The 21st Century Leader

Definition-
A person that is respected by others for their knowledge, understanding and foresight. Also, they care enough for others in their scope of responsibility to make the effort to mentor them and help them achieve the knowledge, understanding and foresight they need to become the best they can be in their areas of responsibility.

Leaders must see their role as more than guiding the day-to-day. Their long-term focus must on building future talent. They need to know the future skills and abilities needed by their team far enough in advance to begin building into their team today. They need to recognize the raw talent in their group today and mold it into the future leaders and knowledgeable employees of tomorrow. They must see past themselves and recognize the talent around them and patiently guide them into the future.

So, how do we find a 21st Century Leader? I see four key characteristics that must be either present today or taught to a potential leader to help them become a leader in today’s management culture; they must have respect from others, a strong knowledge of their area of expertise, they must be “other” focus and have the ability to help others understand their need to be accountable to assigned responsibilities.

First characteristic is they have the respect of others. People don’t really follow someone they don’t respect. They may “work” for them, but that does not mean they follow them. Today’s employee wants to be heard. They want to feel like what they do contributes to the cause. A great leader helps them to feel valued. Employees respect leaders that invite them into the process.

The second characteristic is they have strong knowledge of the product or process they are leading and are willing to share that knowledge with others when the opportunity arises. They have the patience to guide others through the learning curve at the speed the employee is capable of acquiring that knowledge.

The third characteristic is they are “other” focused. In this management culture, you cannot lead people if they don’t matter to you. There is an old saying, “they don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”. A good measurement of this characteristic is a person that is excited when the people they are leading reach a new level of understanding. One of their favorite things in life is to see their “student” growing in knowledge.

The fourth characteristic is a person that can set expectations and hold their people accountable. They understand that part of managing is caring enough about your people to not allow them to drift off course. I call this carefronting; confronting with compassion. The leader is willing to hear the employee’s explanation and reasoning, but cares enough about that person to set them on the straight path, when needed, with firm but compassionate correction. Employees that respect their leader and feel that the leader cares for them see this correction as education not punishment.

With these four skill sets in place, today’s leader will be successful at leading today’s team and building the team of tomorrow.