you can be - module 1

#leadership #workshop in posts

My boss put me forward to participate in a course called Be The Leader You Can Be, which is run by the folks at https://www.futureengagedeliver.com/. Our trainer introduced us to the concept of FED:

  • Future - where are you going?
  • Engage - Are you taking people with you?
  • Deliver - delivering through people and helping them grow

Growing your leadership covered three things:

  • Notice your energy
  • Conscious practice
  • Actively build your support team

John shared a Peter Drucker quote:

Your first and foremost job as a leader is to take charge of your own energy and then help to orchestrate the energy of those around you.

The group discussed the quote and keywords and phrases that came up were authenticity, honesty, ernegy is contagious, channel your energy, consider where your energy is sourced, e.g. home, social, work. John broadened the definition of energy by describing 4 types of energy and to consider these energies when making change:

  • physical
    • positive leaning: presence, action, pace, drive, getting things done
    • negative leaning: aggresive, chaotic, exhausting, distracting
  • intellectual
    • positive leaning: expertise, innovation, analysis, logic, challenge
    • negative leaning: paralysis, patronising, slow, unclear
  • emotional
    • positive leaning: empathy, caring, connection, vulnerability, passion
    • negative leaning: intrusive, indulgent, manipulative, emotive
  • spiritual
    • positive leaning: values, belief, ambition, purpose, cause, meaning
    • negative leaning: dogmatic, idealistic, idealogical, irrational

A group member made the point that depending on the context, it doesn't hold true that the energies can be easily categorised into positive or negative. E.g. in a prison context, you do not want to show your vulnerable side to prisoners.

We also talked about how an energy can dominate an organisation to its detriment. Leadership is required to create a space to introduce other energies.

Then we switched to 3 modes and discussed the differences between the modes:

  • leader mode
    • Focused on the "why"
    • Keywords: long-term, vision, hope, purpose, growing others, culture, relationships, inspiration, responsibility, context
  • operator mode
    • Focused on the "what"
    • Keywords: executing, taking directions, task focused, actions, short-term, repetitive, tangible, autopilot
  • manager mode
    • Focused on the "how"
    • Keywords: delegating, prioritising, planning, analysing, efficiency, directing, controlling, supervising

First jobs tend to be operator mode. Mine was a paper boy. I had well-bounded responsibility, knew exactly what I needed to do and when, performance was easy to measure.