“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.”  ~ Nelson Mandela

Being an effective leader today takes more than simply being smart. Like Dua Lipa sings, it takes “new rules”.  It takes intelligence, and ______. You learn to take out the right lens at the right time. The lenses may include strategy, curiosity, emotion, skill, information gathering and analysis. You are called to bring all these resources to work with you. It’s a process. And you apply them according to the situation as you need them like you are creating a recipe. For instance, at times you need more sugar like compassion, or flour like gathering details and pulling them together, etc.

For years I took voice lessons. One of the main reasons, was so that I could be more connected to my emotions. I grew up in a heavily rational analytic family. This made me more comfortable and used to relying on my brain.

What was interesting was that my voice teacher, Joe, told me that in his 30+ year career of accompanying and guiding many professional singers, I was the most balanced student he had worked with. “I never have you tell you anything twice. You adjust immediately. I tell you to bring the refrain an active higher. Done. I tell you that your affect on a line is flat, you connect to it in an instant and bring in melancholy, joy, or bittersweet.”

What I realized was missing from my work was what I was getting from Joe: an appreciation for combining different abilities when necessary. Clearly bringing my thinking brain alone was only partially providing results and solutions. Ah. I then could bring this to my clients.

For instance, a client was harboring a lack of self-worth, making all the great work that they were doing seem unremarkable. Working with them to be a more impactful leader, I gathered everything to put the puzzle pieces together. We spoke about her work, her team and others she had to enroll to get her work done. We problem solved around that. Through our collaboration with my asking questions and learning more, I realized some of her obstacle was originating from lessons she had learned personally. Together I coached her to replace past experiences with a new way of looking at them and experiencing them so she could move beyond her current challenges. Applying a new lens, she was able to shape a new leadership mold for herself. All those around her, saw a stronger leader. In a short time, her team grew as did the results from her team.

What actually is standing in the way of reaching a breakthrough with your team? What are team members not responding to in your culture, system, or in working with you? If they have all the technical tools and resources, why isn’t the team more productive, effective or profitable? If you are going to solve these problems, like me, pure brain power and drive alone are not enough.

By watching people’s actions, listening closely to people and asking questions, as a leader you too can identify what the person/people is missing and looking for from you. And it is different things at different times. Pivoting is essential. The more you are able to pay attention, the more you become familiar with people individually and understand what to bring them for that moment, as Joe called for me to do during our voice lessons. And then you can be a better leader for them. Your impact will increase as will the results of your efforts.

 

The world right now needs more leaders and the right leaders.

If you are in a position to bring forth good change, encouragement, and growth – you want full access to your potential.  Make the choices you need to be the leader that advocates change to look forward to.  That change which engages your people, improves productivity and highlights the abilities of your team members.

If you would like to have a conversation on how you can do this, contact me: Susan@SusanGoldbergLeadership.com