Selfie Leadership 

 
Selfie sticks are everywhere. People are constantly posting selfies of themselves in exotic places. For this tip, neither a selfie stick nor an exotic place is necessary.
Selfie leadership is about getting perspective. If you were to see yourself through the lens of others, what would you see? What impact are you making on those around you?
As we’ve worked with leaders around the world, we’ve seen the challenges they face in getting real feedback. Many times people tell their leaders what they want to hear rather that what they need to know. How do you know what’s really going on within your organization or team?  What impact are you making?
Tips for Taking a Selfie on Your Leadership:

• Build relationships. While it’s essential to have relationships with your peers and direct reports, it’s easy to neglect the creation of relationships with people inside and outside the organization. They can be the source of fantastic insights if you nurture and develop a network of relationships beyond your team, department or area of responsibility.
• Get a coach. The best of the best hire coaches to help them go further than they imagined. Athletes, performers and executives at the top of their game realize the value of an independent person who will tweak their technique and help them hone their strengths. Coaching is not remedial it is reformative and helps you understand your impact.
• Assess your impact. One tool that we’ve seen work incredibly well in understanding the environment you are creating through your leadership (and consequently the response or outcomes you are getting from that environment) is the Leadership Impact. It contrasts your ideal with the actual and provides specific actions you can take to close the gap. Ask us how you can assess your leadership impact.

The goal of this post is to challenge you to see your leadership though the eyes of those who are impacted by it. We cannot change what we do not know. So take a selfie of your leadership and decide what you can do to make a positive impact and a lasting difference on those around you.