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The Seven Elements of Relational Leadership
Relationship with Self
True leaders must be fully self-aware, know their strengths and weaknesses, and how their behavior affects others. They must not only be trustworthy but also behave in a way that communicates this to those around them so that they inspire trust in their leadership. Our Leadership Development Process™ (LDP) shows the way to achieve this. The LDP also incorporates a powerful tool, the Leadership Development Assessment™, which provides leaders with specific objectives to focus on as they go through The Leadership Development Process™, as well as giving them feedback on how they are performing as they apply what they are learning.
Trust is the cohesive force within an organization’s culture that enables it to achieve its Vision faster.
Relationship with Fellow Leaders
It is the Senior (Executive) Team that provides direction and leadership for the entire organization. Therefore it is vital that the Senior Team is absolutely aligned with its organization's Purpose, Values and Vision, and with the organizational culture necessary to achieve that Vision. Our Senior Team Alignment Process™ (STAP) makes this happen. At the start and throughout the STAP, we provide the Team Alignment Questionnaire™ to measure the degree to which team members are clear on, and in agreement with, the organization's Purpose, Values and Vision. We also provide the Team Member Rating™ to assess individual team member’s contributions to the team.
Relationship with Followers
As described in Relationship with Self and Relationship with Fellow Leaders, one a role of a leader is to create an environment where there is a high level of trust, people tell the truth and are aligned with their organization’s Purpose, Values and Vision. A powerful tool to assess how close we are to achieving such an environment is our Strategic Alignment Survey™. It is also important that leaders are adaptable in dealing with the differences in others and our Team Development Process™ provides the skills needed to achieve this.
Relationship with our Vision
For an organization to progress toward its Vision it is essential that its leaders constantly articulate and communicate where they want the organization to go. They must also be able to deal with conflicts, both internal and external, and be able to get back on track when they are off course with any of their constituencies. Our Strategic Alignment Survey™, in conjunction with the Senior Team Alignment Process™ shows how this can be achieved.
Relationship with Stakeholders
Stakeholders have a vested interest in the success of our organization and could be groups such as shareholders, customers, Board of Directors or employees. As leaders we must have a clear idea of our responsibilities and the ways in which we are accountable to our stakeholders, as well as our stakeholders’ responsibilities to us.
Relationship with our Support Network
The support of friends and family is an essential element in our success as leaders but is often something we take for granted. To be effective leaders we must understand the importance of this support and ensure that our priorities reflect this by making time for supporting those who support us.
Relationship with our Source
The relationship with our source is what gives us strength beyond ourselves. For many of us it might be our relationship with God, or a sense of a higher power. An important trait involved in this relationship is the ability to keep the bigger picture in perspective. A down to earth look at how we feel about our lives can act as a guide to our relationship with our source. For this purpose we provide the Life Positions instrument in Module 3 of the Senior Team Alignment Process™.
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