Leadership Development: It's the process...

Following every Fad?

Some people seem to always be looking for the things that could make them a better leader; the 7 habits of effective people, the 21 laws of leadership, the 12.5 strengths of leaders, top ten leadership tips, and so on. But reading a book that boils it all down to 7 habits, or 21 laws and then trying to follow them on a daily basis never really worked for me. My world doesn't work like that.

I find the process of personal change is, well, a process. It takes time. It's hard to change who you are and what you do. You have to think hard about yourself. You have to take the time to fight yourself sometimes. You regress, you get back on track. It is a lot of work.

Many years back, I started my own path to change and it took years of constant effort. The Tony Robbins type thing where you visualize yourself being a "good" leader and then you will be a good leader never worked for me.

I came to the conclusion the only way to change is to take the time to make it happen. It could be an hour to go to the gym every second day, or a 30 minute reflective walk with a close colleague during lunch once a week. But it takes time and constant effort.

In my case, it was an hour a week with my management team during which we used a process McGill’s Henry Mintzberg taught me through his book Managers Not MBAs. This was a process of weekly reflection in light of conceptual ideas with the management team.

CoachingOurselves session in 2003

So I began a process of weekly learning meetings. I did not commit myself to a specific outcome. I let the reflections take use where ever they want to go, so long as we focused on becoming better leaders.

Much to my surprise, it turned out that being a better leader simply meant carving out the time to think and work on becoming a better leader. In the end there is no short term to this journey. You simply need to focus on the process not the end result. And the result will be more than you can imagine when you first start.

I, personally, took control of my management and leadership style. I maneuvered my career into a space where I can be the kind of manager that makes me happy and has the impact that makes me proud.

So please enjoy yourself, read your books and inspiring articles. But nothing is going to happen until you take the time, on a regular basis, and work on it. It is the process of good hard work that makes things change, and that takes time!

Click here for CoachingOurselves themed discussion topics for individual management teams. 

A fun, short 90 second animated video on how I learned about leadership with Mintzberg, you can watch it at: http://youtu.be/ZFmJhD2F4mE