Proving It Through your Actions – a Guest Post from Steve Farber

A subject-matter expert in business leadership and a frequent guest on news-talk shows around the country, Steve Farber is a senior-level leadership coach and consultant who has worked with and spoken to a wide variety of public and private organizations in virtually every arena, from the tech sector to financial services, manufacturing, health care, hospitality, entertainment, retail, and even the US government.

He’s also a multiple year nominee for Best Leadership Blog. You still have until midnight December 14th to vote . . .

Prove to Others That You’re Proving It to Yourself
by Steve Farber (posted 11/22/10)

Extreme Leadership is not a solo act; it doesn’t happen in a vacuum. You’re not going to change the world by yourself. (More on that in an upcoming post). It’s your job to recruit, cultivate, and develop the up and coming Extreme Leaders in your midst. This is nothing new. You’ve heard it before: develop people. True, true, and true again.

However…

The most overlooked way to develop Extreme Leadership in others is to let them participate in your development. You be the living, breathing example of a work-in-progress.

That’s what we all are anyway, right? Say to them, Watch me try. Give others the benefits of your OS!Ms.

That’s right. Pursue your OS!Ms in full, public view. Show others that you’re learning, you’re trying, and that you’re botching it up from time to time. Then let them in on what you’ve learned.

Guess what will happen?

They’ll try, too. You’ve proven to others that you’re proving it to yourself. They’ll want to prove it to themselves, too. But don’t leave it there.

Invite them to share in your development–directly–by asking these questions . . .

…….

Read his questions here.

Steve’s post is timely for many leaders who are starting to think about, or are in the middle of performance review season.  If you are having performance discussions (formal and a part of your organizational process or not), I (and Steve) urge you to ask them his questions to them.   You know you need to give them feedback.  Are you asking for it yourself in a serious way?

Remember – they are watching you.  Are you showing by your example that you are a continually learning leader?

There is still time to vote for Steve or our other great nominees for the Best Leadership Blog of 2011.  Do it now!