Philosophy of Leadership
My life until now has involved a wide range of leadership positions and opportunities. My first leadership role was as captain of the under 11's rugby team at Presentation College in Ireland. The day I came home and announced the attainment of that then lofty role my very wise mother deflated the loft a little by asking "how many people are on the team"? "Fifteen and substitutes", I responded with some boredom wondering what she was getting at. "Well", she said, "if you are going to be an effective captain it is essential that you know everything you can about every position. Then you will both be able to know what people are doing, what they ought to be doing, and if they are not how you can help them achieve that end". I have carried that lesson with me all my life and it has formed the basis of my leadership philosophy and practice.
For me as a leader there are four other elements that build upon this foundation:
**An effective leader must be first and foremost an effective listener. If a leader does not listen, especially to those being led, and in the process acknowledge that all members of the group (however large or small) have significant contributions to make then those being led will not act to their fullest potential. One of my favorite ways to operationalize this idea is to try and practice the admonition that "upon entering a situation, especially a new one, I should try and listen for twice as long as I am going to talk, and in that order".
**An effective leader must able to build and maintain relationships. If a leader does not continuously work at building, maintaining, and enhancing relationships - both internal and external to the unit being led, then effectiveness will be considerably diminished. In all of the leadership positions I have held, I have made it a practice (both for me and the unit) to develop network maps that depict the individuals and organizations with whom relationships should be developed and maintained. A regular agenda item for staff meetings is "how are we doing with our network maps", and "what do we need to be doing to enhance them".
**An effective leader must continually strive to be as knowledgeable as possible about the work of the unit. That partly involves self-knowledge combined with lifelong learning and professional development. Yet as one person cannot know everything, this view of leadership calls for the leader to be surrounded by the best possible minds (in my case often much brighter than me) so that effective groups, collaboratives, and teams can be brought to bear on whatever unit tasks have to be addressed.
**An effective leader must continually celebrate the attributes of those being led. A sense of humor is also an essential ingredient for effective leadership.