Are you an Effective Leader?

Many times throughout my career I’ve been in conversations where people talked about “good” leaders and “bad” leaders. These terms make me cringe because I don’t believe we can characterise leadership so simply. What might be considered “good” leadership in one situation could be considered “bad” leadership in another.

For example, many people would agree that collaborative leaders who involve their teams in discussions for innovation and decision-making are “good” leaders. This leadership style and approach can be great when the people involved have some relationship to the challenge at hand, and there is ample time for robust discussion. 

However, this same approach would be a disaster in a crisis situation when quick action is needed. In a crisis, the leader’s focus must be on creating safety (physically, mentally, and emotionally) for the team, and the way to do that is to take charge, make decisions, and clearly (and quickly) communicate these. No collaborative discussions here!

The question I recommend leaders ask themselves is not “Am I a good leader or a bad leader”, but “How can I be an effective leader?”

An effective leader assesses the situation in front of them, determines the goal at that moment, then asks themselves what the most effective approach or actions are to achieve that goal in that situation. In other words, they ‘read the room’, then act.

The beauty of this framing is it allows the leader to be flexible and use a variety of skills and approaches to meet the needs of the team in each situation. They can stay better focused on the goals and purpose of the entity they are leading because their actions are guided by determining what’s effective in each moment, not beliefs about how “good” or “bad” their leadership or members of their team might be.

Another benefit of asking yourself “How can I be an effective leader in this situation?” is it removes some of the emotion from your decisions. The words “good” and “bad” have deep-rooted connotations to them, developed through your many experiences with how those words were used throughout your life. They can mean a lot of different things and can carry negative emotional weight! The word “effective” is far more neutral and speaks to positive action.

So how will you think of your leadership from now on? Does the term “Effective Leader” resonate with you? 

Let me know your thoughts!

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