Why Leaders Always Go First
Posted on October 05, 2023 by Michael Marino, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.
As leaders, we need to bring out the best in ourselves first, in order to bring out the best in our teams and our organizations.
Ultimately, organizations don’t transform, people do. And the good news is the leaders get to go first! From there, growth and transformation can cascade person-by-person, ultimately resulting in organizational transformation. For a leader, this transformation focuses on 4 key areas.
It all starts with a learner’s mindset. If you are serious about growth, for you and your organization, then you have to be serious about learning.
Next, each of us needs to become what I call “well-defined”. This involves gaining clarity around our strengths/goals/aspirations as well as what values or principles are important to us. This helps define where we show up and how we show up, consistently.
It’s critical that leaders have a high degree of emotional intelligence. 80% of you effectiveness will be driven by your EQ, not your IQ.
Lastly, each leader must invest time in understanding how to develop and keep trust. This comes down to caring for others, demonstrating strong character, being clear and concise in communications, and demonstrating the capacity to lead. All these attributes can be learned and developed.
As leaders, which we all are to some degree, we need to realize that people are alway watching and listening to us. It’s the aggregation of all of this small, seemingly routine interactions, that define our leadership over time.
