Somewhere during my second decade out of college (Hey, I’m slow but I figure it out eventually!), I recall having the epiphany that most people in leadership roles acted like they had no conception of what their job as a leader was.  In fact, it dawned me after a few moments in thought that it probably wasn’t an act—they truly did not understand their job.  The evidence to support this conclusion was all around me.

I began categorizing the types of leaders and leadership behaviors that I had observed.  A number of these made it into my book with Rich Petro, Practical Lessons in Leadership,under a heading: The Really Bad Habits of Ineffective Leaders. 

A few of my favorites:

–The "Too-Busy" Boss. Everyone knows this character.  They don’t ever seem to find time to talk or collaborate.  They fill their schedule with meetings that beget meetings; they run out of the building heading to the airport with a cell phone stuck to their ear, or they use trite phrases like, "That’s an important issue and we should talk about it at the right time."  Nothing ever gets done because it never seems to be the right time!

–The Never-Make-A-Decision Leader.  This one is a close relative of the "Too Busy" Boss.  Fearful of being accountable for anything, she goes through life never making a decision, lest it comeback to reflect on her.  Eventually, this leader’s subordinates go stark raving mad with frustration. 

-The "At My Last Company, We Did It This Way" Leader.  This one bores people to death with endless stories of the state of nirvana that he and his associates existed in at Company X, and of course rails about his current peers and leaders that just don’t get it.  It’s common for subordinates of this boss to consider calling Company X and asking them to take their boss back.  Please!

A few others that I love: the Assassin, the Game-Playing Fork Tongued Boss, the Everyone’s Best Buddy After Work but Don’t Screw With Me In The Office Boss and The Chameleon Manager.  You probably recognize every one of these people, and probably can add a few more as well. (Leave a comment and let us know what breed of bad leader is your favorite.)

All of these leaders have one thing in common—they are completely clueless about what their true role is and what they are accountable for in this role.  This epiphany gave birth to my seemingly never-ending quest to stomp out leadership ignorance everywhere I go and it gave birth to what I call, The Leader’s Charter.

The Charter is my attempt to characterize the true role of a leader and to use as a teaching tool for the leaders reporting to me.  It reads as follows:

The Leader’s Charter:

Your primary role as a leader is to:

-Create an environment that facilitates high individual and team performance against company and industry standards

-Support innovation in processes, programs and approaches

–Encourage collaboration where necessary for objective achievement

–Promote the development of your associates in roles that leverage their talents and interests and that challenge them to new and greater accomplishments.

The Charter links together what I view as the fundamental tasks and accountabilities of a leader, and serves as a valuable reminder of where your priorities should be focused.  As I’ve used this over time, I’ve encouraged people to poke, prod, add and revise and the same offer stands for you.  I’ve not found anyone yet that thinks the Charter’s inherent focus on environment, performance, innovation, talent development and growth is anything but spot-on for where leaders should focus their energy.

(Anyone interested in the white-paper version of The Leader’s Charter and my suggestions for how to leverage it in your everyday activities can download it in my firm’s Leadership Resource Center.)

The bottom-line:

Whether you are CEO or a first-time supervisor, The Leader’s Charter provides you with critical context for your true role and accountabilities.  Chances are no one is going clue you in to these core tasks, so you can be like me and take a decade to figure it out or you can get a jump-start and leverage and revise or adapt the Charter to fit your leadership needs.  Once it works for you, start teaching the leaders around you.  Hey, maybe that’s something missing from the Charter… .