Look within
Research into effective leadership overwhelmingly tells leaders to ‘look within’, and for good reason.
It’s not about introspection for its own sake, and there’s more to it than setting a good example to the team. Leadership shapes team culture. As a leader, our behaviours carry forward into relationships with those we lead. Even unconscious biases can steer the team in a particular direction.
Leaders who can successfully identify – and work with – the shape of their leadership style, stand a greater chance of improving engagement and harnessing the potential of those they lead.
“Our results suggest that many leaders may be overestimating how well they’re connecting with their staff. Introspection is hard – and sometimes painful – but all leaders need an honest assessment of their own weaknesses.” – IBM Institute for Business Value, 2015
According to Donelson R. Forsyth’s task-relationship model, most leadership behaviours can be classified as maintaining either performance or relationships.