In the past six months, I've gone through my very own accelerated MBA program. I moved to Gainesville without knowing what I would actually do. Three days later they told me, "One of our department heads is going overseas. We need you to lead that department."
Welcome to the big leagues kid.
Thankfully I'm surrounded by senior leadership that extends an immense amount of grace and encouragement. And they don't stop there. I've been given fantastic coaching and resources the whole way. The ELP stands foremost.
One interesting thing I've learned about successful leadership is that it's much more simple than one would realize. Turns out you don't have to be a genius to be a great leader. I even have research to prove it.
A few of us in the ELP signed up for a Cousera.com class: Grow to Greatness: Smart Growth for Private Businesses (check it out, it's dang awesome)
According to Dr. Ed Hess' 10 year study on 1300 public companies (Hess is the class professor who also teaches at Darden Business School at the University of Virginia), the most common leadership attributes at successful companies were humility, passion, and a transference of ambition and focus from "me" to "the team".
The study also showed the standard assumptions of long-term business success (unique products, best talent, visionary-charasmatic leader, etc.) were in fact not an accurate predictor of sustained long-term growth.
The number one predictor? High employee engagement.
At the end of the day, successful organizations, and therefore successful leadership–comes down to people. Thus as leaders we have to ask ourselves a very important question…
"Do we foster a culture and environment of personal growth, coupled with feelings of employee "ownership" over their job and the organization as a whole?"
The research shows, if we want healthy, sustained long-term growth, leaders must focus more on developing their team. Collective leadership, if you will. Traditional ROI, cost/unit, and efficiency rates just won't cut it anymore.
While the keys to great leadership are simple, they're not easy. I've been amazed (and honestly a bit shocked) how many times my natural instincts violate these principals. For whatever reason, it is alarmingly easy to debase people in our "commitment" to get results. Unwittingly, our vision becomes myopic and our "little kingdoms" grow in importance before our very eyes.
Thankfully I am reminded by great people everyday what true leadership is about. Even though I am not perfect, I am learning the true value of valuing people–not just healthier relationships, but healthier and more successful organizations.
Kinda sounds like the Kingdom right?
What are you doing to foster an environment of personal growth and employee "ownership"?
