The Importance of a Leadership Mindset

Photo by Maximilian Weisbecker on Unsplash

I recently read “Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader” by Herminia Ibarra. The book’s premise is that we spend too long thinking and reflecting on how we should be as leaders instead of just doing it. The author argues that we should be trying out new ways of acting as if we already were leaders. Only then will we have the experiences to reflect on to try and find a leadership mindset. This is summed up in a quote from Richard Pascale “Adults are more likely to act their way into a new way of thinking than think their way into a new way of acting.”

Having a leadership mindset goes right to our identity and how we see ourselves at work. Is it as an employee, head down, carrying out the assigned tasks? Or is it as someone who is empowered to lead in our role - whether that is just leading ourselves and a few projects, leading a small team of one or two people, or leading a multinational organisation?

We all develop a mindset in our role at work, which our organisation, managers and colleagues can heavily influence. Our mindset defines how we function, what we see as important, and judge what is going on around us. We may find ourselves with different mindsets as we move between teams or projects, depending on the expectations placed upon us and our work.

A leadership mindset is one where you see yourself as able to influence people and projects for good, where you are looking to get the best from team members and colleagues and where you come from a place of continuous improvement. By shifting our mindset and seeing ourselves differently in our workplaces, we will perform more effectively, navigate change more successfully, and build stronger relationships with others.

Doing this will involve “unlearning” some current thought patterns and behaviours as well as taking time to experience what it means to be a leader and then reflecting on those experiences and how we act in the moment.

These three factors are all linked. Reflecting on our experiences and how we act in the moment helps us understand the behaviours and thought patterns we need to unlearn. And as Ibarra says, acting like a leader will give us helpful experiences to reflect upon.

Starting a regular habit of reflective practice can help us discover why we respond in the way we do. Noticing why we do what we do and how it has served us in the past enables us to understand the root cause of our behaviours and how and why they are triggered. Replacing unhelpful behaviours with ones more suited to a leadership mindset can help us replace the outdated thought patterns and be aware of when the triggers arise. If you are unsure what those new behaviours should be, then look at role models in your organisation or in business more widely and learn from them. Or you can just experiment with some new leadership behaviours and see what happens - to find out more; I would recommend you read Ibarra’s book mentioned at the top of this blog!

If this article has resonated with you, working with an executive or leadership coach will help accelerate results. If you’d like to learn more about developing your own leadership mindset, get in touch here.