Navigate Leadership – Make Connections chapter introduction

At the start of a career, the value-add an employee offers is based on their formal education and exposure to the working world. As an individual gains more experience, and their career progresses, the focus moves away from their primary technical knowledge to another set of skills, colloquially known as soft skills. They include the ability to manage and then lead, motivate others, deal with performance issues, negotiate and influence stakeholders, gain buy-in to new initiatives and manage change, to name a few. Those that become successful learn that there is a shift in gear from developing and refining their soft skills to an increased emphasis on whom they know, the ability to build and develop connections with others. These collectively become a network that is actively leveraged at the individual and group-wide levels. These relationships include:Internally above and below, the solid line (direct) and dotted line (indirect) reporting.

• Internally above and below, the solid line (direct) and dotted line (indirect) reporting.
• Externally with key stakeholders such as customers, suppliers and shareholders).

In one global organization I have worked with all new employees are told that successfully progressing their career is directly related to their ability to become successful networker. What do they mean by this? It is not simply a case of increasing the number of entries in the address book. It requires and requires a strategic approach. The goal of forming connections and creating a meaningful network is to form an extensive web of formal and informal relationships that creates value for all. This value add has to be identified and can include a variety of factors such as:

• Knowledge transfer.
• Mutual decision-making.
• Influencing others to gain buy-in into new ideas.
• Marketing the activities of the organization both internally and externally.
• Managing and delivering organizational change.

Operating successfully involves shifting the focus away from the quantity to its quality. The aim being to form relationships with others to create mutual win-win benefits. Forming successful connections can, if used strategically, lead to success, defined by quality relationships shaped by high degrees of trust (see Build Trust). It is qualitative in nature and if undertaken well allows an Executive Leader to deliver their results.

In this chapter, the focus is on the role of the Executive Leader in creating connections that provide access to a wider pool of knowledge and identify new opportunities to pursue. Success is increasingly defined by not what we know but whom we know. There is a focus on the quality, and the efforts required to maintain them, shaped by attention on connecting for mutual benefit.

Navigate Leadership – Create Vision chapter introduction

An organization can spend considerable time shaping the strategic intent based on their current mission (where they are) and future aspirational vision (where they want to be). Moreover, will ultimately impact its allocation of resources and investments. The same can be applied to the Executive Leader where the forming and acting upon their personal vision shapes their current and future activities and provides direction.

Most leadership discussion starts with crafting a personal vision statement, which in its simplest form provides a clear understanding of where you want to be and consider:

• How do you make your personal vision happen?
• Where are you now and where do you want to be?
• On what is your personal vision based? Myth or reality?
• Is your personal vision aligned to who you are, your values and leadership style?
• What time frame is your vision based?

I have met many leaders who have taken time out to consider and create their personal vision statement. However, as soon as they return to reality, they forget their short snappy statement, and there is no longer alignment with their declared actions. They may even place it on a card on the desk and despite staring at it every day, they see through it as if it no longer exists.

A personal vision is powerful when we live it, and there is congruence between what you believe in and what you actually do.

When John F Kennedy declared that the U.S.A wanted to put a man on the moon, this was not some random statement based on spin and dreams. Many of the components required to make this happen were already in place, the vision became the catalyst to turn it into reality.

As an Executive Leader, your personal vision will impact the team and other stakeholders. It should be important to you, but equally consider how it will shape the beliefs, behaviours, direction, and actions of others.

Your personal vision should have alignment with the organization’s strategic vision. Achieving your personal success is highly dependent on the organization achieving its success, and there should be a mutually symbiotic relationship that results in win-win outcomes.