Why You Need A Leadership Overhaul

The topic of leadership is a passion of mine most likely because I feel the need for radical improvement in this area. Yes, we are all hard on ourselves but let's face the facts. Not one of us are where we want to be from a leadership perspective. We all could be doing better.

I was reminded this week about how we need to start thinking of leadership differently. Please take this article in the spirit that it is intended - with much humility knowing that I too need a leadership overhaul.

I suggest to you that the old measures of leadership are nothing short of false and misleading. As business leaders we are driven to define leadership in the context of what we know and what we can adequately measure - our businesses mainly. Why is it that we are afraid of the true measure of leadership, which is multi-dimension that includes all aspects of our lives - personal, spiritual, business, family, etc? If you are successful as a leader in one area of your life but a failure in another, are you really a successful leader? I suggest not.

It may not be fair to paint every business leader with the same brush but did you know that some of the most admired business leaders of our time that we try to emulate in our business' best practices, actually have disastrous personal lives? I well remember taking the time to study the lives of the partners of the largest consulting firm in the world that I worked for. Business successes were plenty, their income was very high yet their lives were falling apart. They were never home and relationships were but an afterthought. Yet they were portrayed as the firms "thought leaders". These partners even led the firm-wide initiative called "Balancing Your Life". What? None of them had Balanced Lives so not only did they lose credibility but tended to reward others to be just like them - driven for business profit almost solely.

As business owners we desperately need a leadership overhaul and it starts with us. We need to start to build and measure our leadership skills in all areas of our lives and encourage our employees to do the same. We need to stop ignoring the "other areas" of a person's life simply because they don't seem to directly impact our business' bottom line.

Let me use a personal example. It has been a privilege this year to be the Chair of the Central Okanagan's Economic Development Commission (EDC). It is a lot of fun assuming a leadership position in such an exemplary organization.

What if, for example, I was extremely successful in leading the Board of the EDC to the point where 25 years from now everyone in this community could look back and all agree that 2005 was the most successful year in the EDC Board's history? What if they put a statue of me in front of the Regional District offices to commemorate my incredible leadership? Countless residents and tourists would remember my name forever.

Rewind the tape back to 2005. What if at the same time that I was being extolled as the greatest leader in EDC Board history, my 14 year old daughter was wondering if she even had a dad? What if she just needed to talk to me but I was too busy all of the time out at an EDC events? What if my continued lack of leadership in my own home resulted in her being frustrated and making some very poor, life altering choices? Could she blame me? Perhaps. Would the community still see me as a great leader? Sadly, yes. Would it be the truth? Far from it!

Does the story hit home? Failure in your leadership in one area of your life, including your home life, may in fact negate all of the positive leadership that you have demonstrated elsewhere.

I think that the Leadership Overhaul needs to begin with you, the business owner. Here are my Top 10 Leadership Overhaul Suggestions:

1. Define all of your current roles. This could include: entrepreneur; husband, father, friend, coach, mentor, small group leader, community leader, etc.

2. In each role, rate your leadership on a scale of 1, being awful, to 10 being awesome.

3. As difficult as this sounds, prioritize each role.

4. Consider whether or not all of your roles are necessary or if you need to "scale back" your roles to be successful. Consider any roles that you are not currently playing that you should be.

5. In the top 5 roles, have at least one person that is impacted by your leadership in that role also rate your leadership on a scale of 1, being awful, to 10 being awesome.

6. Compare the ratings and seek to understand the main concerns.

7. Based upon the feedback, define for each role one key outcome or result in the next three months that if achieved would make you an awesome leader in that role.

8. Decide what needs to change in your leadership to make this happen and commit to an action plan over the next three months that will help you get there.

9. Enlist a trusted person to help you stay accountable.

10. Measure and monitor your progress.

This is not easy stuff. Don't hesitate to involve a skilled mentor/coach to help you through this process and to help you increase your accountability.

Once you have gone through this soul searching exercise, you will start to look differently at the lives of everyone that you interact with, including your employees/team members. Once you have taken the time to put this into practice, only then are you in a position to practice what you preach and help others in your business or organization create their own Leadership Overhaul.

My hope for all of us is that we are successful in creating our own Personal Leadership Overhaul, which deeply impacts own lives, businesses, communities and homes. Gone will be the days of the one-dimensional business leader!

Steve Burns, is the President and CEO of Burns Innovation Group Inc. and Steve Burns Inc. Chartered Accountant, which provide innovative consulting and accounting services to entrepreneurs. Steve can be reached at 763-4716 or via email at 763-4716 or via email at: steve@burnsinnovation.com or steve@steveburns.ca.

back to top