Be Self Aware

A major part of being self-aware goes to remembering where you came from and how things looked to you before you became a leader.  Another part is being sensitive to the perspectives of others once you are in your leadership role.  Still another piece is coming to grips with some realities that affect other people’s perspectives, and so must affect your own.

To start with, not everyone likes you.  That matters, but maybe not for the reasons you think. People won’t like you for lots of irrelevant reasons.  Maybe you got the job they wanted, or the job that their friend wanted.  Maybe they think you slept your way to the top.  Maybe they don’t like the team that you are leading, or the team from which you came.  Or maybe they don’t like your significant other.

None of that matters.  What matters is that any or all of those perspectives should be kept in play as you deal with the daily vicissitudes of leadership.  You might be surprised at how easy it is sometimes to figure out what the perspective is that is causing someone to be difficult.  You need to listen to what team members say and how they say it.  That list of reasons I just gave is not hypothetical.  They are all things that I have personally encountered.  Some of them can be dealt with. Forthright discussions are helpful either in resolving perspective issues or at least in putting them on the table.  In the latter case, there might not be resolution, but you can level the playing field if everyone is on honest terms.  Yogi Berra put it elegantly:  “So I’m ugly.  So what?  I never saw anyone hit with his face.”

To repeat, listen to your team—what they say and how they say it.  Pay attention, because they are.  By that I mean they are listening to everything you say and how you couch your comments and responses to people and situations.  This is never more true than when you are wrong.


What?  You, wrong?  You betcha.  Especially early in your leadership when you are still learning the ropes.  These early mistakes are crucial because everyone is watching to see how you react.  Do you blame others?  Do you mope?  Do you pitch a fit? Or do you maybe use your misstep as a learning/teaching experience for your team and yourself.  Guess which I option I suggest.  Start with a good dose of perspective switching.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Keeps You Up At Night?

This is a question that leaders are often asked.   I have never understood it.   I guess it is supposed to help leaders focus on what needs attention in their organizations.   I always shocked interviewers by telling them that as president of my institution I slept soundly most nights. “Why?” they would ask.   My answer was simple.   I had assembled a solid team that at its height spanned the globe, or a good part of it.   With hundreds of thousands of students and tens of thousands of faculty and staff, I was always sure that somewhere in my organization there was a problem.   I was also sure that there was someone on my team who was addressing that issue, and that if necessary I would be briefed in the morning. No need to toss and turn. I always reminded myself that my team was applying multiple points of view--and a lot of expertise-- to any problem, and that often my personal perspective was limited by my distance from the issue. Worrying ...
Read more

Gratitude and Graciousness

Be grateful that you get to be a leader.   “Grateful to whom?” you may ask.   Good question.   Certainly you should be grateful to those who helped you along the way and those who support you in your leadership position.   The next question is how you demonstrate your appreciation.   This part is a bit more complicated.   One key way is to succeed.   Those who have encouraged and backed you will relish your accomplishments.   They may not always express their pleasure directly, but trust me, they are watching and are invested in your success. If you are lucky, you will at some point have the opportunity to receive acknowledgment from your advocates.   But they are there nonetheless. A second way to express gratitude is through graciousness.   This comes in two forms.   The first is to be amicable, patient and generally accommodating to those around you, especially those who are lower on the ladder.   Many of them want to b...
Read more

Digital Leadership in Education and other Myths

I recently received an email from a good friend and colleague who had attended a panel discussion where he was asked to comment on Digital Leadership.    His judgment was that Digital Leadership does not exist—it is a myth (his word).   His take on the term is that it is one of many fuzzy (my word) buzzwords that permeate higher education today.   He further opined that the term is “another colleague try[ing] to carve out a new niche by playing semantics.”   I couldn’t agree more with this perspective.   But I think that it may be too kind.   As I have mentioned in previous posts, there is a substantial body of literature rife with definitions of leadership (a quick Google search will reveal at least 100), types (autocratic, facilitative, strategic, etc.), and approaches (push or pull, for instance).   In addition, leadership is often differentiated by profession.   What it takes to lead in the financial world must somehow be fundamental...
Read more