Introduction
Effective leadership is an essential component of the success of every company on its way to development. Since I am a successful director of leadership and learning, Eduardo, recently promoted to manager, contacted me, as he needs to improve his leadership style after feedback revealed both strengths and challenges. While highly intelligent and quick to find solutions, he often moves faster than his team, creating disconnect, frustration, and insecurity.
His supervisor noted that he tends to act independently, overlooks team input, and projects a “professional arrogance” that risks damaging relationships and performance. These insights highlight the need for strategies that develop collaborative, empowering leadership skills, which can also benefit the wider organization. Given the analyzed situation, it also becomes evident that Eduardo needs to improve his strategic thinking, communication, and emotional intelligence skills.
This essay will analyze Eduardo’s situation, weaknesses, and strengths, and recommend the necessary steps to improve his leadership skills. It will elucidate how Eduardo can harness the flywheel effect to revolutionize his approach to leadership and discern the specific responsibilities he should undertake to foster incremental enhancements. This will be substantiated by concrete evidence that his strategy is producing tangible outcomes.
Key Leadership Skills to Develop
Eduardo’s supervisor reported that he did not leverage his team to create the desired vision. His high level of intelligence and desire to solve tasks quickly lead to the fact that he moves swiftly. Thus, the organization still needs to be ready to implement the decision, while Eduardo is several steps ahead. It creates a disconnect with the team and significantly undermines his leadership role and reputation.
Eduardo must focus on strategic thinking, emotional intelligence, and communication skills to transform his leadership style. Strategic thinking is necessary for planning and predicting the peculiarities of the work process and creating directions for developing the team’s work. Thus, long-term planning will help Eduardo create a vision for his team and leverage their contribution to the work.
Emotional intelligence, involving the ability to understand and analyze both one’s own and others’ emotions, is a critical factor in building trusting relationships with the team. By improving his emotional intelligence, Eduardo will instill the necessary level of trust, ultimately leading to improved success rates (Cui, 2021). Finally, improving communication skills will ensure the avoidance of misunderstandings and help achieve transparency.
Actionable Steps for Developing Leadership Skills
Two critical, actionable steps must be taken to improve leadership skills. First, it is worth establishing a transparent feedback system for team members. By listening to colleagues’ comments and wishes, Eduardo can help create a more collaborative environment. Second, a common long-term perspective is necessary to understand the essence of the common goal. Eduardo can leverage the team’s input by involving them in creating a vision and considering proposed amendments and unique perspectives on the process.
Applying the Flywheel Effect to Transform the Leadership Style
Moreover, Eduardo can utilize the flywheel effect to improve his professional leadership style. Thus, he can start working on himself with small steps without introducing significant changes initially. Later, so that neither he nor the team feels stress or discomfort, it is possible to move towards more significant changes. At the same time, it is worth listening to the feedback of colleagues and delegating tasks in such a way as to promote the successful performance of each employee. By gradually introducing and modifying changes as needed, Eduardo can establish a new and improved leadership style.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Eduardo must work on his communication, emotional intelligence, and strategic thinking to become a better leader. He needs to learn to collaborate with others in a team without taking over when setting deadlines and fostering an environment that encourages productive work. He must take two crucial, doable actions to strengthen his leadership abilities. As a result, Eduardo needs to set up a framework for team members to provide feedback and create a long-term goal that everyone can agree on. Lastly, he can apply the flywheel effect by introducing the change process in little increments.
Reference
Cui, Y. (2021). The role of emotional intelligence in workplace transparency and open communication. Aggression and Violent Behavior. Web.