Professional Development: The Value of Personal Leadership Goals

For those in a position of leadership, having professional development goals is an important part of growing as a leader. Setting personal leadership goals demonstrates initiative and provides a framework for professional development for those under your leadership.

It is vital to cultivate a positive working environment, and this is achieved by expecting people to progress and grow, rather than demanding perfection. These are the ingredients of a well-functioning and healthy team.

Regardless of the context, be it the workplace, church or other kinds of teams, the sustainability, influence, and outcomes of the team relies on a leadership that equips and empowers the team. For a leader to be able to empower others, it is crucial to have goals for personal advancement yourself in order to embody them for your team.

There are several key leadership skills that are instrumental in building a stimulating team environment. James Kouzes and Barry Posner’s book The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations, and Stephen Blandno’s article on the ingredients of a healthy culture list these skills as vision, values, aligned behaviors, humility and established community.

Key Factors in Professional Development

Each of these professional development factors contributes to a healthy team environment but require intentional demonstration on the part of the team leader. Let’s look at these factors in more detail.

Vision

When a team has a vision, it means that they know how they want the future to look for the organization, both in terms of discernment and development. Presenting a clear vision to the team is vital for every leader because without a clarified vision it will be all too easy for the team to get distracted and off track.

Without vision, the team may well find themselves heading in an unexpected direction or be unfocused and without any kind of drive. Of course, even with a clear vision, there can sometimes be surprise diversions or stumbling blocks, but knowing the destination means that obstacles can be overcome, and decisions can be made that put the team back on the right trajectory.

Values

The values of a team are foundational. Values dictate almost everything that the team does. Therefore, if the team does not have an explicit understanding of what they, as a team, believe in terms of values, there will be unrest and dysfunction within the team.

Inevitably, unrest and dysfunction will affect not just the team dynamics but also the work output. Leaders must establish firmly rooted and strong values so as to create a healthy team environment where team members are motivated by their values.

Aligned Behaviors

For successful leadership, it is vital that leaders demonstrate the kind of behaviors that line up with the team’s vision and values. Whilst vision and values are important, it is equally important to ensure that the vision and values are enacted, not just understood.

Failure in this area will mean that the team falls short of its vision. If the leadership successfully models the behaviors aligned with the vision and values, the rest of the team will follow suit.

Have aligned behaviors has a great impact. In conjunction with a robust, palpable vision and values, the resulting impact is huge. Team members need to see their leader encouraging a culture that aligns with their words and actions in order to be motivated to strive for the realization of the vision.

Humility

There is incredible power in humble leadership that builds up others. Research has proven that when leaders exhibit humility and put effort into helping others to develop and grow in their capabilities, it has a tremendous impact on the efficiency of the team or organization.

The importance of this leadership quality cannot be overemphasized. The behavior that leaders exhibit controls the outcome of the team, determining whether the team will grow or remain at a standstill. When leaders give their team members encouragement to develop their abilities, the team is empowered and will go on to be effective leaders themselves.

Established Community

Although last in the list, this aspect is equally important. Creating a team environment that is both welcoming and approachable is vital in a world where the majority of people are seeking authenticity and a sense of belonging in communities. Leaders who are effective promote openness in their communities – both inside and outside of their teams – and this invites collaboration in the team.

A team that can support people in connecting, building relationships and feeling appreciated for their skills enables an environment where people can belong and be open and vulnerable.

When this is combined with vision, values, behavior, and humility in leaders, it creates a team that can have a tremendous impact through their work.

Five Practices of an Exemplary Leader

Kouzes and Posner highlight five practices that exceptional leaders should exhibit and refine. These practices all focus on the centrality of relationships and integrity, which is established by your words and actions as a leader, regardless of the position or title you have.

Modeling the Way

Modeling the way involves a clarity regarding your values and ensuring that both your actions and your words are legitimately aligned. This is the first waypoint on your journey towards being an effective leader, and it entails taking an honest look at yourself.

In order to be guided by your beliefs and values your words, choices and actions, you have to clearly identify them. When your words and morals are deeply cemented in your beliefs, it will be easier to then give voice to the team and communicate effectively with others.

Knowing your own beliefs and values empowers you to explore other people’s beliefs and recognize commonalities in values. You cannot lead people unless you are able to both understand and be sensitive to others’ views and standpoints.

When you live out the values that you profess in word and deed, it reveals your character to others. It is important to remain consistent in your integrity so that your team is able to trust you.

Inspiring a Shared Vision

In order to encourage others to buy into your vision, it is necessary to make space for others to come alongside so as to endorse ideas and prospects for the destiny of the team. It is important that the vision has value and also recognizes the dreams and abilities of others. Many people fear an uncertain future; but leaders can provide a vision and destiny that others can look towards, which in turn builds up and encourages them.

Leaders must be enthusiastic about their vision of team dynamics and use their various capabilities to the greatest effect. The team members can buy into this vision, be encouraged and focus on making the goal a reality. When the leader is enthusiastic about the vision, others catch the excitement and can envision the possibilities of the fruits of effective teamwork.

Clear communication of the vision, with consideration of the individual team members’ goals, brings life to a team. It can be beneficial to paint a picture of the impact the vision can have on each team member so that people take responsibility for the shared vision. Enthusiasm can be infectious in a team, and this should be encouraged by the leader so that the team can move towards their shared goal.

Challenging the Process

In this aspect, the leader makes a determined effort to avoid complacency, and seek out opportunities for self-improvement as well as increasing team efficiency. Often this requires risks to be taken, so as to learn and develop. Challenges can be seen in a positive light when they offer people the chance to make beneficial changes; such situations bring out the best in people.

Leaders should never be content to let things stagnate, but rather make an effort to discover challenges that will allow aptitudes and processes to be developed and reflected upon.

Good ideas flourish in an environment founded on good communication and the exploration of new ideas. Leaders should be prepared to respect others’ ideas, receive suggestions and feedback, and develop their skills in response to collaborative working.

Progress can be slow, and it is important for leaders to learn to rejoice in the smallest of achievements made on the journey to the ultimate goals. Tenacity and an ability to appreciate both the challenges and the victories are qualities that leaders of healthy teams should exhibit.

Moving forwards involves risks, and accepting the chance of failure and mistakes, but effective leaders recognize that this is simply part of the process.

Enabling Others to Act

Encouraging others to act in accordance with the vision can only happen in an environment in which team members feel safe, can trust their team members and leader, and feel that their input is important. Leaders need to be humble and acknowledge the limits of their own capabilities. Team effort is necessary for success.

Cooperation within a team is based on trust. It is the leader’s responsibility to build trusting relationships with team members. Investing in the team to facilitate cohesion requires leaders to recognize and respect the needs of individuals. Leaders must also understand that both relationships and the working environment have an impact on the work produced as well as the team’s experience.

A safe, affirmative and invigorating work environment, where team members respect each other is the fruit of an effective leader. Ultimately, these qualities will contribute to the sustainability of the team.

Leaders who encourage and value others, and who endorse their team members’ skills foster a climate where people are confident, enthusiastic about the vision and recognize the influence that the team can have.

Encouraging the Heart

This last practice revolves around leaders affirming, building up, and valuing the people they work with. There is huge value in a team that can extol, commiserate and motive together. Leaders are effective when they realize that whilst great achievements require hard work, the journey is easier as a result of galvanizing and inspiring the team to press on through the challenges and stumbling blocks.

Genuine encouragement is essential, as is a willingness on the part of the leader to put in the same effort as the other team members. It is inspiring for team members to see their leader getting stuck into the hard work.

Endorsing individual team members’ achievements openly and regularly demonstrates that the leader does not take their team for granted.

Affirmation can take many forms, including public recognition, commendation, memos of gratitude, and simply smiling. These things show the team that they are appreciated and valued. Leaders should be proud of their team’s achievements, and expression of this can both motivate the team and highlight your trust in the team.

As well as hard work, leaders should make sure to make space and time for more light-hearted team experiences. This makes the journey towards the goal more satisfying. Moreover, effective leaders do all of these things as an outpouring of love; love that extends to their team, their work, and their goal.

Each of these practices combines to build a fantastic environment of growth and accomplishment, where leaders acknowledge the centrality of relationships in their team.

A leader who has trust in their team, and who is able to empower their team to develop their skills and gifts creates an effective team. The process of becoming this kind of leader begins with a focus on personal development that you should model in both your personal and work life.