How Do You Show Up?

We're judged every day by how we act. Often, we're not even conscious of how our behavior is perceived by others. Here's a handy reference guide to what we are really saying by our actions:

If you act arrogant, you're actually communicating that you're insecure; you don't believe in yourself. Truly confident people don't feel the need to by cocky.

If you act humble, you're communicating that you're confident. Humility means making yourself vulnerable, which is too scary for insecure people.

If you act defensive, you're communicating guilt. If you believe in yourself and the work you do, you'd invite questions and critique.

If you blame others for your failures, your communicating weakness. Only someone who thinks of themselves as a victim blames others.

If you take responsibility for your failures, you're communicating confidence and strength. It takes self-confidence to own up to failure.

Insecurity shows up as arrogance
Confidence shows up as humility
Strength shows up as vulnerability
Weakness shows up as bravado and blame

How do you show up?

Jeremiah

Leadership Fundamentals Part 3 - Tools

Hey Guys,

October was an awesome and crazy month. On the downside, I only wrote one blog article, on the way upside, I got to present "Eyes Up - how to get what you want through deliberate conversations", to almost 300 people in three cities. I've also been working on the new forgingleaders.com, it is just a landing page right now, but my brother Troy and I are looking to launch the new site at the beginning of 2011. It's gonna rock! Plus, I've been doing a ton of reading and coaching, so I have a lot to write about in November.

In this article, I'm going to describe the third pillar of leadership, making sure your team has the tools and/or resources they need to be successful. If you haven't read part 1 and part 2 yet, go do that first, then come back.

So, as a leader, you've communicated a clear vision to your team, you've made sure that they understand their role and what is expected of them; now, it's time to make sure that each team member has the tools they need to be successful. I use the term "tools" to mean the actual equipment they need to do their job, e.g. a sawsall, a ladder, a copy of MS Excel 2007, as well as the skills they need, e.g. sales training, systems training, or leadership training.

Lot's of times, as leaders we just assume that our people will come to us if they need something; we may even pride ourselves on our "hands-off leadership". The truth is that's just lazy leadership. It's our duty to check in with our team to make sure that they have what they need; in fact, they may not even know what they are missing.

If you're doing a good job of checking in with your people on a regular basis, you'll probably see where they could use some help. Even so, I uncover all sorts of training opportunities and resource gaps by asking the following questions every chance I get; "What can I do to support you?" and "What do you need to be successful this week?"

As with everything else I write about for Forging Leaders, this applies equally at home as it does in the office. When was the last time you checked in with your kids and your wife to see how you could support them?

Next time, I'll wrap up the Leadership Fundamentals series with the fourth pillar, Accountability.

Until then, keep your eyes up and take the lead,

Jeremiah