A pretty tasty photo from Antelope Canyon, Arizona

Here is the second big finding from The Work Foundation research into what’s involved in being an outstanding leader. It brings alive really well one of the key shifts we have to make when we move out of Operator/Manager into our Leader Mode, the shift from a focus on the task to a focus on people. They write:

“The two-year study shows that outstanding leaders combine a drive for high performance with an almost obsessive focus on people as the means of achieving this. Outstanding leaders are focused on sustainable performance, purpose and meaning, knowing that people are the only route to its achievement and that they themselves enable others through their influence on those around them.”

What do you notice about yourself? What’s your balance of focusing on getting the task done yourself versus having ‘an almost obsessive focus on people as the means of achieving’? We’ve all been doing tasks for so long it’s not easy for many of us to really make the switch to our first focus being on others. The good news is the research confirms what we have seen, that with practice, we can all learn to spend more time in Leader Mode. They write:

“Some of the outstanding leaders featured in the research did not originally have a people-focused approach, but realised the impact they were having on people and therefore adjusted their style accordingly. They arrived at this point through experience, maturity and reflection.”

Yes we all need to spend some time in Operator/Manager but what could you do this week to spend more time in Leader Mode with a stronger focus on people?

By Steve Radcliffe