Today there are a multitude of tools available to business leaders and hr professionals.
There are tools and inventories to identify preferences and strengths, team capabilities and strategic effectiveness. Hundreds of models, personality inventories and well-intentioned processes to help leaders and those that support them.
The right tools, used in the right way, for the right reason, can be helpful; yet too many tools, or tools used for the wrong reason can be a distraction, a hinderance on the path to becoming a high-performance leadership team.
360-degree feedback process is one example.
In some instances, helpful and supportive, however when used as a default mechanism because people don’t the courage to provide upfront, face-to-face feedback to those who need and deserve it, we sidestep the real issue.
“I fear the day that technology will surpass our interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots,” said the late, great Albert Einstein.
Management tools, when used appropriately, help create a common organization language, accelerate the speed of business processes, and diagnose people and organization issues. All too often, tools become busy work, a distraction that pull leaders way from the real issues where common sense should prevail.
Help your people find the courage to be themselves. This means knowing what you want, saying what you think and being in the moment with the people around you.
Do not hide behind tools or busy yourself with diagnostics that take your eyes of the real issues. Resist the seduction of standardization that can infest organizations.
Remember, one size does not fit all. Clones can follow, but not lead.
Learning to develop and exploit your uniqueness is owning up to real leadership.
Image by Sneaky Elbow @ Unsplash