Create a leadership agenda so you can manage better and lead well.
Your attitude, your appearance, and your approach are the three building blocks of your leadership agenda.
Your leadership agenda is how you plan on guiding your organization in the coming months. “Organization” can be your family, your department, your company, your squad, your bowling league, any entity you are part of leading and trying to take someplace different from where you are today.
Your leadership agenda could focus on the next thirty days or the next six months. I find 90 days to be a reasonable timeframe.
The core of your agenda includes a collaborative relationship between your attitude, appearance, and approach.
Your attitude is your inner game. The belief system you carry with you. It is your personal compass that points to things like your purpose, values, and goals. It is also where you find your leadership philosophy.
Your appearance is your outer game. It is how you show up and present yourself as a leader. This doesn’t have to mean a top of the line suit and nice shoes, although it could. It means dressing and acting the part. A hoodie and jeans, or top hat and tails, neither matters. The leader stands out, sometimes by a lot, sometimes subtly, but they are always recognizable to those they lead. It is how you carry yourself physically, your body language, your method of communication, and your attire.
Your approach is your behavior and how you treat others. In many ways, it is the manifestation of your attitude and your appearance. When all things are congruent, your leadership appears effortless, even when it’s not. When there is a disconnect, you look haphazard.
The idea behind your leadership agenda is to pick the most important item in each category that you want to emphasize or improve over the next 90 days so you can more successfully lead your organization forward.
I use a systematic process to help busy professionals determine each element, but the quick hack follows.
- Your attitude is either a strength you have or a disciplined thought process you want to incorporate.
- Your appearance is a physical representation of your leadership that most aids your cause.
- Your approach is a particular behavior most likely identified by a dispassionate assessment like DISC or a Leadership360 which you want to enhance or improve to better your results.
These three elements are always part of the essential leadership skills you need to be a successful leader. By giving them focus for 90 days, you begin to embed them into your ongoing leadership style.
Karl Bimshas Consulting can help you create your comprehensive leadership agenda so you can manage better and lead well.
