Hitting Your Leadership Effectiveness Bullseye
Updated: May 26, 2022
Every leader has a leadership effectiveness bullseye. Unfortunately, most leaders spend their careers sharpening arrows to increase leadership effectiveness instead of mastering skills to be a better archer.
Leaders are trapped in dated leadership development strategies where soft skills are the arrows for increasing leadership effectiveness, which increases the risk for a dysfunctional culture. Although effective to some degree, increasing leadership effectiveness is more sophisticated than sharpening soft skills to fine-tune leadership styles.
Increasing leadership effectiveness is hidden in setting up the Leadership Story so soft skills can hit the leadership effectiveness bullseye.
The Shift in Leadership Effectiveness
The demand for leadership effectiveness has shifted due to a major turnover in the talent pool. By 2025, the workforce will consist of seventy-five percent Millennials who are looking for meaningful relationships and work. Sharpening soft skills must take on new meaning because the new workforce demands leaders who can lead in helping them put their soul into relationships and work.
The arrow is an extension of your soul. – Unknown
Leadership effectiveness can no longer be confined to sharpening soft skill arrows without purpose. Soft skills must become an extension of purpose that comes from the leader's soul to help followers create narratives for meaningful relationships and work.
Leaders must look deeper to hit the leadership effectiveness bullseye. They must shift from confining their soft skills to fine-tune their leadership style, to setting up their Leadership Story to become a better archer. Otherwise, leadership effectiveness will suffer.
Becoming a Better Archer
For years leaders relied on leadership styles like servant, transformational, visionary, autocratic, laisse-faire, etc., to control the leadership narrative. They combine their style with personality profiles to create a narrative for leading people. Unfortunately, this approach to leadership effectiveness comes short in meeting the new demands for meaningful relationships and work.
To be an effective leader, the Leadership Story must be a key component in becoming a better archer to hit the leadership effectiveness bullseye. Setting up the Leadership Story anchor’s soft skills to a greater purpose so leaders can make meaningful contact with followers.
To help leaders move away from dated leadership development strategies, the blueprint for being a better archer must include:
Transitioning from leadership styles to the Leadership Story
Anchoring soft skills to Meaningful Excellenceâ„¢
Setting up the Leadership Story
Writing new chapters for leadership effectiveness
Creating narratives for helping followers move forward in relationships and work
The Seal of Excellence in Leadership Effectiveness
To meet the demands for purpose in the workplace, leaders must hack purpose to hit the leadership effectiveness bullseye. This is an advance leadership skill for helping leaders close the gap between the demand to lead and the purpose to follow.
The failure to practice excellence in leadership effectiveness will increase the risk for a dysfunctional culture where personalities become barriers for creating meaningful relationships and work. However, practicing excellence in leadership effectiveness will help you hit your leadership effectiveness bullseye to create a culture where relationships are rich and work is productive.
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