Are You a Perfect Leader ?

You’re a leader.

You build relationships with those you are leading.

You articulate regularly the shared vision for the team.

You enable the others in the team to perform beyond what they believed they could.

Together with the team, you achieve all the annual objectives.

You practice leadership every day.

And were you told that practice makes perfect?

Sorry but practice makes improved practice. Not perfect. Close, maybe.

So what is 'perfect' when it comes to leadership?

In The Leadership Challenge, first written nearly 40 years ago, by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner and is one of the most widely recognized books on leadership globally does not contain the magic formula for perfect leadership.

In The Leadership Challenge the word ‘exemplary’ is often used: The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership are the cornerstone of Jim and Barry’s forty years of on going, evidenced-based research.

Guess they didn’t find any perfect leaders.

One of the most important aspects of lits behaviors is authenticity.

Leaders who are authentic are relatable: they make mistakes just like us mere mortals.

They build relationships, particularly through the trust and credibility which they live every day.

Exemplary leaders will ask themselves: “How can I be a better leader tomorrow than I was today?”

They will ask team members “How does what I do affect your performance?”

these don’t sound like the sort of questions that a perfect leader would ask. Why would he or she need to ask, anyway if they’re perfect?

So I’m sorry, no 10 out of 10

No “practice makes perfect”, either.

Just every day practicing to be a better leader than you were yesterday.

Then at the end of the day, you can genuinely reflect on the amazing performance of your team in the day just passed.

You can say “Yep, THEY did it…with a little help from me.”

And tomorrow I’ll be a better leader than I was today.