Developing breadth as a leader

When we lead someone we lead the whole person.  It’s true that our leadership of them will be restricted to certain hours of the day or night but we cannot ignore the impact that the rest of a person’s life has on who they are when they come to work.  This is because by nature our lives are an integrated whole.  Things that happen at home impact who we are at work and vice versa.  The best leaders recognise and understand this.  It’s why the conversations with those they lead stretches beyond how their work is going.  It’s why when a person suffers a bereavement in their family, good leaders encourage the person to take time to grieve.  It’s why the best leaders adapt their leadership to the ever-changing contexts that people find themselves in.  

Growing in leadership has a lot to do with developing breadth – learning to lead differently and adapt our approach to the differences in personality and context of those we lead. The best leaders adjust their leadership approach to both people and contexts and that is hard work. It is so much easier to develop one way of leading and ask everyone to fit in with you.