Lessons from Session Four of the Experienced Manager Program

The first and last sessions of my leadership development programs are my favorites! I love the excitement that comes from discovering great new professionals and tuning in to who they are and where their focus is in their careers and with their organizations. And I love the final session because the focus is on the two topics every senior manager and leader must think about constantly:

1. Who they are and aspire to be as a leader

2. How they are thinking about strategy and their role with this essential issue

The topics are great, but what’s magical is the rich and authentic idea-sharing and mutual discovery happening in real-time.

In fairness, the leaders (ranging from CEOs to Senior Managers) have had time to think about their role as leaders via an assignment from week one. For this assignment, I ask them to explore and identify their leadership inspirations, describe the impact they want to have on those around them, and articulate their hoped-for legacy. And then, I ask them to roll this up into a charter that expresses six essential items:

Every Leader Must Come to Grip with These Six Items

1. Here’s who I am as a leader

2. Here’s what you can expect from me

3. Here’s the person I aspire to be every day

4. Yes, I need your help in holding me accountable to all this

5. Here’s what I expect from you

6. Here’s what we’re going to create together

From my experience, this is often the most time and energy these individuals have spent thinking and reflecting on what it means for them to lead in their careers. The power of the exercise comes, in my opinion, from the backward look at those who have inspired them and then the forward look on a hoped-for legacy.

Of course, the final pay-off for this exercise comes in sharing ideas on how to bring their charters to life. All agree it takes a blend of courage and humility to put themselves out there at this level. And all agree on how important it is for them to commit to doing this.

In one session, I learned from the firm’s president that two senior leaders from the same organization were so moved by this work that they hugged in the hallway. While I don’t guarantee hugs as an outcome of my programs, it’s nice when they happen!

Learning the Craft of Strategy & Finding the Right Tools To Help

The strategy module is intellectually challenging. Because of the size of the topic and the limitations of time, I focus on helping people align on a working definition of strategy and then exposing them to three essential toolsets required to wrestle strategy to life in their organizations. (Read more here.) And, we cap it off with a discussion of a technique to make sure strategy is clear and actionable at all levels and with every individual. (Read more here.)

My goal is to send these leaders out of the session, recognizing the need to think about strategy constantly and sometimes lie awake thinking about it. And then to expose them to tools they can use to get the gray matter of their organizations involved in what must become a living, breathing part of lives. It’s a jump-start lesson.

The Bottom Line for Now:

Think about it:

  • How hard are you thinking about and working on the leader you aspire to be?
  • Are you constantly thinking about strategy, and like a craftsperson, are you honing your skills with tools that will help you explore strategy from different vantage points, make decisions, and then bring it to life.

If you’re not preoccupied with both of those questions, you’re not working hard enough at your job.

Art's Signature

 

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