I’ve been in leadership roles and leading teams for the past 20 years and consider my journey as a leader ‘in progress and not there yet.’ From my perspective to be a great leader there are several layers of leadership and a hierarchy of gratification to be fulfilled. This will develop over time through desire, drive, experience and education and when I get ‘there’ it is not about the highest earnings, highest position or a prestigious job title, rather an intrinsic motivation fulfilled with the broadest and most diverse perspectives learned throughout my leadership journey making an impact and difference in whatever goals I set out to achieve.
Leading self, leading teams and leading organizations, my experience and education has provided me opportunities to excel in these areas. Skills have been easier to obtain and develop, as many organizations focus on core, leadership and functional competencies that align with leading self, leading teams and leading organization. It has however been limiting to expand abilities within leading community and leading globally as many places I’ve lead within haven’t had communities, province, nation and global matters as a priority.
“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much” Naomi Khan
As a leader I would describe my leadership style as one that leads alongside my team and someone who pays little attention to title or position on an org chart. In the reading, Pillars of Digital Leadership, Sheninger said, “leadership is about action, not position” (p.1) and further defined leadership as a process of social influence and camaraderie to lean in the aid and support of others, in the accomplishment of a mutual goal and task (Sheninger, 2014).
TRUST
Leadership is about team ownership and commitment, owning business problems and solutions interdependently for the greater purpose of the organizational vision grounded within the essentials of trusting relationships, openness, authenticity, transparency and honesty. “A leader’s ability to build trust in high-performance cultures is characterized by motivated and engaged employees” (Castelli, 2016, p.222). Motivated and engaged employees have a greater desire to contribute and achieve excellence, excel in performance to indulge in meaningful and rewarding work. Motivated and engaged employees make it easier to lead change and transform as they feel part of a safe environment through trusting relationships.