4 Tips for leadership challenges
As leaders continue to attempt to find ways to be more productive and to continue to be their best selves, obstacles can either serve as an opportunity or a hindrance. The challenge with sustaining leadership behaviors is when leaders face hurdles, some essential attributes can get lost when obstacles occur. What steps can you take when facing challenges? This article intends to provide four steps to provide a more holistic perspective to navigating the challenges that leaders face. The four characteristics needed for leaders when they face challenges are to be self-aware, harmonious, conflict ready, and confident. [1].
#1 Know yourself
Self-awareness has become an important topic in leadership, yet when I wanted to get some clarity on the specifics of self-awareness, I found some of the language to be slightly convoluted. Don’t get me wrong on the surface; it makes sense. As a leader, you want to be aware of your strengths and your weaknesses, but on a deeper level, what does that mean? As I have been doing some hyper-focused work on self-awareness. I have come to several revelations that I would like to share. To know yourself requires a few essentials.
First, I had to become aware of who I am, and being clear on not judging what I think or what I feel. Because of this revelation, I have been more prone to assess why I feel the way that I do and gain some insight into whether it is getting me closer or further away to my goals. To be successful, I have created a safe place to assess thoughts and ideas [3]. Second, be clear on values, and comprehend that these values are the heart of leadership [4]. Understanding values is important, but what is even more important is to be able to understand another person’s values. People value different things, and either way, it is okay. As leaders, we must be willing to bridge the gap between values and take actionable steps to create harmony in the process.
#2 Create Harmony
Bridging the gap in many instances involves seeing the chance to bridge one concept to the next concept. Bridging from a leaders point of view to the employees entails creating partnerships to gain perspective on one another [6]. Partnerships are a way for the leader to join with employees to create a mutually beneficial relationship [7]. It doesn’t mean a leader doesn’t address conflict; harmony and conflict are just opposite sides of the same coin. A leader who is harmonious looks at addressing conflict while also being pleasant at the same time [8]. Conflict is healthy because it interconnects expansion and growth. Conflict is a critical component of leadership [9].
#4 Be conflict ready
Leaders who understand the value of conflict can view friction in a way where innovation and solution-orientated behaviors emerge [11]. Conflict is unavoidable when it comes to human interaction [12]. It’s important for leaders to anticipate conflict; therefore, be ready when it occurs. When conflict does occur, leaders will need to focus on integrating an ideal solution when addressing conflict, where both parties who are having conflict receive a benefit; this involves engaging another person’s idea with another [11]. Handling conflict is a skill that combines both knowledge and skills that develop over time [6]. Bridging the gap is pivotal, and a leaders ability to do so generates confidence in a leaders ability to continue to be progressive.
#5 Confidence
The development of confident derives from a leader’s training and experience [13]. The more conflict a leader encounters, the more confident they can become in using healthy conflict to create innovation and generate new ideas [14]. Conflict is necessary to face difficult situations, to merge different perspectives, yet it is critical in mitigating and minimizing risks [15]. The key to being able to combine these different perspectives entails understanding the viewpoint of the other person and understanding their lived experience. Everyone has a story, and once we comprehend another person’s journey and what they value, we can understand their values. Routine is instrumental in directing what people feel confident in, a routine of flexibility creates this opportunity, therefore, not everyone can be confident in that ability [16]. The confidence derives from being a continuous learner, and knowing that if the knowledge isn’t easily accessible, the leader will do what it takes to gain insight. A leader must be humble in comprehending what they do know and what they don’t know and utilize as many resources as possible when challenges arise.
Leaders will always face challenges. The challenges permit continuous growth and expansion to bring more opportunities to the organization and others. These opportunities generate desired innovation and expansion for us all.
[1] Kraemer Jr, H. M. J. (2015). Becoming the Best. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sones.
[2] Ann, C. (2016). Great leadership starts with knowing yourself. Retrieved from https://www.industryleadersmagazine.com/great-leadership-starts-knowing/
[3] Bell, J. (2015, 10/09/2015). TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE. The Australian Financial Review, p. 32. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.proxy.cecybrary.com/docview/1732102473?accountid=144789
[4] Dhiman, S. (2015). Lead Effectively: 7 exemplary Gandhian values. Leadership Excellence Essentials, 32(11), 27–28.
[5] Erin. (2013). How to create harmony with work-at-home parents. Retrieved from http://www.4nannies.com/blog/how-to-create-harmony-with-work-at-home-parents/
[6] Malik, R. (2012). Management Education and Corporate Expectations: Bridging the Gap. Drishtikon : A Management Journal, 3(1), 191–219.
[7] Jakada, B. A. (2014). Building Global Strategic Alliances and Coalitions for Foreign Investment Opportunities. International Journal of Global Business, 7(1), 77–94.
[8] Davey, L. (2013). Conflict strategies for nice people. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 2–4.
[9] Sharma, V. (2018). Soft Skills: An Employability Enabler. IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 12(2), 25–32.
[10] VectorStock. (2019). Conflict Management Retrieved from https://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/word-cloud-conflict-management-vector-1695519
[11] Aw, V. K. J., & Ayoko, O. B. (2017). The impact of followers’ conflict behaviors on teams’ transformational leadership, team member exchange and engagement. International Journal of Conflict Management, 28(4), 509–5
[12] Yeung, D. Y., Fung, H. H., & Chan, D. (2015). Managing conflict at work: comparison between younger and older managerial employees. International Journal of Conflict Management, 26(3), 342–364.
[13] Schultz, J. R. (2014). Creating a culture of empowerment fosters the flexibility to change. Global Business & Organizational Excellence, 34(1), 41–50. doi:10.1002/joe.21583
[14] Woods, K. (2016). Organizational ambidextrity and the multi-generational workforce. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict, 20(1), 95–111.
[15] Davey, L. (2013). Conflict strategies for nice people. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 2–4.
[16] Nigam, A., Huising, R., & Golden, B. (2016). Explaining the Selection of Routines for Change during Organizational Search. Administrative Science Quarterly, 61(4), 551–583. doi:10.1177/0001839216653712
