Leadership is a buzzword.
It is also often a misunderstood word.
In organizations, you can separate leadership into two different buckets: Positional and Relational. Positional leadership comes with a title: chief of this, director of that, head of this team, etc etc.
Often, people think that if they aren’t in a position of leadership, they aren’t a leader. This couldn’t be less true.
You don’t have to have positional leadership to be a leader. That’s because the best definition for leadership is “influence,” and each person has influence with the people around them. This is what we call “Relational Leadership.”
If you want to become a better leader, regardless of your position, here are three ways you can do that:
Grow in your IQ
Grow in your EQ
Grow in your PQ
IQ is your skills intelligence. Do you know how to do your job? Are you good at it? Are there some skills you still need to master to be technically proficient and competent at your job?
EQ is your emotional intelligence. It‘s about being aware of others, being able to collaborate well, and reading a room. People with high EQ facilitate healthy communication and teamwork.
PQ is your personality intelligence. How well do you know yourself? Your strengths and weaknesses? Your blind spots? When someone isn’t self-aware, they continually lose influence with people and often don‘t know why.
A Simple Exercise:
Think through each of the three areas we highlighted: IQ, EQ, and PQ. Self-assess and rank each one. Which is your best? Which is your worst?
Now, here’s the question: What is one thing you can do this week to grow in your weakest area?
Accountability is important too. Once you’ve identified the answer to the last question, tell someone else about it. Even if they don’t ask you about it later, the simple act of telling someone will make you much more likely to act on it.
Keep repeating this exercise on a regular basis. Do the work and you will become a better leader.
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