To Lead or not to Lead-that is the Question

Last week I talked a lot about the organization I work for and how important internal communications can and should be. This week I want to keep that topic going and add a bit more to it. As you’ll recall, I work in higher education, specifically in enrollment management and admissions.  I deal with an external audience daily (students, their family members, their employers, etc.) and recently have been getting adjusted to a new type of internal audience within my organization. If you want to know more about that experience, click here for last week’s post.  Within this internal audience I have noticed that there are some people who work in my organization who are clearly leaders in their departments. They are respected, their opinions are valued. These are the people who you go to when you need advice or help on an issue. They are invaluable members of the team and I, personally, am very grateful to them. Without them, I would not feel as confident with this new internal audience as I have been. But what makes a good leader? Who are these people and what makes them tick? And most importantly, how can we become a good leader ourselves?

According to some folks, a good leader is all about “being forward looking…[this] is the attribute that most distinguishes leaders from non-leaders” (To Lead, Create a Shared Vision.)  I would tend to agree. Leaders are those people who are able to see the “big picture.” These are the visionaries, the ones who can see the finish line before we even know we’re in the race. A quick Google search of “best leaders in America” shows some interesting results.  You have some obvious contenders like Oprah and Bill Gates, but then there are some you might not have ever heard of, like Jeff Bezos and Mohamed Nasheed. What makes a good leader is ultimately this: do they have the ability to not only envision the future but get other people to envision with them? A leader is by definition “the person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country.” And you can’t lead without followers. You have to have people buy in with you in order to lead effectively and to achieve that “big picture.” Yet this is also what leaders struggle with the most. “The data tell us that what leaders struggle with most is communicating an image of the future that draws others in - that speaks to what others see and feel” (To Lead, Create a Shared Vision.)  The best way to connect with people and to get people to buy in with you is to connect with them in the here and now – and you go about doing that through communication. It all comes full circle.

Communication is vital to all aspects of organizational life. Literally everything hinges on it. Without good communication outside or inside your organization, your organization will not thrive as well as it could or should.  This concept is vital. “Arguably more so than resources, policies, or organizational structure, our success or failure boils down to the individuals who lead us and their ability to communicate” (Strategic Leader as Strategic Communicator.)  Good leaders are expert communicators. They are able to tell stories, to relay their passion for whatever dream or goal they have in mind and relay it so well that others want to help them achieve that dream. An example that comes to mind for this is Former President Obama. He was able to articulate his passion and belief in his hope for the future of America. He was able to turn that unified dream of his into a rallying cry of “Yes we can” that lasted for two terms. Even if you don’t agree with him on policy, party, etc. you can’t deny that the man is an expert communicator. Being able to communicate is so crucial for any leader’s success. You have to be able to “educate, inspire, and build advocacy” (Strategic Leader as Strategic Communicator) for your “big picture” within your organization.

We all deal with leaders on a daily basis. Be they our co-workers, bosses, president of your Home Owners Association, or that one mom at PTA, leaders are everywhere. They must be because they are vital to furthering our world into the future. Without leaders where would this world be? Would we have put a man on the moon? Would Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream be a reality? In my organization, the biggest leader in my department is a co-worker. She has been with the company for decades, loves what she does, and does it well. When any of us are feeling down or having a bad day, she is right there to remind us what we are doing this all for – the students. She is a constant pillar of strength for all of us, and we could not look up to her more. Yet she is an admissions counselor by trade, just like me. She doesn’t have a fancy title, a corner office, or a higher salary. She is not a manager, nor is she over anybody. She is the same level hierarchally as the rest of us in the department and yet she is a leader. Too often leadership is confused for management. Management is not leadership, though the two must happen together to truly make any organization great. Management tends to focus on the more day-to-day aspects, the nitty gritty of running an organization – these aren’t the “big picture” people. Too often I think we see organizations who are “over-managed and under-led” (Management is [still] not leadership.)  By focusing on communication, and really harnessing it, we all have the potential in us to be great leaders. We may not all have the charisma of Oprah or the brains of Bill Gates but we all do have the capacity for becoming great communicators – communicators who can tell stories, educate our peers, inspire passion in others to help us achieve whatever “big picture” result we want. What a world we live in, knowing that that’s a possibility for all of us.

Thanks so much for sticking this one out with me! See you all next week!