Mark McCatty, Leadership & Team Advisor

Leadership is influence.

Leadership Return on Investment reflects the amount of value that a leader generates through their leadership efforts. Leaders are judged by the results they obtain. Leaders are influencers and have the power to generate change. The hard truth is that a manager who is unable to effectively create desired change improvements through the people in their area is judged to be an ineffective leader. Remember: that leadership results come through people.

Creating change is always a challenge. People go through predictable stages when faced with the possibility of having to change. These cycles of change have been compared to the grieving cycles. When people are presented with the need to change, when the change is dictated to them, they will go through a stage of initially denying the need for the change. Then they may move to resisting the change.

Eventually, we want people to move to exploring the possibilities presented by the change. And ultimately, we desire people to engage and support the change. The leader’s behavior will have a significant impact on how well and how fast people move through the change phases.

3 Aspects of Leadership ROI

There are 3 aspects that are important to understand and follow for those desiring to improve their personal leadership ROI. Although not easy, these aspects are achievable through intentional effort.

1. Have a helpful mindset. Establish motive of being helpful. What is your motivation? Are you helping yourself or the people you lead?
2. Develop leadership clarity. Clarity – speak clearly; have a clear message. Leadership communication begins with clarity. People cannot translate into action the changes that they do not understand.
3. Use your leadership power wisely. Power can be good or bad; positive or negative. Leaders have a tremendous responsibility because they can be so influential. And this power can draw people positively to change [and improvement]. Or, the leader’s unproductive behavior can actually cause people to move away, and resist the desired changes longer.

You Are Really Not in Control

Leaders do not have the power to choose for others. That’s the hardest part of leadership. Leaders cannot make people love, or commit to making changes. People must make their own choices. People value, cherishes, and will fiercely defend their ability to choose. The leader’s opportunity for influencing is to have the right motive, lead with clarity, and draw people to the desired goal.

Effective leaders create improvement faster. These leaders can generate higher levels of commitment and engagement in those around them. They are able to more effectively align people around common goals. They can generate a climate of openness and continuous improvement. High Leadership ROI means creating greater improvements more quickly through better, more positive interactions. How high is your Leadership ROI?

Mark McCatty, Leadership & Team Advisor

http://www.mccatty.com/

Improving Leadership ROI