The thriving leader
May 2024
In my April blog I introduced the elements that we need to thrive in our careers and life, which lie in our own attitudes, thinking and behaviours (our “positive enablers”), as well as what we need around us (our “contextual enablers”). I boiled them down (unscientifically) into the eight elements of my “thrivometer”:
Your resilience
The level of healthy challenge in your role
The extent to which you are learning and growing
The extent to which you’re able to use your strengths
The level of autonomy you have over what you do and how you do it
Your outputs are visible and recognised
There is alignment between your role and your purpose
Whether you have the support you need
These elements apply equally to leaders, too, but there are a few which perhaps carry greater importance when thinking about our impact and whether we are flourishing as leaders. In particular, I would highlight the importance of support, alignment to purpose, learning and healthy challenge.
I look at these below and, in doing so, I draw on my own research conducted in 2016 as part of my MBA studies at Henley Business School. My paper entitled “How can we develop leaders of tax functions? An exploration of leadership development in the changing UK tax landscape” drew input from Heads of Tax and a CFO from FTSE 100 companies, and other tax experts, including Partners in professional services firms and representatives from government and professional bodies. I won’t mention the word tax again in this blog, I promise!
Learning, growing and healthy challenge
“It is about getting the right sort of experience as you go through your career”
(MBA research participant)
Leadership development literature, supported by the comments from my research, highlights that experienced-based learning is vital. Amongst what John Kotter calls “promoters” of leadership development are challenging assignments early in career, which stretch, help you to grow in multiple dimensions and to learn from success and failure, and assignments which broaden.
The extent to which these experiences then lead to growth and development as a leader then relies on the individual’s motivation and self-awareness, a key component of emotional intelligence (see Daniel Goleman).
“the primary source of learning to lead, to the extent that leadership can be learned, is experience”
(High Flyers: developing the next generation of leaders (Morgan W. McCall, Jr. 1998))
“I think you have got a better chance of creating a happier, effective team if you have got higher emotional intelligence.”
(MBA research participant)
Self-awareness is specifically drawn out within literature on Authentic Leadership, including understanding how our life experiences have given meaning to our lives and shaped our personal purpose, and then translating our resulting values into action through our leadership principles. Here we see that alignment between your role and purpose in our thrivometer really matters.
Other key components of Authentic Leadership include aligning of self across all parts of lives, balancing extrinsic and intrinsic motivations (key in what Carol Dweck calls a Growth Mindset), and building your support team. This brings us neatly to our contextual enablers to thriving.
““I think if you don’t have strong values you are never going to be as authentic as you could be. I do think being authentic is really important to being a good leader.”
(MBA research participant)
The right contextual enablers for leadership development
In order for experiential leadership development opportunities to be effective, these also need to be supported by a learning culture within the organisation that ensures the provision of feedback, coaching, mentoring and role models. Indeed, when discussing development promoters, John Kotter says that it’s helpful to have “visible leadership role models who are very good or very bad.” It is these extreme examples that are easy to learn from, because the lessons are clear.
“I think, mainly, I’ve been on the receiving end of poor leadership”
(MBA research participant)
The stories we hear about success are often of individual heroism, personal talent and dogged self-belief, but in reality most people succeed by drawing on the right people around them and receiving many helping hands along the way. Zella King and Amanda Scott believe (strongly enough to write a book on it) that no one needs to go on a career journey alone and that other people are not only willing to help you but are happy to do so. They suggest that leaders should construct their own “personal boardroom”, the composition of which depends on whether your goal is to:
Be the best leader you can be
Tackle a specific challenge or transition; or
Define your purpose as a leader.
“know your limits… and when you need to get help, support and advice.”
(MBA research participant)
They describe 12 different roles that you might look for and draw on, such as:
The Navigator - this is one of four “information roles” and is someone who can tell you who you need to know and who does what
The Connector - this is one of four “power roles” and is someone who makes introductions and connects you with people who can help you
The Nerve-giver - this is one of four “development roles” and is someone who keeps you grounded and holds you to account for the balance between your work and the rest of your life
In conclusion, on your journey to developing as a thriving leader, I’ll leave you to muse on the following questions:
What opportunities are available to you for stretching learning experiences?
What work are you doing on your self-awareness, understanding your purpose and aligning your activities to it?
What leadership role models do you have?
What help do you think you could use in your personal boardroom?
I’d love to hear your experiences and reflections.
Ruth, May 2024