November 5, 2001 What does leadership look like?

It is very common for business people to say they need more leaders in their organizations. They easily offer many good reasons. The enormous amount of change and turmoil that continues to occur, opportunities from mergers or acquisitions, the need to grow in fundamentally new ways, tougher competition - these are just some of the impressive pieces of evidence used to build the case for more leadership.

What is not as easy for people to describe is what a more effective leader is, or what he or she does that separates them from a good manager or good producer. When we ask this question to senior executives, the answers are often surprisingly vague or worse yet, rather typical auto-responses. Sadly, many of their comments do not seem to be very thoughtful.

So how do you answer the question? If you are trying to strengthen the leadership capabilities in your organization, what are you looking for? Do those aspiring to be better leaders know your criteria?

We frequently hear people describe their desired future leaders in terms of values or achievements. They have to be honest, have integrity, be good communicators, be collaborative, and so on. And of course, they have to have a demonstrated track record of producing results.

Nothing wrong with any of these. But could not the same answers also be used to describe really effective team members, good managers, or top performers for the future? (They often are!) So what then, distinguishes leaders?

Along the way, we have come across some viewpoints that are helpful. In paraphrasing one CFO with whom we work:

The people who emerge as leaders around here are going to be those people who figure out how to work around all the landmines to get the things they believe in accomplished. Since the biggest landmines are almost always internal, and usually related to people or relationships, the future leaders will have great skill in creating advocates and building consensus.

That is not the entire answer, but it certainly provides a lot more clarity.

Other helpful descriptions we would like to pass on about future leaders include:

• They will be team builders, not just team players. Their organizations will produce great results and their relationships with others will be widespread and strong.
   
• They will put forth points of view about the future. They will not be people who merely go along for the ride. They will take stands about the direction they believe the business should go. They will at times, shake up the way people think around here.
   
• They will be great people developers. They will create challenging opportunities for their people to continue learning and growing. Their people will be more thoughtful, disciplined, and productive. Their people will consequently be frequently sought out for more contributing roles and positions.
   
• They will be recognized as problem solvers. Rather than casting blame or responsibility onto others (even when they legitimately could), they will accept the responsibility to move toward solutions, and be instrumental in getting actions developed and implemented.
   
• They will be known for their commitment to the success of the business. Through tough circumstances, questionable assignments, unfair objectives, and the like, they will still step up and be able to rally the troops to accomplish the challenges in front of them.
   

Whether you subscribe to some of the descriptions above or develop others that better fit your situation, be sure you are clear in your own mind about what truly constitutes a leader, and be as specific and descriptive as you can in communicating your determinants to others. By doing so, you will be taking a giant step forward in producing and attracting the kind of leaders you really desire for the future.