Are you a good leader?

There are 5 pillars to leadership:

• A leader sets a vision 
• A leader builds a community that buys in on the vision
• A leader enables her team to creatively solution
• A leader tracks and measures progress
• A leader grows and develops her team

Alignment is the connective tissue across good leadership.

• A leader aligns the business to a vision
• She aligns the vision across the company
• She aligns goals across the vision
• She aligns teams on outcomes that will reach those goals

Alignment happens through clarity of communication, and it enables acceleration. At the root of alignment is trust.

What does misalignment look like? 

Misalignment and a lack of trust disguise themselves as organizational problems like:

• A leader who makes all decisions and serves as a bottleneck
• Lack of clear objectives
• Employees struggle to find information or get to decisions
• Lack of an accountable party with failure
• Long decision making times
• Siloed departments with a lack of accountability 
• Politics 

At the root of these issues is a lack of trust. And it is more common than you would think. A recent study found that 47% of workers believe projects fail to meet objectives due to alignment issues.* Another study shows that 28% of executives and middle managers responsible for executing strategy could list their company’s strategic priorities, and this number dwindles as you work down the reporting line.**

As Pat Lencioni articulates in the 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, with a lack of trust comes a fear of conflict. Teams are not open about each other's weaknesses, leaving vulnerabilities in the business. The lack of conflict leads to a lack of commitment. There is a lack of buy-in. The lack of commitment leads to avoidance of accountabilities. Due to the lack of buy-in, teams do not feel accountable for failures. The sum of these parts is a lack of results. Individual needs have trumped team needs. A team needs to have alignment to focus on achievement and collective results and avoid the dysfunctions of mistrust.

As you think about your abilities as a leader, consider the pillars to leadership above. Where are your gaps?

👋 Hey, I'm Layla. Join me in my weekly newsletter, where I provide insights into enhancing leadership skills and increasing productivity. If you haven't subscribed yet, here's a recap of a few posts you may enjoy:

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Sources

* Researchscape

** MIT Sloan Management Review