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Create Followship:
The Magic Behaviours of Global Leaders Dr Angus I McLeod works with global leaders at the prestigious Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania and consults on leadership for manufacturing industry at Krannert Management School, Purdue University, Indiana. He also delivers corporate disruptive business strategies by facilitating senior teams, with his colleague Adina Laver, via the company Courage to be Curious LLC. He is the author of several books, now in many languages.
Introduction We want others to be inspired, to co-create with us and support us; we want followship! To achieve greater followship in others, learning more about ‘leadership’ may not be the answer. That’s because leadership development is focused on changing self. What we need to create followship are skills that create change in others; focusing there provides targeted answers to progress. In this article, discover what you may already be doing that is great! And, find new tricks and tips, for leveraging your existing abilities. Creating Followship in others will help us to run more successful teams, as well as influencing peers and seniors more effectively. Another spin-off, is that good people are much less likely to leave. Here are some areas of focus that provide immediate results. Focus: Authentic-Self or Personas? Most executives do not realize that they have a choice to be themselves at work rather than adopt a ‘persona for work’. They come to work and shed their natural ‘self’ in favor of a workpersona, sometimes guided by the work-culture, sometimes not. Typically, this involves faking a work-role that is more-or-less serious, inflexible, opinion-giving and/or directing. The executives who adopt unnatural work-personas may, eventually, not notice their transition into ‘workmode’ each and every day. Family members do notice however, especially when that workpersona hangs-over and is brought home. Imagine a scenario in which a child experiences a parent who comes home stressed, is thoughtless or unkind. Later, the parent may swing to being warmer and more supportive. Research suggests that parental inconsistency like this, leads to kids with low self-esteem and then, as adults, to them being more prone to depression1. Executives often think that they must role-play ‘manager’ and that showing ‘self’ is a weakness. Actually, a person is weak if they fear showing their ‘self’. This fear of showing self is not invisible. The fear appears as ‘inauthentic’ to work-colleagues; the fear leaks out in their demeanor and behaviours. Inauthenticity like that does not engender trust or Followship in others. You are probably thinking that that there ought to be self-checks and balances in what we express at work? And if so, you are right. However, with caveats, it is safe to drop the fake work-persona! Instead, check out the effect that being more human at work2 can make on others. What can you do differently that works? 1. The Effects of Inconsistent Parenting on the Development of Uncertain Self-Esteem and Depression Vulnerability, Luxton, D.D. Researchgate.net., October 2007. 2. www.angusmcleod.com/category/human-at-work/
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