The Collaborative Leader – What are the Keys to the Castle?
Monday, April 27th, 2009I am a geek for reading articles about leadership. Why? Because I hear over and over and over again from folks that they are desparate for 
their leaders to control, moderate, address bad stuff at work. So when I found this article from HR Executive online I stood up and cheered.
According to the authors (didn’t save that part of the article) six attributes that distinguish successful collaborative leaders:- Here is their list and my (sometimes snarky) comments.
Patience
Amen to that! But Patience for what??? Dealing with people most likely. Yet, how many executives actually, exhibit this so that the people feel it? Most people want others to be patient with them, but patient doesn’t mean sacrificing business objectives so that people have unlimited time “to figure it out”. Patience generally comes from the leader knowing what the answer is and giving the other person room to figure it out.
Collective decision-making
Yeah, just wish that there was more definition of what that was or that people had a shared definition of it or what it looks like in practice. Collective decision-making could be taking information from multiple sources or it could be negotiating a solution.
Quick thinking
One would hope so. My impression is that the “quick thinking” attribute relates to problem solving and not delaying making difficult-and perhaps unpopular decisions. Leaders know that “things will resolve themselves”.
Tenacity
A big Double AMEN!!! According to our friends at Websters’ on line, tenacity is a persistence in maintaining or seeking something desired or valued. I love that. I love that so much that you can hear me telling colleagues and clients that “you must be tenacious and deliberate in applying conflict resolution skills!”
Relationship building
YEP–becuase it is really hard to be collaborative with strangers becuase you don’t know what their interests are, if they are as smart as you think you are, or if they are telling you the REAL STORY- not just a PR spin.
and DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!!
CONFLICT HANDLING!
Leaders lead by example. You may be the best business person ever, but if you can’t set the tone at the highest levels for how differing opinions and poor behavior is addressed, no one will follow you through a buffet line let alone a risky venture or a new initiative.
So … how do you stack up, as a leader? As an informal leader? Is there more to add to the discussion? Eagerly awaiting your comments…..
