Jon Isaacson
  • Home
  • Words
  • Book
  • Podcast

Clarifying your identify as a leader will help to build a thriving team culture

2/4/2019

0 Comments

 

Identity, honesty and adaptability are key to growing as a professional as well as an organization.

Business and leadership growth lessons from ShakespeareTattooed Shakespeare by Mathew McFarren
Having a clear sense of identity is important for leaders and organizations. In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare speaking through Polonius provides this fatherly advice,

“This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”

A clear identity enables leaders and teams to be honest with each other as they seek to compete in business. Honesty among individuals as well as within teams facilitates real time adaptability to changes in the market that are critical to 
sustained success.

Let’s break down the quote from Polonius to peel through the layers that will enhance our growth mindset:

Developing your identity as a leader.

​Having a clear sense of identity is important for leaders and organizations. In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare speaking through Polonius provides this fatherly advice, “This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” A clear identity enables leaders and teams to be honest with each other as they seek to compete in business. Honesty among individuals as well as within teams facilitates real time adaptability to changes in the market that are critical to sustained success.

Let’s break down the quote from Polonius to peel through the layers that will enhance our growth mindset:

Understanding the importance of prioritization as a leader.

1. “This above all else…”
You must prioritize. There’s isn’t enough time, money or resources to do everything. There are limits and they can demotivate you or force you to take the smartest risks you can imagine. To activate your growth mindset you cannot lose touch with reality, you must learn the ever evolving terrain, rules, resources and limitations. Again, reality is not the enemy, it is essential to growth. 
  • Where are we now (brutal honesty)
  • Where are we headed (what is our potential)
  • What must we do to reach our goals (or at least fight valiantly to compete)

Author of Organizational Physics, Lex Sisney, has composed Three Covenants of operating agreements to help teams maximize input and buy in. Covenant 3 states, “The goal is frank and honest discussion of the facts before a decision is made, followed by total commitment to implementing the solution after the decision is made.”  Those in a position of leadership do well to understand that they need as broad a net of inputs as possible from within as well as without their team.

When a leader listens they open themselves to valuable input.

Failure to listen to those who are in the field distributing your products or services, those front line employees, is cutting your organization off from valuable perspectives. Leaders also must understand that conflict does not have to be negative. Creating an open forum where ideas flow without filters requires the allowance of dissension. The team can create healthy boundaries for discussion to remain civil while making clear the timeline for disagreement and the expectation of buy in once the decision is made. As Sisney put it, “Put another way, it’s OK to question a decision up front but it’s not OK to fight it or ignore it during implementation.”

A leader who is confident in their strengths is able to create opportunities for employees to exercise theirs.

​2. “To thine own self…” 
Organizations that struggle with their identify will struggle to clarify their value proposition in the market place. Organizational culture and identity sound like such lofty concepts but they are merely reflections of the teams day to day actions and the identity of the leadership. Your company culture is what you do. Your organizational identity often mirrors that of your leadership. We make culture and identity abstract when we try to create them rather than recognize what they are and then optimize them.

Three questions for increasing employee engagement towards achieving team goals:

  • Do you understand who you are as an individual?
    • Regardless of your rung on the corporate ladder, knowing who you are is valuable to your personal and professional growth as well as to your ability to help your team.
    • What are your strengths and weaknesses? 
  • Do you understand who you are as a team?
    • Whether you are a niche group that handles one aspect of a much larger entity or a broad based group that covers a large list of responsibilities, can you articulate your culture?
    • Would individual team members reach consensus on their collective roles, responsibilities and values? 
  • Do you understand who you are as an organization?
    • Regardless of the size of your company, do you know your place in the market and have you clarified your value proposition?
    • Does your team know your company story and are they inspired to share that good news through their work and public interactions? 

Leadership starts with holding yourself accountable.

In The Real Life MBA, Jack and Suzy Welch write, “The only reason to talk about behaviors at work is that leaders need be very public, very clear, and very consistent about what kind of behaviors are needed in order to achieve the company’s mission.” Leaders must lead by example, it should be the working definition of leadership but often it falls short of action.

When those in a position of leadership understand themselves they free up capacity to find and build other leaders who will round out the team needs so that the mission can move forward. When leaders don’t understand themselves they often lead by fear and hold the team back from reaching its potential.

Clarity comes from truth.
Collaboration comes from a willingness to receive input.
By combining clarity with collaboration,
leaders, teams and organizations
​will unlock the capacity to compete. 

Strong leaders understand the importance of adaptation.

3. “Be true…” 
There is an emphasis on authenticity which is important for individuals as well as organizations. Yet, if you are failing or heading towards decline, it takes a strong person to admit they need assistance. In the rapidly evolving market everyone must be acutely aware that what worked last month may not net the same result this month. The need to adapt and adjust to the market is constant. Failure to recognize this reality is a recipe for certain failure.  

Our values should be set in stone, in so far as they reflect our ethics and core culture, but our approach to the needs of our clients must be fluid. Lex Sisney shares more on how we remain true to ourselves and yet flexible, “If you want to scale your business successfully — without sacrificing innovation, core values, or execution speed as things get more complex — you’ll need to design on principles, not policies.”

​Good leadership recognizes the survival of the fittest, which isn’t so much that the strongest and richest survive but those who 
most adaptable to their surroundings. Recent history has shown how industry giants have been toppled by rigidity and replaced by entities that were willing to change their approach with the fluctuations of the market. ​

Authentic leaders clarify values and build collaborative cultures.

Rigid flexibility 
 
Being yourself and building an authentic company are not unreachable philosophical dreams. A leader who is listening will reap the benefits of real time feedback so that their team can adjust course expediently. Jack and Suzy Welch address innovation in this way, “It can and should be a continual, ongoing, normal thing. It can be and should be a mindset that has every employee at every level of the organization thinking as they walk in the door every morning, “I’m going to find a better way to do my job today.” 

Leaders who understand themselves can create teams and cultures that thrive. Competing in the market requires a strong identity with adaptability. My father in law wisely calls this 
rigid flexibility. Stay true to your core and nimble enough to adjust to the tides. Have a vision, work tirelessly to execute on your mission but don’t get so transfixed that you are unable to adapt.

Three keys to success as an authentic leader:

  • Maintain rigid flexibility as you clarify your identify
  • Build an authentic culture
  • Adapt through collaboration
Leadership development services for new manager training
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    The DYOJO Podcast

    Author

    Let us help you build and execute a plan for achieving success in your personal and professional development.

    Optimize your efforts for success by investing in people, process, production and progress (The Blueprint of Success).

    Topics include: leadership development, process improvement, business management skills, entrepreneurship, soft skills training and small business advice. 


    Contact us today to discuss how we can help you with leadership development, business coaching or freelance writing.  

    SUBSCRIBE TO THE DYOJO
    SUBSCRIBE
    The Intentional Restorer
    Jon Isaacson has a monthly feature column with Restoration & Remediation (R&R) Magazine titled The Intentional Restorer 

    Archives

    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016

    Categories

    All
    Accountability
    Advice
    Analysis
    Authenticity
    Awkward
    Best Practices
    Blame
    Branding
    Business
    Business Solutions
    Care
    Career
    Character
    Claims
    Clarity
    Coaching
    Collaboration
    Commitment
    Communication
    Community
    Conflict
    Conflict Resolution
    Connect
    Connection
    Consistency
    Construction
    Controversy
    Creative
    Creative Solutions
    Criminal Justice
    Culture
    Culuture
    Customer Service
    Delusion
    Development
    Discipline
    Disgruntled
    Disruption
    Diversity
    Do Good
    Dysfunction
    Education
    Efficiency
    Emotional Intelligence
    Empathy
    Employee Development
    Employee Engagement
    Endurance
    Engagement
    Entrepreneur
    Environment
    Equipment
    Estimating
    Events
    Example
    Experiments
    Failure
    Family
    Fear
    Feedback
    Fitness
    Food
    Fun
    Funny
    Goals
    Good Cause
    Growth
    Growth Mindset
    Happiness
    Health
    High Horse
    Hiring
    Honesty
    Humanity
    Humanize
    Identity
    Incentives
    Influence
    Innovation
    Inspiration
    Insurance
    Intelligence
    Inter
    Interview
    Introspective
    Investing
    Issues
    Leadership
    Lean
    Listening
    Loyalty
    Management
    Marketing
    Meetings
    Mentorship
    Millennials
    Momentum
    Money
    Motivation
    Music
    Networking
    Non Profit
    Opposition
    Optimization
    Organization
    Parenting
    People
    Podcast
    Preparation
    Presentation
    Prioritization
    Process
    Process Improvement
    Production
    Productivity
    Profitability
    Progess
    Progress
    Project Management
    Promotion
    Property Restoration
    Publication
    Published
    Purpose
    Quality
    Racism
    Reform
    Relationships
    Respect
    Review
    Risk
    Safety
    Sales
    Scheduling
    Service
    Simple
    Social Media
    Society
    Soft Skills
    Speaking
    Status Quo
    Structure
    Success
    Symptoms
    Systems
    Team Building
    Tools
    Training
    Transparency
    Trauma
    Trust
    Truth
    Turnover
    Unity
    Values
    Video
    Vision
    Volunteer
    Water Damage
    Website
    Xactimate
    Youth Sports

    RSS Feed

    ​<script type="text/javascript" src="//downloads.mailchimp.com/js/signup-forms/popup/unique-methods/embed.js" data-dojo-config="usePlainJson: true, isDebug: false"></script><script type="text/javascript">window.dojoRequire(["mojo/signup-forms/Loader"], function(L) { L.start({"baseUrl":"mc.us5.list-manage.com","uuid":"b9016446bd3c6a9f0bd835d4e","lid":"83282ffb9e","uniqueMethods":true}) })</script>

Jon Isaacson

The DYOJO 
The DYOJO Podcast
The Intentional Restorer

Connect. Collaborate. Conquer.
© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • Words
  • Book
  • Podcast