Success factors in leadership

Over the last few weeks we have identified three essential pieces that make up the learning paradigm which leaders and aspiring leaders must engage if they are to grow and maintain their leadership. However as we recognize the essential tools to growing our learning paradigm which we have identified one key piece of the puzzle which remains is that for learning to be effective we must be capable of recognizing what level our learning has gotten to.

This is so important because if you do not have an idea of how to assess your progress you are likely to fall into one of the two extremes which are either to feel completely inadequate of meeting required target or you may feel more competent and knowledgeable than you really are. Both of these extremes are very dangerous for leaders. First and foremost leadership requires some level of confidence and when a leader feels inadequate it takes away a sizable chunk of our leadership force leading to indecisiveness or recklessness to compensate. The second extreme, on the other hand, is dangerous because it leads to the foolishness of not knowing and not knowing that you don’t know.

The challenge of measuring progress however is complicated by two main things. The first being that learning is never ending as Tom Stoppard put it “For every exit,there is an entry somewhere.” This means that as far as learning issues are concerned it is an endless journey. Yesterday’s information is only a raw material for today’s situation. The second is that there are varying degrees of competence required for leadership effectiveness. The leader, for example, does not have to be the most competent in the technical areas of application. In fact when Jean Ribout was at Schlumberger, he tried not to give ultimate leadership to those who were the technical experts because of the tendency of such persons to get bogged down in technicalities and stop providing leadership. On the other hand, there must be some minimal levels of knowledge in key areas for effective leadership. How then does the leader know where he is on the knowledge journey?

Four essential measurement tools will help you as a leader to attain and measure your knowledge growth. 1. Your Vision – Your vision in one’s leadership journey provides a very good basis for measuring learning growth especially when applied to a clear idea of one’s role in attaining this vision. Great leaders have always been men or women of decisive and clear vision and they find that when they apply their vision which is the hallmark of their leadership to their learning and knowledge base, they are able to measure which learning areas are necessary, useful or compulsory and which areas are incidentals which may be useful some day.

A clear vision also allows us to recognise when new knowledge develops and we are in danger of falling behind. One clear example was shown by Jack Welch, who for a long time felt he did not need personal proficiency in Internet and E-commerce issues until he realized that with the emerging global world, this learning was an essential for those who want to be relevant in fulfilling their vision.

2. A second basis for measuring progress is by looking at other people who have made progress. This can be a challenge because sometimes we are better than people in an area, but they have developed essential skills in some areas in which they are better than us. Great learners develop a radar for measuring in a positive ways the learning pathways of others. This means if as a leader, you decide to engage like Jack Welch did the e-world, you can learn by exploring how others have engaged this learning paradigm and applied their new knowledge. This helps you establish a basis for measuring your progress.

A corollary to this is to identify people who are ahead of you on the chosen learning path and engage actively with them. Jack Welch, for example, sought for a CEO who was fully engaging the e-world for growth and not only invited him to be his mentor even though he was only 26 years old but also brought him on the board of General Electric.

3. A third basis for measuring your progress is to find out how the learning has influenced your thinking and how you respond when you engage related issues. For example many top executives have gone for computer appreciation training but most that I have met still treat the computer as a glorified typewriter for Microsoftword or as a high speed adding machine for Excel. John Maxwell said that the final stage in learning “I know and I go”.

In other words I have learned so much that my responses are automatic because they are driven by a deep seated knowledge which has become so engrained and unnoticed. One example that comes to mind is how many of us, who have been driving for sometime and attained some proficiency literally find ourselves responding without having to think deeply. A leader whose proficiency is such that he needs to have key issues explained and explained again and again is likely to slow down the process of engaging new paradigms and only maintain leadership by force of position.

It was Ralph Galbreath who said “The future belongs to the adaptive” or in other words to those who are able to learn and it is those who can provide leadership. Remember Eric Hoffer’s statement that: “In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”