Leadership Philosophy... Our Cornerstone

We consider the development of a leadership philosophy to be so critical that we start every Leadership Development Program by having participants begin the process of writing their own. This serves as their individual touchstone for applying the skills and knowledge they acquire during the Lead2Succeed™ process. Over time, leaders should review and reflect upon their philosophy as they integrate new experiences into the leadership framework that we have provided.

Why Have A Written Leadership Philosophy?

You have seen leaders come and go and you've seen some succeed and others fail. Have you ever wondered what explains this? The U.S. Army and U.S. Navy have researched the leadership phenomena for years. Both have produced excellent summaries - The U.S. Army's Excellence in the Combat Arms and the Navy's Command Excellence. What those summaries indicate is that a widely communicated leadership philosophy and a vision of what the leader wants an organization to be are essential to being an effective leader. One of the key first steps in becoming a leader is to develop and articulate this personal leadership philosophy statement.

While it sounds easy enough, consider what happens when a leader fails to communicate a philosophy, establish a future vision or develop a system to measure progress toward that vision:

• Subordinates second-guess the leader.
• Trying to "discover" the leader's intent leads to piecemeal revision and initiation of policies and procedures.
• Resources may be used inappropriately as priorities change.
• Building subordinates' trust and confidence can be delayed or fail completely.
• In short, the energy that could be spent molding a better organization is wasted on guessing what the boss wants. No leader intentionally programs this, but it happens. The time needed to correct it can affect that leader and the organization's overall performance.

What Should The Philosophy Include?
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Concluding Thoughts

Followers expect leaders to show them the standard and train them to reach it. They expect leaders to lead by example. Additionally, they expect leaders to keep them informed and to care for them. Leaders may have to ask others to make extraordinary sacrifices to achieve goals. Leaders may have to call on them to do things that seem impossible. If leaders have trained their people to standard, inspired their willingness, and consistently looked after their interests, they will be prepared to accomplish any goal, anytime, anywhere.

Publishing a leadership philosophy helps create an environment for these things to happen. It enables leaders to discover what they stand for, what's important to them, and articulate this to followers. Followers know the leader's expectations and how the leader is most likely to act. This process leads to mutual trust and confidence and builds a stable foundation upon which long-term relations can be built and organizational effectiveness achieved.