Defining Leadership

There is no single definition of leadership. It's easy to misunderstand. My early attempts at leadership were merely me doing everything myself. Prior to that, I never attempted to lead, believing that I had the wrong personality. That's why I found it worthwhile to explicitly define leadership for myself.

When I say leadership, I mean:

1. Taking responsibility for the whole of something, and
2. Enabling and motivating others to shine as part of that whole.

Motivation and enablement correspond to the relational and task-oriented dimensions of leadership. If you can do these things while playing to your strengths, you can lead.

The following behaviours and intentions are my take on leading, based on my strengths of learning, intellection and strategic thinking.

1. Reflect to learn from experience.
2. Document to accumulate, refine and share insight.
3. Envision to give meaning to present day challenges.
4. Communicate to align the group on a vision.

Reflection is the foundation. Reflective insights accumulate in documentation, revealing patterns and ongoing issues. This is where you are.

Vision is a concrete, positive expression of a future that transcends the problems of today. The vision resonates emotionally, because achieving it would kill present-day pain, while growing your team's skills and experience. This is where you want to be.

Finally, communication further adapts the vision across the team. Once the team shares a vision, positive change begins.