The Leader in You

I am currently working on crafting a leadership program for a client. It is a reminder for me that many organizations have challenges around leaders. They hire and train managers. The managers in turn work to increase their own skills and manage the tasks of those on their team. Yet…and yet leadership is something that goes beyond what any training program can provide. Leadership is about passion and instinct. It is about people. True leadership is about the intangible.

I find my quest then being how to instill the idea of these things into a leadership program without saying, “You have to be motivated and inspire greatness in those around you,” then of course followed up with a “Tah-dah.”

While some leadership skills are about the intangible, there are ways to convert to tangible. Here are some ways that leaders can develop:

• Find a coach or mentor, inside or outside of the organization.
• Create reasonable, actionable strategic goals, and work to meet them.
• Communicate the strategy to the team and ask for the team’s input on making those goals a reality.
• Do a little extra each day.
• Write things down.

What are other ways for managers to develop into leaders outside of the classroom?