Leaders seem to have a lot in common: they are all intelligent, ambitious, dedicated to their professional careers and companies often invest in their growth.
So what distinguishes leaders who succeed in achieving their goals from those who do not?
The variable is the leader, and the key is his behaviour. He who achieves his goals is the one who transforms himself, who advances rapidly at a professional level and transforms the organisations within which he works.
Transformational leaders know their responsibilities and, if something goes wrong, they do not wait for someone else to act, they do not blame their organisation, the type of corporate culture or bosses, but decide to choose and thus have the power to influence change.
How? By starting with changing oneself.
Transformational leaders are aligned with their strengths, values and goals. Indeed, it is only those who bring to the workplace the uniqueness of their strengths, values and goals that make the difference.
Research shows that when we are focused on our values and firm in our intentions we become more courageous, more confident and resilient in the face of stress, challenges and change.
The secret is therefore to bring out and bring to work our Authentic self.
Transformational leaders are in favour of experimenting with new behaviours and are capable of action. Firm in their essence, but flexible in their behaviour, they are willing to deviate from their usual behaviour if it does not work.
To do this, authentic leaders choose to be and not the doing, and they ask themselves this question: "Who do I need to be to better adapt to this situation?".
And the answer becomes the basis of the Leader's action plan.
Transformational leaders have a mindset based on curiosity and not on judgement.
The human brain loves shortcuts as they are the way we have evolved and the survival mechanism par excellence. It takes too many calories to rethink daily decisions, in fact we even like to take the same route to work every day, and it is this preference for habit that becomes our way of leading. We also tend to judge and make assumptions unconsciously.
Since we cannot afford such behaviour, it is good practice to always ask ourselves: "Is there a different way of seeing this person or situation in order to achieve our goals?", or, "Is what I see really reality or is it just my assumption?".
Transformational leaders see the opportunity inchange.
When change happens transformational leaders set about finding the opportunity hidden in it by asking themselves "What are the positives of this situation?" o "What can I learn from this situation?". In doing so, leaders do not waste energy trying to resist change but create something new with the change itself.
The good news is that by asking ourselves simple questions every day, we get used to thinking in a certain way. Over time, such questions will become habitual and, as a habit, will help us achieve our goals.
