Charting your leadership pathway

**This post was written by Keren J. Miguel, PhD student at The University of Edinburgh. **

• The problem: Organisations recognise the importance of investing in their emerging and current leaders. However, the practice of authentic, intentional, and horizontal leadership remains a challenge.
• Why it matters: Leadership impacts an organisation’s ecosystems, values, culture, and initiatives (e.g. policies, programmes, services).
• The solution: Be purposeful in your leadership self-development using these tips and advice.

Leadership development is a top challenge for organisations.

A Gartner survey reveals that 29% of employees do not believe their leader is authentic, empathetic, and supportive. Wouldn’t it be great if you could make a real impact and become a memorable leader, gaining the interest and understanding of as many people as possible?

Leadership is who you are called to be

During voluntary one-on-one conversations with management (manager, director, senior executives) within the Ontario Public Service, I learned about their leadership defining moments. They described these defining moments as a pivotal time in their lives. A time when they were called upon to steer an organisation and teams in a time of crisis or need such as a global pandemic, or hosting a continental multi-sport event, or transforming an organisation’s culture towards racial equity.

Reflecting on this time, they spoke about using lessons learned to grow personally and professionally. Their practical tips are:

1. Be authentic–know and accept who you are. This includes accepting your strengths and weaknesses. Do not force fit yourself into what you think are the ideal characteristics of a leader.

2. Be empathetic–take time to bring others along, even if it means slowing down. Your team needs to trust you, and likewise, you need to trust your team.

3. Be courageous–speak your truth and welcome different perspectives into the conversation. Create an environment of trust in bringing teams along through meaningful stakeholder engagement and fostering these relationships by inspiring a collective vision.

4. Be supportive–create a psychologically safe environment for your team. Be strategic in co-developing solutions through negotiations and active listening. Champion others so they can be recognised for the work they do.

In leadership, practical things matter. These tips provide us with an opportunity to learn and grow. It helps us to chart a pathway of self-development in our (in)formal roles as leaders.

Leadership self-development is a continuous journey

Each person shared that their self-development is a gradual process, in which their abilities and character are developed through lifelong learning opportunities. Their advice is to:

1. Plan your career pathway–think of where you want to be in three to five years and create a plan on how to get to this destination from your present job position.

2. Curate a brand–show who you are (e.g. kind, trustworthy) as a leader and be consistent in your engagement with diverse groups.

3. Learn from others–observe other leaders and pay attention to how their leadership style affects their teams.

4. Receive feedback–lean into and be open to having difficult conversations. Reflect on these conversations by asking, how does this resonate with me or how does this align with my purpose and cause?

5. Leverage peer advice–have a network (e.g. mentor, coach) of trusted advisors inside and outside your organisation to discuss ideas and strategies before implementation, instead of using a ‘trial by fire’ approach. Use the advice of industry thought leaders such as Brené Brown, Simon Sinek, or Oprah Winfrey.

Everyone deserves to be happy and fulfilled at work. Now, imagine if you used these practical tips and advice to make a real impact and become a memorable leader, gaining the interest and understanding of as many people as possible.

Read Keren’s article how to build anti-racist public institutions through evidence-based policy here.

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