The Leadership Coach™

What’s Your Leadership Footprint?

Posted on 11. May, 2010 by Paul Andrew in Leadership, The Leadership Coach™

In more recent years we’ve become aware that every person, every company, leaves a mark on our natural environment. Increasingly we’re being forced to consider issues like our “carbon footprint” which are very tangible ways of measuring the extent to which we damage the earth as we go about life and business.

That footprint was always there but many of us never really considered it until it was measured. With that knowledge comes responsibility. Now billions of dollars are spent every year on carbon offsets and emissions trading to compensate for the damage we cause and the fund the development of a more sustainable future.

But what about your Leadership Footprint?

What if we were to use a system that measured in black and white the impact you have on your personal environment as a leader? What would the results of your Leadership Footprint show? For example-
• Does your leadership take more from your environment than it gives back?
• What pollution do those around you have to suffer?
• How aware are you of the real impact you have and whether or not that is a sustainable leadership model?
• After you’re gone, what will the legacy of your leadership really be?

How would you measure that impact? I’d love to know what tests you would use to measure someone’s Leadership Footprint, but first here are few of my ideas:

1. The “Atmospheric Pressure” Test
Many leaders don’t realise that they change the atmosphere of a room when they walk in, and they can change it for better or for worse. What if we measured how you leave people feeling after they’ve had an interaction with you? Do you leave people stressed, encouraged, inspired, deflated, negative, relaxed? You carry an atmosphere with you and every leader needs to understand that they are a thermostat not just a thermometer.

2. The “Multiplication” Test
Insecure leaders often cause others to hold back, secure leaders raise up and release other leaders – they multiply themselves. So can you look around your organisation and point out the effective leaders that you’ve played a central role in raising up?

3. The “Silent Killer” Test
I’ve observed a deadly poison that many teams tolerate – the negative, divisive and undermining style of “leader” who quietly sabotages the organisation. Their negative words and bitter agendas often pollute a team for many years, the impact still seen long after the person is gone. People around them are quietly poisoned by what they leave.

4. The “Legacy” Test
How will you be remembered by your team, your customers, your organisation long after you’re gone? The problem with this test is that it’s an autopsy, because the results don’t come back until it’s too late to do anything differently. But all the same it’s a valuable exercise for leaders to ask themselves, “What will be different around here five years after I’m gone?”.

5. The “Mirror Mirror” Test
Not unlike our carbon footprint, I think real awareness of your impact on others as a leader is the beginning of being able to change for the better. Too many leaders are like the old tale of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” – surrounded by attendants who tell them how great they look, when the truth is that they are naked. I need to have trusted advisors around me who act as a mirror for self-awareness.

So I’d really like to hear what tests you would suggest to measure our Leadership Footprint, so please add to the discussion by commenting below…

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Tags: Culture, Executive Coach, Leadership Development, Leadership Impact, Legacy, Self-Awareness, Team Building