Developing a Leader

In this post I'm getting radical. I am going to attempt to de-mystify one of the most difficult-to-define components of leadership: How to Develop a Leader. I believe I may have stumbled upon this golden nugget of mentoring deliciousness while consulting multiple leadership resources as I have been developing a leadership program here at St. Olaf, and building upon one of my previous posts. Best of all, I think that it builds upon what Paul was talking about below with his post about the ability to use so many words while describing and talking about leadership, and it turns out that the concept in developing a leader is really quite simple - leaders develop when the reflect on their experience. Reflecting can happen via mentoring, journaling, reviewing videotape or anything that gives the individual the opportunity to revisit what happened, make sense of it, and search for strengths and improvements.

Boom. There it is. Simple, but makes so much sense - and this simplicity then led me to ask, "How does one improve or "develop" at anything"? With practice, reflection, and determination. But it's the reflection component that provides the opportunity to see what went well and what should be changed. We can spend a lot of time, energy, and resources on putting together workshops and bringing in speakers and gurus, and attending conventions in the hopes of finding out the "answer" to making us more effective. However, the answer might not require any of these extras - although, don't get me wrong - I think they can be very helpful and can often play a role in the leadership process... I just think that the most effective avenue for growth is to look within. Below are some considerations for getting started with leadership development via reflection (either for yourself or for helping another person):

Time 

Reflection takes time. Whether this comes from journaling, reviewing audio/video/notes taken, or talking with a mentor - you'll need to dedicate some uninterrupted time to fully process previous events, dissect them, and search for the intuitions you had in the moment. You'll then need to process what could have improved on and envision yourself making the improvements in the next opportunity you have. 

Not only will you need to dedicate uninterrupted time for each attempt at reflecting, but you'll also need to dedicate recurring time to reflect. This will help your brain become better at looking back and looking forward.

Focus

While many of us probably spend time reflecting on past events (or maybe using a different word - worrying, getting stuck, revisiting, thinking) what can make reflection more beneficial than simply spinning your wheels about what has happened in the past is the focus you can emphasize while you reflect. Because there are many ins and outs (and strikes and gutters) of leadership, each time you reflect attach a theme to it to help focus your thoughts and make them beneficial for you.

Moving to the Moment

After you have been practicing reflecting for some time, try to move your reflections to happening "in the moment". This is something that Harvard Leadership Professor Ronald  Heifetz calls "Moving to the Balcony" to watch the ballet below. At times when you're working with others, whether in a formal authoritative leadership position or not, it can be easy to get lost amidst everything that is happening between the other individuals in the group. After practicing reflecting for a while, see if you can help yourself move from the ballet up to the balcony to get a better sense of everything that is happening.

So when we're thinking leadership development - think reflection. If you're working with a leader and you'd like to help him or her develop/grow/foster/[insert catchy word here] ask yourself how you can provide opportunities for this person to look back on his/her actions to be more effective in the future. 

And if if you'd like to try this out - see if this video can get you motivated to try reflecting for 30 days...