Moving from a good to a better to a Great leader

How do you progress from a GOOD to a BETTER to a GREAT leader?
 
Overall there are at least three stages through which you may be progressing. Few if any are currently in Stage 3. It is possible to step right into Stage 3. Take a moment and review where you are currently.
 
Stage 1 – GOOD
 
You realise that your personal leadership development is important. So you invest in it, be it through organisational resources or your own.
 
No matter the content, models, philosophies or programs, most if not all of the development will fall under four universal levels of leadership:
  1. Leading self
  2. Leading others (including team)
  3. Leading organisation (non-people elements)
  4. Leading society (beyond work).
If your development grows you in these areas you could be on a journey towards becoming or remaining a “Good” leader. Well done! But your development is still not sufficient for the world we live in, or for you to make a lasting difference as a leader.
 
Stage 2 – BETTER
 
A realisation that for your investment in leadership development to be truly worthwhile it needs to be carried through to behavioural change, made possible through effective feedback. So you or your organisation find a way for you to receive annual or bi-annual feedback – 360 assessment – on these four levels of leadership. Now you start moving towards becoming a BETTER leader. That is if you are able to authentically loop the feedback back into your individual development. Most leaders fall flat here. The loop must be closed in order to allow leadership development to set you on that path towards a BETTER leader.
 
But you are still not on the level required for becoming and remaining a Great, Significant Leader.
Leadership development is still just an important activity in your life but not yet a way of life, like regular exercise and healthy diet. And the speed at which change happens and the pressure you are under will eventually catch up and overtake your abilities to cope and lead effectively. So moving on to Stage 3 is essential, more so in today’s world. In a way Leaders haven’t been under enough pressure to shift into stage three. But it’s starting to happen.
 
Stage 3 – GREAT / SIGNIFICANT
 
This is where you realise that you lead real-time under increasing pressure of a VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) world on steroids. Your development needs to match this reality. If it lags and doesn’t match, a gap will start growing between your real-time reality and your ad hoc, lagging leadership development journey and annual 360 degree assessment. Your development must become a regular habit; a way of life; authentic. If you don’t move forward into Stage 3, that gap will become an irreparable chasm, noticeable in obvious ways.
 
Therefore, you lean more fully into the real-time space:
  • Finding a way to receive real-time feedback on the four universal levels. This is a big step. In essence it means all relevant individuals who work for and with you can evaluate you – give feedback – at any time, not just annually. And you see the consistent feedback and comments inside your Personal Leadership Fitness Plan.
  • You have a real-time Feedback Mean Score that you want and need to improve on. You therefore want and have to embrace the feedback, then implement real-time individualised development activities, which speaks directly to the feedback, to improve your mean score.
  • You start turning this real-time development journey into a habit, a way of life. You take ownership of your own leadership development journey, just like you do with your own exercise program and diet.
Now you are becoming:
 
  • A leader that actually authentically grows real-time and impacts the bottom line…also in real-time.
  • An ever improving Authentic Leader.
  • A GREAT and SIGNIFICANT leader that will make a lasting difference.
  • A leader that won’t just positively impact your organisation but society and your family as well.
ThinkLead Ecosystem can take you to Stage 3, which will have other real-time spin offs like:
 
  • Rewarding your participation – through real-time points allocation.
  • Recognising development achievements – via a real-time Leaderboard, per country, organisation, sector and level.
  • Making it possible for you to share a Portfolio of Evidence of all your activities, learnings, actions and achievements, real-time.
  • Encouraging individualised progression – because we are all on different levels of leadership maturity.
A great leader that will make a significant difference needs to be ever growing. It’s that simple. And this can only happen if you match your intensifying real-time leadership experience with real-time feedback and personal, relevant, impactful development. It’s possible. ThinkLead Ecosystem does exactly this, and more. We would love to assist in guiding you to Stage 3. Just join www.thinklead.app.
 
In summary:
 
Stage 1: Good
 
Quality Leadership Development aligned to the four universal levels of leadership.
 
Stage 2: Better
 
Quality Leadership Development aligned to the four universal levels of leadership.
Quality assessments at least annually, but not yet real-time.
Attempting to loop feedback back into personal development.
 
Stage 3: Great / Significant
 
A realisation that you lead real-time under increasing pressure.
Therefore implementing a real-time development process of real-time feedback, followed by real-time development activities, informed by the feedback.
Accepting personal responsibility and accountability for your leadership development journey.
 
info@tle.global