Inspired by an article providing 9 Traits That Define Great Leadership, Part 1 of this 3-part series of posts provided steps to bring that list to life. It’s a thorough list for authentic leadership. But what if your idea of leadership is different?
Making it your own is what makes the difference. I thought about providing an example for one of the traits then stopped, and here’s why: my list could be very different from your list. An example: I worked with a client who wanted to increase empathy in her way of leading. She defined empathy in terms that made sense in her world of government and law; her definitions along the scale were real-to-her-world, relevant and incredibly meaningful — because she took the time to define them in her own words with a lens based on her own professional goals and vision. It was a powerful scale for action for her. Another person my very likely have created a completely different set of definitions about what empathy looked like for her. In fact, another client , a leader in the healthcare field, worked on the very same leadership competency and defined it quite differently than the first leader.
Executive Coaches, like many others in professional services, are assessed and certified based on our ability to embody and enact eleven core competencies. Many companies have a list of competencies by role/job/level and even provide the scaled behavioral definitions of each one, much like the 9 Traits article; this is a powerful foundation and an excellent place to start. The real work is in making it your own.
This is the second post of a three-part series.
