- Today, our goal is to explain
what a leadership philosophy is and help you develop yours
by boiling it down into a headline in three points.
(upbeat music)
Our job today is not so much to invent,
a brand new leadership philosophy for you.
It's very likely that you already have one in you.
Our job is to help you uncover it
and add some clarity to it
and my goal is really extend beyond this video.
I'm gonna give you some steps that will require you
to follow up on your own so that you ideally
will continue to shape your leadership philosophy.
So why is a leadership philosophy important to begin with?
While I was working out with my son at the gym the other day
and I saw a poster that said, "Thoughts become things."
I've seen this type of statement all over the place.
There's a clear connection
between our mindset and our behaviors,
our thoughts, and now our action.
The bottom line is that our leadership philosophy drives
everything about how we act as a leader.
As a bridge to a leadership philosophy
let's talk about a personal philosophy.
Your personal life philosophy is your belief system
the guiding principles that steer your life,
it's made up of your worldview,
your values, your priorities.
You could say, it's your theory for what life is about.
Sometimes you hear people boil down their life philosophies
into over simplified statements like life is an adventure
or life is suffering.
Those two different personal philosophies are very likely,
to lead to drastically different experiences.
And the same is true for our leadership philosophy.
All of your internal thinking as a leader
guides your decision-making
and drives your behavior and your action.
Now, a lot of people think that when something happens
to them or around them, they just react.
Many of us tend to think we have a stimulus response
reaction to the things around us as if it's automatic.
Like when people sometimes over react or make bad decisions,
one common defense is to ask the question
well, what was I supposed to do?
Or I had no other choice.
But the truth is our reactions are not merely mechanical
we do make choices, we all see the world through a filter
and that filter shapes how we see things,
but also how we interpret them and react to them.
In the same way a leadership philosophy
is like a life philosophy but it's more specific.
When you occupy or picture yourself as a leader,
it changes your perspective.
I don't know if you've ever been in a position of authority
but I've talked to many brand new teachers,
supervisors, athletic coaches over the years.
And they are shocked at how different the world looks
when they are first in a position
of authority over other people.
When you're a leader, the groups successes or failures
become a reflection of your leadership
and that weight of responsibility on you,
expands and adds pressure.
That pressure exaggerates
the importance of your attitudes, beliefs
and feelings about other people, about their nature.
That responsibility really amps up your level of motivation,
your sense of urgency
and the way you pay attention to others.
So your leadership philosophy is that unseen guiding force
behind your actions,
especially about how you relate to other people
as their leader.
Now, let's get started brainstorming
on the various ways you can uncover
and clarify the leadership philosophy
that you may already have in you.
And we'll look at three ways to recognize them.
The first way is to think about the leaders you admire
and look up to as a role models
especially, those you have personally worked with.
What is it about them that resonates with you?
In another video, I mentioned a former supervisor
I worked with Mike and I looked up to how hard Mike worked,
he led by example.
I admired how he treated people really well
and lesson to them, even when things were busy.
So think of leaders you've worked under personally
who have been your best coaches, teachers, supervisors.
What did you admire about them,
what made them better than other leaders you've worked with,
what did they do or not do that makes them stand out to you?
Pick a few leaders that you know
and jot down everything you admire about them
and then look for what those leaders might have in common.
Do you notice any patterns in those qualities,
what are the commonalities
between and among those good leaders?
And that'll tell you what you value, what you prioritize
and what you likely already have in you
as an emerging leader.
The second way is to look at various leadership theories
and approaches out there.
This can feel a little bit like school but it works,
so actual leadership theories aren't leadership philosophies
but they do have values, priorities,
and beliefs woven into them.
And our leadership philosophies
are a lot like our own unspoken theories about leadership.
So I'll put a link to a list of various
leadership theories below, below this video,
and you can look at some of those as your homework.
And as you learn about various leadership approaches
some will stand out to you and others won't.
For example, I am really drawn
to the theory of servant leadership.
I'm a supervisor currently the chair of my department
and I see that a big part of my beliefs as a leader
is that I should be there to support
and help everybody I supervise.
I am there for them in other words.
There are about a dozen other clear
schools of thought on leadership,
and each of them has its own set of beliefs,
priorities, and values in them.
Just like a menu at a restaurant some of these theories
will quickly stand out as you look them over.
And it might point to your leadership philosophy
your own spoken theory of what a leader's job is.
You might end up saying to yourself
well, I'd like to be a transformational leader.
And then within that school of thought
there are various beliefs, priorities and values
that you can use to learn about yourself.
And third, how would you like to be described by others,
what ideal qualities,
what adjectives would you like others to use
to characterize your leadership approach?
So pick three for the moment.
So let's just pretend you have just led your team
through a six month project
and it's time for your team to evaluate you.
What three words or phrases
would you like to see in that evaluation?
So for me, I would like my team to say,
I'm a good facilitator,
I'm supportive and I'm collaborative.
Your list may be completely different than mine of course,
but feel free to pause
and jot down three words or phrases on paper.
And these three words
may not currently describe your strengths,
but they can give you something
to aspire to, something to include
in your leadership philosophy statement.
So far we've explained why a leadership philosophy
is important, and we talked about different ways
to get your ideas out there on the table.
So we've been brainstorming really so far.
Now, let's get hands on and turn to even more application.
Let's begin crafting a draft leadership
philosophy statement for you.
And there's no right way to do this
but we're gonna take a fairly concise approach
as our first step.
We're going to develop a one sentence headline
about your leadership philosophy
and then three bullet points
to add a little bit of detail to that headline.
Let's get started with the headline
given everything we've talked about so far
fill in the blank to this headline.
My main job as a leader is to blank,
and keep that phrase nice and short.
You can fill this out however you'd like to.
Here's my example,
my main job as a leader is to help each follower
reach their highest potential.
You can pause the video and draft your own headline
or, remember to keep it simple.
It's tempting to make it sound fancy
but this is just for you
use plain language to make sure your thinking is clear.
The next three bullet points, help add some detail
to explain how you'd put that headline into action.
The first bullet is one sentence
about how you will handle yourself
to help put that headline, we just wrote into action
and mine sounds like this, first I will lead by example
to set a high standard for others.
I'm striving for plain language
so I don't hide behind fancy sounding words.
And you can pause the video to draft your first bullet.
How will you behave as a leader?
The second bullet explains how you will treat other people.
Here's my second bullet.
Second, I will work with followers
to help put their strengths into action
and I will coach them on areas they need to develop.
In plain language,
how will you treat an orient toward other people?
Again, pause the video if it helps.
The third bullet explains
how you will keep the team moving forward toward its goals.
Here's my third bullet.
Third, to keep the team moving forward,
I will clearly communicate our goals
and provide the team's support to reach those goals.
So for you,
how will you keep the team moving forward toward its goals?
And again, hit pause if it helps.
Now, together on paper
a basic outline of my leadership philosophy looks like this.
And once you have a draft for your next step
you may want to do an immediate second draft
where you simplify the language to the bare bones,
and you could just leave it in an outline like this
and keep it somewhere visible as a reminder
or you could write a paragraph or even a page
about each of these points to help you really crystallize it
and let it sink into your mind
and into your heart more deeply.
But I find it's best to start simple
so you're not hiding behind a colorful vocabulary.
If you're like me, you may want to come back
and revise what you have written several times
before you feel like you've really got it nailed down.
Before we go here's a recap and some reminders.
First, whether we realize it or not
our leadership philosophy drives everything else.
It's our filter for how we see things,
interpret things and how we respond.
Second, we talked about a few ways to uncover the philosophy
that may already be in you or one that you aspire to.
And third, in light of that
you can now follow the outline and draft
a clear and concise leadership philosophy for yourself.
I'll put links to some leadership theories
in the description below this video.
I'll also put links to my online classes
at the Communication Coach Academy.
Thanks, God bless, and I will see you in the next video.