Natural Bend - You Improve, They Improve!

All middle level leaders, anyone who is responsible for the well being and positive contributions of others, will be well served to develop a deeper understanding of self—now so more than ever. Over the next three months we will embark upon a journey designed especially for you, the middle level leader. You hold one of the most difficult positions within the organization. You are tasked with the responsibility of leading others and meeting business objectives relative to productivity at the grass-roots level. If you are too soft on the people side key initiatives can falter and your job gets harder. Yet, if you are too hard on the process achievement side, pushing to no end, your job gets harder still. So, how do you keep the two from becoming a zero-sum game?

Developing a clear view of who you are as a middle level leader and what you ultimately want to achieve within the organizational setting must be fraught with an honest assessment of internal awareness. And I do mean honest. Is your natural-bend as a leader life giving or parasitic? Do you know how to inspire others to discover the things that add meaning to their lives? Can you encourage the release of inner creativity? Can you balance the lines between people and processes? Do you hold yourself accountable? Do you execute on the things you wish to achieve? Do you understand why some people are passionate about the work they do and others aren’t? Is money your primary motivator?

Regardless to where you are today you can improve your understanding of what it takes to lead others by learning and reflecting on what it takes to know and lead self. Think about it, how often do you question the choices you’ve made in life? Have you really given a lot of thought to how you ended up where you are today? Is it what you had in mind? Do you know what you like about your life? Is the environment in which you work well suited to bringing out the best in you? Does it bring you joy? Okay, I’m sure you get the idea. So, let’s move forward on this journey of becoming a better middle level manager.

Taking one step at a time, going through the experience of uncovering who you are and reflecting upon your own life will help you guide others towards the importance of doing the same.  Your objective is to detect the patterns in your life that reveal something more than a random series of events.

In a few days I will post the first series of self awareness questions for you to consider.  In the interim you can start by thinking about the question identified above.

Sidebar: In a recent article, Building Support for Change, Matt Palmquist wrote "Although CEOs can articulate an overall vision, the success of a new initiative often depends on the competence of managers at lower leadership levels." You can find the full article at: http://www.strategy-business.com/article/10411c

Challenge round:  Post your questions regarding leadership at the grass-roots level and I will create a mini blog post response to your question.