So, now it's your turn. What will you do with the opportunity you've just been given?
I learned the concept of catalyst leadership from DDI early in my career, and this book will help you learn it too. You'll find out how catalysts can ignite a flame in others, gain their commitment, and drive productivity. Now, I've never met a perfect supervisor. I've never been one. Leadership takes work. But, the upside is tremendous – helping people achieve their goals and dreams.
We all approach leadership from different angles. But if you focus on the goal of catalyst leadership and put it in practice every day, then you'll bring out the best in others in surprising ways. You'll bring it about in yourself as well. And you'll love what you do.
Kevin T. Kabat
Vice Chairman and CEO at Fifth Third Bancorp
Preface
When we decided to write this book, we wanted to look at leadership through a fresh lens. After all, the last time we did a Google search, there were 392,000,000 entries for leadership books – double the number of cookbooks! There are leadership books written by or about the world's greatest thinkers (Confucius, Machiavelli, and Gandhi). And thousands of books on leadership have been published by dozens of management experts (Peter Drucker, John Kotter, Tom Peters, and Jim Collins, to name a few). All offer great stories, opinions, and practices of what constitutes the DNA of great leadership.
Our book, however, differs from all the rest in three respects.
1. It has a singular mission: to give you the practical advice and tools to succeed as a first-time, first-line leader. The first section features nine chapters that will help you better understand what it takes to become an awesome leader – one we call a catalyst who sparks action in others. And it focuses on a set of fundamental skills – we call them interaction skills– that will serve as the foundation for every one of the dozens of conversations you'll have with others every day. These are skills you can use, not only in the workplace, but also at home and in your community. The second section provides advice on a host of diverse, vital skills – we call them mastery and leadership skills– that you'll need to call upon in your new role. These include coaching, selecting new employees, and promoting a culture of engagement, among others.
2. The content of this book is based on unparalleled experience. For the past four decades, our company, DDI (Development Dimensions International), has helped clients develop over 250,000 leaders every year, in 26 countries, across thousands of organizations. Nothing we say in this book is based on whim or theory. It comes from real-time experience – a lot of it.
3. We carry our experience one step further to evidence. DDI has helped hundreds of clients demonstrate the relationship between our leadership practices and principles with metrics that matter: improved skills, higher engagement, better safety records, and gains in productivity. We don't rest on our laurels; we rest on our proof.
Whether you read our book in detail or focus on those chapters that are the most relevant for you, we'll have accomplished our goal if you use three or four pieces of the advice we've provided. You know, in many ways you can look at this book as a hybrid between a typical leadership book and a cookbook. We provide the kitchen-tested recipes, but it's up to you to do the cooking.
Part 1: Project Initiation
Whether you are new to the role or have some experience with it, the road to being an effective leader is rife with challenges and joys. Catalyst leaders represent the gold standard – energetic, supportive, forward-thinking mentors who spark action in others. The first part of this book presents a clear picture of what catalyst leadership is really about. There are dozens of tips to make your journey as smooth as possible.
We also introduce the concept of leadership brand. Just like a company's brand makes it a distinct entity, your brand can cement your standing as an effective leader. And, there are clearly identifiable practices associated with your leadership brand that separate truly effective leaders from average or poor ones. So, in this section of the book we'll help you create a new leadership mind-set and get results for you and your team. Additionally, we provide guidance on how you can flawlessly execute in the face of competing priorities.
Finally, we share some secrets for making every interaction a successful one. As a leader, you have dozens of conversations with others every single day. Your ability to connect with them – by making people feel valued, heard, motivated, trusted, and involved – will go a long way toward making you a perfect leader!
1
Now You're a Leader
Great leadership takes place every day, in the smallest of ways.
So, now you're in charge.
When you accepted your first leadership job – or even seriously considered putting your hat in the ring – you took one of the most important and courageous steps in your career. You're a boss! You're going places.
How's it going? Are you sure? How do you know?
Chances are, you're perched precariously on an emotional range from “awkward excitement” to “abject terror” and back again, with a constant baseline of “stressed.” This shouldn't come as a surprise; you have a lot to prove. (Or, if you've been in the position for a while, you might have a lot to repair.) For over 45 years, our firm, DDI, has been an innovator in the field of talent management, which is a fancy way of saying that we help companies transform the way they hire, promote, and develop leaders. This book is based on what we've learned from developing more than eight million frontline leaders over four decades, in virtually every country and industry around the world. First-time leaders who transition well are more able to make a positive, lasting impact on their teams, families, and careers. Our approach helps people become engaged and more productive more quickly.
Speaking of stress, our research shows that a transition to a leadership position is among life's most challenging adjustments, ranking somewhere between personal illness and managing teenagers. In fact, only one in three leaders in our first transitional study felt they were effective in handling transitional challenges.1 For first-timers, the stress can be particularly acute. You are taking on not only a new type of role, but also one that exists in a business environment defined by fast-moving challenges: volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. And you're in a unique position where your performance – or lack thereof – will determine whether your team will thrive or stall (along with your career). Are you as good as you need to be? Do you know what it means to get the best work from the people on your team? Will they hate you on sight? How will you determine if you're on track before it's too late?
The transition you're experiencing is profound enough for us to make a bold claim: Nobody comes to his first leadership position knowing everything he needs to know to succeed. When you get into truly unfamiliar emotional territory, your instinct might be to throw up your hands and try to do everything yourself. Perhaps you'll micromanage your team, take critical assignments away from direct reports as deadlines loom, or fail to give the kind of feedback that will help your team members do their jobs.
But let us make another bold claim: You'll find few greater rewards in your career than on the leadership journey you're about to begin. What you learn will transform the rest of your life in many wonderful ways. There are many reasons for this, not the least of which is what you'll discover about your own ability to grow and be effective in the world. We believe that over time, the skills you'll learn can help you communicate more clearly with the people you love, become a more active member of your community, and make a difference for the causes you care about. This is a journey that leads to a happier life.
When I first got the job, there was a lot of pressure, Karen told us. She became a leader by surprise