Top Performer's Newsletter - Sept. 2011
"Accept the Leadership Challenge"
This month’s topic is critical to both your personal and professional growth as an athlete. Before you read this article, we want you to complete a survey. Ask your manager and all your coaches the following question:
Do we have enough leaders on our team?
Our guess is that your managers and coaches will respond with a resounding, “No!” On most teams and in most organizations, there are never enough leaders. We’re talking about leaders who have a positive influence that result in a positive lasting effect on all members of the team.
After all, leadership is influence. No doubt you’ve been led or influenced, probably both positively and negatively, by a variety of individuals. Most of these individuals who influenced you probably did not have a ‘leadership’ title, but they were successful in leading or influencing you. Correct? Correct.
The goal of this month’s Top Performer’s newsletter is to get you on the path to being a leader on your team and having a positive influence on others. It’s never too soon to start developing your leadership skills. Just take these 5 action steps to develop the leader in you.
Step 1. Revise your definition of leadership. How? Start by avoiding an overemphasis on personal goals. Leadership is not just about you making yourself better. Leadership is about making other people better as a result of your presence and making sure that the positive impact you made lasts. Enlarge the focus from yourself to also include others. For example, one athlete endangered his career and his team's success by focusing on his own goals, not by helping his team move forward. When a trusted teammate advised him to change his behavior, and he acted on the advice, the results were impressive!
Step 2. Avoid being distracted by trying to protect your imagined public image. This can narrow the set of tools that you use to positively influence other people. It gets in the way of your moving outside of the places where you’re most comfortable. For example, the need to look smart can stop you from learning. Don’t let that happen. Or, the fear of trying something new will stop you from professional growth opportunities. Don’t let that happen, either. Remember, don’t ever let a predetermined self-image that you have of yourself prevent you from taking the next step towards leadership growth and development.
Step 3. Avoid turning competitors into two-dimensional adversaries or enemies. As you turn others into merely characters, you become a character yourself. If your goal is to lead, your credibility takes a dive when you turn others into enemies. Keep your perspective when you view the other guy or the other team. They may be your competitors, but they aren’t your enemies. You never know, you may one day be a leader on their team! Be sure to model the mindset of keeping a realistic perspective of your competitors.
Step 4. Avoid waiting for permission from someone else to lead. You don’t need to receive permission or an “okay” before doing what you believe is the right thing to do. In successful organizations, influence from leaders is actually rewarded with increased opportunities, power, and recognition. For example, Juan, a personal trainer who had virtually no experience with either youth development programs or urban life in the United States, opened a highly successful gym for inner-city kids; he refused to be daunted by his lack of expertise and decided to simply go for it. Decide to be a leader and go for it!
Step 5. Avoid going it alone. Accepting the leadership challenge can be exhausting and even scary. The challenges are relentless for players who stay committed to being team leaders. The main thing to remember is that you need a strong personal mini-team or set of mentors around you to help keep up your stamina. Look to a mentor and/or others-both inside and outside of baseball-to provide support and advice. You probably already do this anyway, so consider how you can add more mentors to support your leadership development.
Being a leader means YOU making an active decision to lead, and then act on that decision. Only then will your team benefit from the enormous amount of leadership talent that is just “sitting on the bench.”
By accepting the leadership challenge, you are developing a mindset and a habit that fuels high performance, and helping others do the same!
Source for this month’s topic: Anne Morriss, the managing director of the Concire Leadership Institute, coauthor of the HBR article Stop Holding Yourself Back.
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