The Many C’s of Leadership – old

The Leadership Series

Like many of you I have been sucked into a link titled the 3 C’s of leadership or the 6  C’s of leadership and I have read a book or two about leadership.  What I have discovered is that there are many, many C’s of leadership and, depending on the author or the prospective, some C’s are more important than others.  So here is a starter list from the first page of google results:

1. Conviction
2. Clarity
3. Compassion
4. Consistency
5. Care
6. Communication
7. Creativity
8. Critical Thinking
9. Character
10. Courage
11. Collaboration
12. Competence
13. Charismatic
14. Credible
15. Convincing
16. Cause
17. Coaching
18. Culture

And the list goes on.  As it should. I believe there are not three C’s of leadership, nor are there five C’s or six or seven.  All of the C’s of leadership may be needed from time to time.  Be aware of all of them as traits and tools to use when needed.  For my part the C’s of leadership that I call on the most are as follows:

Consistency

I believe consistency is perhaps the most underrated of the C’s and the one I use the most. In the leadership context I define consistency as beating the drum.  As a leader, you need to set rituals for your team and organization that create a consistent pulse (or drum beat) to keep the team engaged, accountable, focused and communicated with. I run a variety of monthly and weekly meetings for various divisions, departments and teams. We cover standard topics and my job as a leader is to communicate the organization or division vision, receive feedback, provide feedback on projects and results, and facilitate a formal forum for debate on issues of the day, week or month, in which consensus and a decision can be reached that the team can go execute upon.  The meetings are always at the same time on the same day (Monday morning or first Tuesday or Wednesday of the month) unless holidays or special circumstances cause the date to be changed.  The meetings also occur in my absence.  A substitute chair is selected and they run the meeting for the team.  The importance of these rituals cannot be overstated.  The often quoted “what gets measured gets managed” occurs through consistent rituals, such as meetings or standard work for each day of the week.  Consistency creates a pulse that drives the organization forward. Consistency creates work habits and provides structure.  Consistency is such a simple thing yet so difficult for many leaders to achieve.  People are creatures of habit, give them consistency and lead them in good habits.  Your results will speak from themselves.

Communication

If you think you have communicated something enough, communicate it five more times at least.  I have often said this as a rebuttal to a frustrated leader lamenting “I told them what needed to be done! I do not understand why it is not completed!”  Clarity with your communication is crucial, and so is timeliness, method of delivery and identification of all required stakeholders.  Entire blogs, books and courses have been written about this topic. It is one skill as a leader I work on every day and ask the question: “Did I communicate this clearly?” If I am honest to myself when something does not go as planned, in post project reflection I admit I could have communicated more. In fact, during projects when the scope is starting to creep or problems occur, I know I need to communicate more.  Communicating clearly takes time and effort. Do the work upfront because otherwise you will be working (usually more) afterwards communicating changes and fixes with effort you should have already done.  When this happens not only have you wasted your own time and effort, you have wasted your team’s time and efforts and, depending on the situation. your customers’ time.

Conviction

The easiest thing to do is to give up.  Excuses are made, doubts raised; we tried, it did not work. The statistics in business are against you: 80% of new ventures fail, 92% of sales people give up after the 4^th rejection, 50% of projects fail and so on. The statistics of life are just as daunting: 98% of dieters fail, 50% of people quit working out within 6 months, or 25% of students drop out of college. Certainly in most workplaces where mistakes come with a reprimand and with the stats stacked against you, you might think: why even try? If you do not try, you cannot fail. It is the safe thing to do. If you are going to be successful as a leader you need to overcome all these doubts when setting a new direction or executing a project.  Your team needs to see your unwavering belief in a direction.  Your team needs to believe that you know the direction being set can be done. You can discuss risk mitigation but you cannot doubt the outcome. You, as the leader, must provide that conviction your team can rally to. The difference between success and failure sometimes is as simple as just not giving up.

Coaching

Leaders have many duties:  setting direction, communicating vision, planning, organizing, inspiring action and listening (read blog: Leaders Lead), but perhaps the most important duty is to help create other leaders. One of the best methods for this is to coach.  As a leader you need to coach as many team members as possible, not just up and coming individuals on the executive leadership path.  Leadership is something that should be nurtured in everyone in your organization, so all take responsibility to do their best job and provide leadership within the scope of their position (read Leadership does not have to be out front).  Coaching is a profession all in itself but two simple rules to start with are to intently focus on the individual you are coaching (this is about making them better not a chance to offer your “sage wisdom”) and to truly care about the people you are coaching.

While I call on these C’s of leadership the most, as the situation demands I use other C’s of leadership. Leadership should evolve and be fluid as opposed to rigid and unchanging. I suppose that is why there a many C’s of leaderships to call upon.

What are your C’s of leadership?  I would like to learn which C’s are important to you and why, so leave a comment and let me know.