Top Tools of 2021: Leadership

As we at Atrómitos closed out our 2020, we shared an Our Ideas article about the tools we consider to be indispensable in embracing the opportunities and tackling the challenges that will inevitably present themselves in 2021. While some of you may be able to take a list and run with it, others may be wondering: What do these tools mean and how do they apply to my reality? And since our passion at Atrómitos is helping you be fearlessly successful, we decided to spend the beginning of 2021 looking at these tools. One-by-one. Alongside you.

For those of you who think you have all of the tools and they are working perfectly, we can give you the TL;DR version of what’s to come in this series: This isn’t for you. This series is for those who are looking at 2021 as the time to acquire some of the tools missing in their toolbox or to enhance their skill at using the tools they already have. If you’re in this latter group, let’s get started.

And let’s start with leadership.

Lessons to Learn and Actions to Take

Failure of leadership to take action (which is catastrophic on the world stage and causes us all to drink more wine than we should when it’s in our own place of employment) is cited by many as the reason people leave a job. You’ve probably heard it before but it’s worth saying again here: People do not leave jobs, they leave their bosses.

So how do you become the leader that no one wants to leave?

It’s not easy; we aren’t here to tell you it will be. Instead, we offer you these considerations as you begin (or continue) your journey to becoming the leader you aspire to be.

Many Ways To Lead

There are many ways to be a leader. And since leadership styles are developed over time and based on personal experiences, there are innumerable ways to define your own.

Despite the variability, however, those who study this sort of thing have established categories of common types of leaders. (If you do not know what your style is, try starting with this list of 10 common leadership styles from Indeed.) While it may be attractive to find your style among this, or any other, list, we share this instead to highlight that leadership styles should be fluid.

One leadership style may not fit every job, customer interaction, or employee supervision. You should expect your leadership style to change over time. And you should also consider the possibility that your style is a hybrid of multiple defined leadership styles. What is important is to understand what different styles look like, what their impacts are, and how they align with your behaviors as a professional.

Everyone Leads 

It is a common error to consider that only those in positions of authority or power are to be considered “leaders.” Every member of your team has the potential to be a leader; they just need to be supported in fulfilling that role.

We have previously written about Collaborative Governance, and are complimenting that today with introducing you to Distributed Leadership: the idea that leadership is not, “a property of individuals and their behaviors, but a collective phenomenon that is distributed or shared among different people, potentially fluid, and constructed in interaction.”

A culture of distributing leadership empowers your team to recognize their own strengths and allows them the opportunity to proactively identify and propose solutions to emerging challenges; to support those you are leading to lead in their own right. As Conductor Benjamin Zander puts it in his TED Talk, The Transformative Power of Classical Music, “The conductor doesn’t make a sound. He depends for his power on his ability to make other people powerful.”

Leadership Can Be Developed

…And refined. And Changed.

As we eluded to above, being a leader is not about picking a style and sticking with it through thick and thin. Being a leader is about knowing your style and how that style must adapt to your changing environment. In order to do that, you have to become aware of how you are behaving, how that is impacting those around you (e.g., colleagues, employees, customers, etc.), and what you may need to change about your behavior to bring success in the future. As a starting point, consider looking at and understanding your social markers, as the Forbes Coaches Council recommends.

2021: The Year To Lead

We want to see you succeed in your leadership, and we want to see you succeed in empowering the leaders who work with you. Finding and working with your leadership style can be a personal and, at times, challenging, exercise.

But in the end, we think it is worth doing, and we’re excited to help you along your journey.