Helping others as leaders

As for me, I think personal reflection is the most important of all leadership behaviors. I am constantly struck by the amount of information available online about "How to be a better leader." Wouldn't you think this information would, in fact, make for better leaders? I'm not so sure it does. After teaching leadership at the doctoral level, I have come to realize the significance between the academic "knowing" about leadership and actually being able to "be" a good leader. I'm fairly certain that academic knowing has little to no correlation to actually being a good leader.

As we consider how to assist someone to be a better leader we really do need to talk about their leadership "thinking" first. What do they think a good leader is? That answer will tell us a lot about their frame of mind and thus how they probably will act as a leader. It is in this "framing" of leadership that we can find our way to discussing how to improve leadership. The old adage, "it is what you think it is," certainly applies here. Do you see yourself as a leader with a position of authority or supervision, are you a leader who requires followers, or are you a leader that influences others? To reflect on your frame of leadership (Thanks to Terry Deal and Lee Bolman for their book on "Reframing") allows you to see where you are and perhaps consider changes to your leadership behaviors.