Be the Leader Others Will Follow: Know Your Superpowers

Once you’re clear on your leadership (and life) destination, the second step to being the leaders others will follow is to know your superpowers. One of the most important things you can do as a leader, and in life in general, is to get really clear on your values and your strengths. 

Your values are who you are at your core. Those often un-named rules of what is important to you.

In addition to your values, it’s important to know your strengths. Your strengths are your skills and elements of your character that make you who you are.  When you’re using your strengths, you’re being the best and most fulfilled version of yourself.

I think of your strengths as having two components. First, there’s your technical or “hard” skills. Those are the things that you’re good at doing. For example, you might be great at planning, organizing, writing, or using technology. What are you good at that you also enjoy? What do people tell you you’re good at? What activities cause you to lose all track of time? The second component of your strengths are your character traits, also known as “soft” skills. These are the elements of how you’re best at being and might be things like teamwork, bravery, humor, or kindness. How do you conduct yourself? What qualities do people compliment you on?

Once you’ve identified your values and strengths, use them as a guidepost and lens for how you focus your time and attention, make decisions, and make tradeoffs. 

Ask yourself where you’re leading – others and yourself – according to your values. Where are you not? Where are you using your skills and strengths the most? Where could you be using them more?

Then, and this requires courage, think about saying no to things that don’t fit your values and priorities or don’t let you use your strengths. And remember – just because you are good at something doesn’t mean it’s what brings you satisfaction. Often, more of what we’re good at gets imposed on us and our time and energy gets consumed.

Working with my coach, I was able to get clear on my strengths, what I value, what it takes for me to be at my best, and the difference I wanted my leadership to make in the world. It became clear to me that my greatest professional contributions and fulfillment derive from developing and leading individuals and teams and enhancing communication, culture, and effectiveness. I wanted to spend more time on people development. So, I researched professions that would allow me to do that, and while also allowing me to be at my best and fostering work-life dynamic consistent with my values. In my case, I made a pretty big shift in my profession. But not everyone needs to make a drastic change. You just need to get really clear on what you want from your career and your leadership and really understand what’s getting in the way so you can remove those obstacles. You will be a better, more inspiring, more influential leader (and spouse, parent, friend) when you tap into your superpowers so you can live and lead from your strengths and values. Once you do this, others will naturally want to follow you.

Comment below and share how you plan to use your superpowers more in your work and life.

Be the Leader Others Will Follow: Maximize Your Time and Energy

I’m guessing that two of your biggest obstacles to becoming the healthcare leader you want to be are time and energy. Maybe it’s because you put the needs of others ahead of your own. Maybe it’s because you find many things interesting and exciting and you have a hard time letting an opportunity pass you by. Or maybe it’s because you’re so busy trying to get everything done, you don’t have the time to be more strategic.

Here are some tips for maximizing your time and energy:

Get organized:  Record everything on your mind in some kind of a “collection tool” that you will come back to regularly and sort through. This becomes your master to-do list. Schedule everything in a calendar and block off time every day for the priorities and projects that have the most meaning and impact for you as a leader – those big rocks. Set aside time at the beginning of each week and each day to review your calendar, update your to-do list, and schedule in your weekly/daily actions and appointments.

Make your goals and values visible: Write out your values and your big rocks and put them where you will see them often. This will keep them top of mind when you’re prioritizing and making decisions. And – another neuroscience tip! – keeping your goals visible helps you tap into the feelings of why you want to reach them and will help you maintain motivation and energy to complete them.

Practice Self Care: This is an absolutely critical leadership behavior and one that is really tough for healthcare professionals. There are the basics – sleep, healthy eating, and exercise. To take it to the next level, you need to build mental, physical, and emotional renewal into your workday every day. And, set boundaries to give yourself time to replenish your physical and emotional energy. 

Manage Your Mindset: Look for areas where you may be making assumptions about what is and is not possible, and challenge these assumptions. If you’re not sure about what is expected of you from others, ask them to clarify their expectations. Pay attention if you’re thinking or talking about things as a "need," a "should," or a "must."  See if you can substitute "choose” or “want” when you think about or speak of doing that action. The word you use actually makes a difference in how your brain responds when something feels like a choice.  If “want” doesn’t feel truthful, ask whether you really have to do whatever it is and learn the art of saying “no.”  Pay attention to whether it’s a true need or whether it’s your own inner voice making things into a “need” or a “should.” 

Ask for What You Need and Want: Get clear on the opportunities and resources you need to be a successful leader and ask for them. Delegate other tasks that don’t require you (and only you) to do them. This not only takes things off your plate, it gives others the chance to grow. And letting others help is a chance to make them feel good.

The most successful people learn to be more selective about where they focus their time and energy. Just because you can handle everything that comes your way doesn’t mean you should.

“The difference between successful people and really successful people is that
really successful people say no to almost everything.” – Warren Buffett

Please share in the comments below which of these tips for maximizing your time and energy will be most valuable for you to practice.

Be the Leader Others Will Follow: Create a Personal Advisory Board

Two important steps to being a leader others will follow are developing more self-awareness and developing a solid strategy for your professional development and career. One of the best ways to do this is to actively seek input from mentors and advisors.

Your boss, your spouse, friends, or other family members can all play this role, but I caution against relying  solely on them to provide guidance.  They all likely have strong opinions about what you should and shouldn’t do, and most likely, they also have some kind of “skin in your game” – in other words, your decisions and actions impact them in some way. Instead, create your own “advisory board” so you can get a variety of perspectives from people who aren’t directly affected by your choices.

This was a major mistake I made in my career! I relied on my bosses to guide me and define my leadership. I allowed my direct colleagues, friends’ and family’s experiences define my perceptions of what was and wasn’t possible. I focused too much of my energy on getting stuff done. I took on everything that I was asked to do, thinking that would help me advance.

What I didn’t do was take the time to learn from people outside my circle, my organization, or my industry. I didn’t proactively evaluate what I needed to do, or who I needed to be to take my leadership to the next level. I didn’t cultivate a big enough or diverse enough network to expand my perception of who I am was, what I could do, and the impact my strengths and skills could have. And instead of helping me advance, this actually held me back.

This advice isn’t  just for early careerists – we need to gain perspective throughout our careers. And it’s not just limited to when you want to get a new job, or even to your professional life only.  Tap into your advisory board to help you be your best version of you, to make the best decisions for you, and for support throughout your life and career to enable you to be the leader others want to follow.

If you could have anyone in the world on your personal advisory board, who would it be? Share your advisory board pick in the comments below.

Be the Leader Others Will Follow: Focus Less on Knowing and More on Learning

The next step in being the leader others want to follow is focusing less on knowing and more on learning. This is a tough one. Healthcare in general is an authoritative, expert-oriented culture. Many of us believe that we need to show up as experts – especially as healthcare leaders. We have to look smart, solve all the problems, and have all the answers. There’s always more work to be done than resources to do it – especially time. This often causes us as leaders to give a lot of directives and prescribe courses of action. We want to get stuff done – quickly. And while getting stuff done quickly may seem “efficient, letting time be the driving force in how things get done frequently results in less than optimal results.

Giving directives may be exactly what is needed in some situations, but it doesn’t always work. When you’re leading folks who are early in their careers, being too directive can stunt their growth. And when you’re leading other leaders, it can be demoralizing and de-motivating.

It’s a good thing there’s another way of being “smart” that makes you a much more impactful leader. It’s different from being knowledgeable or being a good problem-solver. It’s Emotional Intelligence, known as EQ. 

EQ refers to how you manage yourself and your relationships with others.  It’s different from intelligence or IQ, which is often so highly valued in healthcare (with reason!). But having strong Emotional Intelligence is a key to high performance and is especially important if you want to be an outstanding leader. No matter what your job is, and no matter what level you are at in an organization. But it’s not just important in organizations – EQ is also critical to how you function in teams, families, and even pairs. The great news is that EQ can be learned and developed just like any other skill.

So, what is Emotional Intelligence exactly?  It has to do with how our Self-Awareness, how in-tune we are to ourselves and our impact on others, and our Self-Management, how we consciously choose our actions and behavior. It also influences how in-tune we are to others and how we consciously manage our interactions with them.

Knowing your values, strengths, and skills will help you increase your self-awareness. The self-management part of EQ involves being deliberate about your tone, your body language, the words you choose, and the emotion you display. It’s also about being conscious of the impact you want to have on others.

Increasing your awareness of others part of EQ requires us as healthcare leaders to set aside that “expert” persona – the one who feels like they have to have all the answers and solve all the problems– and focus more on really listening and learning about others.

You do that by practicing active listening. Active listening means giving the other person you full attention, not multi-tasking, not just waiting your turn to talk. Instead, ask questions to understand where the other person is coming from. Find out what’s important to them, what worries them, and what allows them to be at their best. Give them the opportunity to be heard and to share their ideas. This is a way of really understanding what kind of help someone needs or wants before providing your opinions or solutions. It’s also critical to pay attention to the other person’s body language, tone, the words they use, and their emotions. In group settings, be deliberate about making sure everyone gets a chance to express their thoughts. Create “rules of engagement” with your team for how you will relate to one another AND for how you will hold each other accountable for honoring the rules.

From a neuroscience perspective, this is important.  First, trying to understand in a non-judgmental way where other people are coming from, and having explicit ground rules for listening and holding one another accountable for upholding the rules, creates trust and a sense of safety with others. And feeling safe activates the feel-good parts of your brain, whereas being challenged or told what to do can activate the fight-flight-or freeze chemicals. Also, solving problems and coming to your own conclusions releases brain chemicals that increase learning and sense of accomplishment.

Practicing how you show up as a leader – being open, curious, and supportive rather than directive and all-knowing – is one of the most challenging skills to develop. And it’s one of the most impactful skills for being an  effective, influential, and inspiring leader, the kind of leader others will follow.

“People may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said,
but they will always remember how you made them feel.” –Maya Angelou

Please share in the comments below how you will apply your EQ in your work or life.