I believe leadership is not one thing but a collection of attributes and skills.
When the right mix of these come together it leads to amazing outcomes.
And when they don’t, it can lead to disasters.
So, how do you decide what you are good at or not?
For me these competencies are best organized by the model of 4 Powers of Leadership by Ted Jenkins
1. Power of Expertise: These are the basic skills required to do your job. At an early career, stage leaders are needed to be more hands-on and have higher execution and technical skills. Higher up in the organization leaders need to have better collaboration, influencing and strategy skills. A big trap that leaders often get trapped into is to try and get perfect at every skill. You can’t be perfect at every skill. So pick wisely on what you NEED to get good at and hire for the others.
2. Power of Connections: Aka power of your network. This can be broadly split into two :
- Who knows you?
- Who do you know?
The former is about checking if you are someone who is sufficiently visible in the organisation and the industry to the level that you should be.The second aspect of who you know is critical in getting work done. Do you know the right people and have sufficient influence with them to be able to get stuff done.
3. Power of Personality: Is also called the power of your charisma. This is a key focus especially at the senior leadership level where more and more focus is now laid on executive presence. This includes the gravitas you convey and the way you communicate. This also includes the level of trust you inspire and how confident the team feels about you.
4. Power of Position: Lastly comes the positional power that comes as part of your designation in the organisation. How much of the power you use in your role and how much are you able to pull power from the next level?
How would you rate yourself on each of these powers of leadership?
What are you really good at?
What do you need to focus on more?