The Missing Link In Leadership Skills
Most leaders focus on the hands-on implementation of their plans. Try adding this to your repertoire: A leader’s job is to hold the context.
First, you need to know what your context actually is. You may have a good idea but nailing it to a simple sentence – a statement of what your context is – is crucially important for a mission to be successful.
The leader’s job is to define that context and to hold it, making certain that each member of the team lives that context and incorporates that context in every aspect of the team’s work. The context is the bigger picture, the higher purpose, the reason we are on a team, the mission, the vision. It is the “why” and “what” we are doing on this team. The leader’s job is to hold that context and make certain everyone on the team knows it and lives it while working on your team.
As an example, the context of my company (Second Wind Consultants) is “saving families, one business at a time.” This keeps us focused on our higher purpose and the reasons we do what we do.
What is your context? Are you as a leader delivering it to your team on a regular basis, reminding them of why you are all doing what you do?
