Unleashing the Leader Within You
Have you ever wondered how effective you really are as a leader?
You may be good at making decisions, achieving targets and getting things done. But how well do you handle difficult conversations? Do your team members feel comfortable sharing their opinions? And how often do you look beyond daily work to consider the bigger picture?
Being good at your job does not automatically mean you are equally good at every aspect of leadership. We all have strengths. We also have habits and blind spots that we may not recognise until someone points them out.
That is why I developed the Strategic Leadership Compass, a practical guide to help leaders better understand how they lead themselves, their teams and their organisations. The book explores 18 leadership competencies across three areas: SelfCompass, TeamImpact and OrgVision.
Let’s take a closer look at what these mean in everyday leadership.
SelfCompass: Leading Yourself
Before we can lead others effectively, we need to understand ourselves. Imagine you are under pressure to meet an important deadline. Your team is falling behind, and you are becoming frustrated. You may think you are simply pushing everyone to perform. But your team could be experiencing something different. Perhaps they find you impatient, difficult to approach or unwilling to listen.
This is where SelfCompass comes in. It looks at how well you understand your own behaviour, stay focused on what matters, build trust, adapt to change and make difficult decisions. For example, being confident is a strength. But confidence without self-awareness can sometimes make us overlook other people’s opinions. Similarly, being determined is valuable. But determination without flexibility may prevent us from recognising when a different approach is needed.
SelfCompass covers six leadership competencies:
- Raising Self-Awareness
- Showing Drive & Purpose
- Establishing Trust
- Showing Adaptability
- Leading Courageously
- Learning Continuously
Here is something worth reflecting on:
When things do not go according to plan, what do people around you see in your behaviour?
We may not always like the answer, but understanding it can help us become better leaders.
TeamImpact: Leading Your Team
Leadership is not only about what you can achieve personally. It is also about what you help others achieve.
Think about a team where people are capable and experienced, yet they struggle to work together. Meetings become frustrating. Some people hesitate to speak up. Disagreements remain unresolved, and everyone becomes more concerned about their own responsibilities than helping one another. The manager may wonder why the team is not performing as expected.
But sometimes, the answer lies in how the team is being led. TeamImpact focuses on how leaders build relationships, communicate, manage disagreements and help people grow. For instance, imagine you have a team member who is capable but lacks confidence. You could continue giving instructions and checking their work. Or you could spend time understanding what is holding them back, provide coaching and gradually give them opportunities to take greater responsibility. The second approach may take more effort initially, but it also helps the person develop.
TeamImpact covers six leadership competencies:
- Establishing Relationships
- Fostering Open Communication
- Managing Disagreements
- Promoting Teamwork
- Developing Others
- Building Talent
Consider this question:
Are your team members becoming more capable and confident because of the way you lead them?
It is easy to focus on whether the team achieves its targets. It is equally important to consider how people are growing along the way.
OrgVision: Leading Your Organisation
As leaders, we can become so occupied with daily work that we rarely have time to think about what lies ahead. We attend meetings, solve problems, respond to customers and make sure deadlines are met. But are we always moving in the right direction?
Imagine your department consistently achieves its targets. Everyone is busy, and the results look good. However, customer expectations are changing. Competitors are introducing different ways of working, and other departments are beginning to face challenges that could eventually affect your team. Would you notice these changes early enough to respond?
OrgVision is about looking beyond immediate responsibilities and understanding how your decisions affect the wider business. It includes thinking ahead, making sound decisions, guiding people through change, encouraging new ideas and making sure plans are carried out. It also means recognising how developments in other markets, cultures and regions may influence your organisation.
OrgVision covers six leadership competencies:
- Acting Strategically
- Making Sound Decisions
- Championing Change
- Leveraging Innovation
- Managing Execution
- Managing Globally
Ask yourself:
Am I spending most of my time keeping things running, or am I also preparing my team for what comes next?
Both matter. The challenge is knowing when to focus on today’s priorities and when to look further ahead.
How Well Do You Know Your Leadership Strengths?
Here is something interesting about leadership.
You may believe you are a good listener, but your team may feel you interrupt too often. You may consider yourself adaptable, yet find it difficult to accept a decision you disagree with. Or you may be excellent at developing people but less confident when making decisions that affect the wider business.
How we see ourselves is not always how others experience us. This is one reason why leadership development should begin with understanding our actual behaviours, rather than simply learning more leadership concepts.
The Strategic Leadership Compass includes a 90-question leadership competency self-assessment covering all 18 competencies. You rate how frequently you demonstrate different leadership behaviours. The book then guides you through reviewing your scores, identifying patterns and considering which areas deserve more attention. It also includes a visual leadership competency wheel, helping you see how your strengths and development areas compare across SelfCompass, TeamImpact and OrgVision.
The purpose is not to label you as a good or poor leader. It is to help you reflect more clearly on your current leadership practices. You can also seek feedback from colleagues or team members to compare their observations with your own. And once you have identified an area to improve, the book offers practical suggestions, reflection questions and exercises to help you decide what to do next.
Discover Your Own Leadership Compass
I wrote Strategic Leadership Compass: Mastering Competencies for Organisational Success for managers, aspiring leaders and experienced leaders who want to take a closer look at how they lead.
It is designed to be more than a book you read and put aside. You can use it as a personal reflection and development guide.
Inside, you will find:
- 18 leadership competencies explained through practical workplace situations.
- A 90-question self-assessment to examine your leadership behaviours.
- A leadership competency wheel to visualise your results.
- Practical suggestions and reflective exercises to help you work on your development areas.
You do not have to improve everything at once. Sometimes, recognising one important leadership habit and making a conscious effort to change it can be a meaningful starting point.
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Conclusion
Leadership is more than just having all the answers or being good at everything. It is recognising what we do well, being willing to see where we can improve and taking action to become more effective.
SelfCompass helps us look at ourselves. TeamImpact helps us understand how we influence and develop others. OrgVision reminds us to look beyond today’s responsibilities and consider the wider business. Together, these three areas offer a useful way to reflect on our leadership. Before you move on, I would like to leave you with one question:
If you asked your team to describe your greatest leadership strength and your biggest blind spot, what would they say?
You might be surprised by the answer. And that could be a good reason to discover your own Strategic Leadership Compass.
