Today I went to an event where Dr. Paul Hersey spoke about leadership. I wrote about Hersey’s Situational Leadership Model for a feature in our Executive Briefings e-newsletter. But during the event, Hersey said something that caught my attention: Leadership style is a leader’s pattern of behavior as perceived by others. So it’s not how you see your behavior, but instead how others see it.
While this is not necessarily a revolutionary thought, it made me wonder how many leaders actually view their leadership behavior through “the eye of the beholder.” How much of an effort do you make to find out what your employees really think of you? Are you really a great leader, or do you just think you are?!@!
It’s important for leaders to obtain this information through surveys, performance reviews or just an open line of communication because if they don’t know how their employees perceive them, then how do they know whether they are leading them in the right way?
Hersey also said that the only way you can impact others is through your behavior. So again, if your behavior is off-putting, then you are impacting your employees in a negative way and vice versa. What do you do to understand how your employees perceive you, and how important is that in leading them? As always, let me know your thoughts in our comments section below.