Lead with impact is one concept, that among other is very elusive! Leadership is all about impact. But the real question, here, is the following: how to influence a lot of people in order to better their lives and those of the others? How you can make things change? Or, how to make things, different (better!), influence a lot of people to change small bits of their lives, towards a much better society (the world, maybe!).
The answer is not always an easy one! In its core, lays one crucial element, taunting, for long time now, the limits of our understanding; the one that defines the how you (I, We [!]) can lead with impact, providing a positive mental and emotional balance sheet, towards ourselves and our society?
How Can You Lead With Impact?
The question, though, remains. How you can lead with impact, producing positive results for the others as well as yourself (remember, you lead for the others, not for yourself!)
- Read, learn, employ and practice: Exercise your emotional intelligence, your listening abilities, see what is making a difference and focused on that. Take a look at your environment and at the people around you. And practice your newly founded abilities in order to make them a habit (of influencing positively the other people!).
- Connect, mediate, coach and interact with other people in leadership positions in order to collect and practice the best ideas on how to be more efficient and how to cultivate a culture of excellence and a leadership behavior (for you and the other people).
- Reflect and evaluate often your activities, behaviors, attitudes, etc and check which of them work and which are not. Employ daily the first ones and abandon the other.
- Filter your newly acquired knowledge and skills on impacting people and procedures, model your action in a series of coherent and easily implemented steps, documented them, as best as possible and transfer them to your home, workplace, society to benefit other people as well.
- Try to involve in self-learning and self-reflecting activities, that would help you to be more self-aware about your strengths and weakness.
- Search, find or/and develop(?) suitable situations and opportunities in order to practice your leadership skills in a positive way for other people and for yourself.
- Develop habits that would enhance some of your intended leadership behaviors while at the same time would diminish your less “desirable” behaviors.
- Practice, modify and amend the behaviors are not longer of serve (for you and for the others you concern about).
What Is It For Me? Or What I Would Gain If I Lead With Impact
The various possible paths and ways, described above, for someone (me, you!) to lead with impact, are not the only ones and, of course, does not come with a 1-year guarantee! Furthermore, do not explain, why someone (anyone) would deal with the venture of beginning to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills required for an endeavor as that.
In order for you (for anyone, actually) to lead with an impact, beyond the current moment or your present intentions, takes time, work and a lot of practice in order, even beginning, to make a small change in your life (let alone the lives of the others!).
In order for you to lead with impact, you would need a solid discipline, a daily practice, constant focus and the development of skills and resources that would sustain you, towards that goal.
Why should you do it, though? Why you should involve in a venture as that and not let the things, just be… What are your motives? What are the problems you are here to solve? Well, again, maybe there are many reasons, for you, pursuing to lead with impact. Most of them are related to your principles, values, your personal responsibility, and accountability.
But, in general, the involvement, in an endeavor aiming at achieving the “lead with impact” concept of doing things, includes and embodies:
- Larger self-control, awareness and knowledge of yourself in different, and most of the times, difficult situations,
- Enhance the capability of you, to develop and pursue intended key areas of interest and major objectives for your organization, community or your personal life.
- Strategic planning skills embedded in your everyday actions.
- Better understating and acknowledgment of the various forms and situations require and involving leadership initiatives and skills
- Greater emotional intelligence skills in your interaction with other people
- Enhance Time management and human resource management skills in your disposal.
- Larger awareness of what you have to offer to other people and what not!
- Confidence for your (leadership) skills in (any) given situations.
- Better knowledge of your personal impact and behavior towards various situations, and opportunities for their sustain or modification (if not effective).
- Better understating of your role as a leader to assist, empower, inspire, motivate other people in any given structural, organizational or community situation
- Enhance confidence in setting, organizing and pursuing with other people various goals and objectives.
- Real life exploration and testing of your personal values and objectives.
- Opportunity for you to explore your personal leadership style!
- Closer examination in real life situations of all the problems, intricacies and challenges associates with the various levels and forms of leadership.
- Designing more accurate life and actions plans for yourself and the others around you.
- Assist, coach, mentor and mediate more effectively people and groups in need for leadership directions and objectives
- Consult with confidence and authority on subject and situations are not easily negotiable!
- Develop solid determination, respect for your principles and values and a fix direction on the objectives your are interested in and you want to achieve in you life.
Question: Do you think that employing leadership skills in your daily interactions can help the others and yourself? Do you think, that you are ready to lead with impact, or not?