Photo by bhanu.t

Recently our family went camping—tent style. We packed our lodging (tents), equipment, and food into our van and headed out. A self-contained capsule of sufficiency soaring to our destination, we unpacked our cargo and set up camp for a couple of days away from the usual schedule. When it came time to pack it up again, an observing friend commented that it was amazing to see the volume of “stuff” reduced into bags and bins and stowed once again into the confines of the van. The camping gear only became our “camp” when removed from storage and set up properly. After serving its purpose, it was stowed again for transport to another destination. This is reminiscent of a leader’s responsibility to possess and “unpack” suitable skills and actions for guiding followers effectively—depending on the situation at hand—and then properly “stow” skills and actions when appropriate. Leaders must unpack the right kind of leadership at the right time, and for the right reasons.

Your responsibility as a leader is to relate to others through modeling high standards of integrity, interpersonal skills, and ability to catalyze people towards a vision. Leadership expert Bruce Winston, in his book Be a Leader for God’s Sake reminds leaders that followers are “…complete people with physical, mental, and spiritual needs…followers want leaders who are ‘others-centered’.” Therefore, relate to people with the right kind of leadership approach, considering their needs as well as your desired outcome. A good resource for understanding leadership styles/approaches is www.kenblanchard.com.

Timing is everything! Unpack your skills when it’s appropriate. For example, if there is conflict in the air, know how to lead folks to dialog and reconcile in a timely manner. Demonstrate practical understanding in the timing of decisions, celebrations, conflict management, and teaching moments.

Know why you lead the way you do, and apply yourself appropriately in each leadership opportunity. Can you give good reasons for your leadership behavior? Instead of simply reacting to leadership challenges, choose to lead pro-actively—think through scenarios before they occur in order to prepare and unpack the right leadership tools. Always be prepared to stand by your reasons for leading the way you do.

Dr. Renée N. Hale is founder and president of WellSpirit Consulting Group, Inc.—engaging organizations around the world to get well, stay well, and create positive futures. Visit www.wellspiritconsulting.com today.  © 2010 Renée N. Hale

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 24th, 2010 at 11:05 am and is filed under Monthly Newsletter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.