Written by: Zachary Hoffman, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Culture
In the melting-pot society, we live in we often become guilty of seeing things through strictly our viewpoint. It is important as an effective modern-day leader to be able to understand, respect, and accept people from different backgrounds as you. Then take this information and adjust your style to best suit the individual you are trying to reach. The book “The Culture Map” by Erin Meyer talks about the different business cultures around the world and how different they truly are. I like her quote, “When interacting with someone from another culture, try to watch more, listen more, and speak less.” This is so on point and something we have to do a better job of as a society.
Capabilities
It is great to have a system while in a leadership position however, what are you going to do when the system you have in place doesn’t match the capabilities of your followers? This is a likely scenario to occur at some point in time throughout one’s leadership journey. The ability and humbleness to adjust and/or change your system to best suit your follower’s capabilities will do wonders for your team’s effectiveness. As the old saying goes, “there are many ways to skin a cat” (of course not literally). Find the way that best fits the capabilities of your followers and implement it. The same goes for each individual as well. It is important to understand what each of your follower’s capabilities/strengths is. This is why effective leaders must be great observers and listeners. Take the time to get to know each of your team members and then delegate tasks from there based on your findings. Do not delegate tasks to someone before knowing their capabilities.
Cause
We all do things for a reason. Whether that is to make money, make friends, receive attention or accolades, etc. One in a leadership role must understand the causes of each of their followers. As complex and difficult as life can be, we all in the end search for one thing above all else. Purpose. We all want to feel like we matter. Therefore it is important to understand the details of how our followers see their purpose playing out. What is their motivation to come to work every day? Maybe their cause is as blunt as providing for themselves and/or their family or maybe it is more complex in terms of achieving certain goals. As aspiring, effective leaders, I believe it is important to remember that we are often a “single step within a staircase” in terms of one’s ultimate cause. We can’t simply look at people in terms of their role in working with us. Effective leaders should want more for their followers than simply working under them. Understand that everyone has a cause and it is likely that it isn’t working with/under you. If you can help them reach this cause, you have truly made a lasting impact.
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Zachary Hoffman, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Zac is an Italian/American dual citizen, effective leadership developer, award winning author, and former professional American football player. Originally from a small, rural town in Western Pennsylvania (USA), he has spent his twenties living in 6 different countries while playing and coaching American football. During his time abroad, he developed the SWALeadership concept based on his many thrilling and eye-opening experiences within various leadership roles across cultures.
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