I’m not talking about off-brand or store labels, versus the national brands. I’m talking about the labels we place on ourselves as leaders. The labels seem helpful (or harmless at worst), but this isn’t always the case. What are the labels I’m talking about? Leadership styles and approaches. Often promoted by people like me.
Don’t misunderstand – I’m not throwing my peers under the bus. We are all collectively trying to help leaders like you be more effective. So, we write books, create assessments, and create frameworks to help people understand critical aspects, skills, and behaviors of leadership. Unfortunately, the models we create cause unintended consequences.
Labels Have Truth
There is no doubt that the models and styles are useful to a point. They contain ideas and approaches that can help us become better leaders, to a point. The styles (or labels) are meant to simplify the complex and help us be more effective, and they can do that. But what too often happens is that leaders then label themselves, based on the assessment they have taken. And insight becomes fact and the leadership styles designed to be helpful become a hindrance. Here are some reasons that can happen.
Labels Oversimplify
The point and value of models is to simplify the complex. But when we go from styles to a word, we have simplified too much and turned the style into a label. Remember that labels are things that we use to categorize things and people. When we categorize ourselves as a servant, listening, facilitative, or inclusive leader, we start to stereotype ourselves, which leads to…
Labels Create Artificial Limits
If I am a people-focused leader, there are things I don’t do, right? After all, that is my style or my strength. When we lean into the label, we put ourselves in a box that we define as how we lead. With that (simplified) definition, we start to understand what we do well as a leader, and perhaps what we don’t which leads to…
Labels Lead to Excuses
Excuses are psychologically tough for us to overcome. When the leadership label we place on ourselves becomes an excuse we further lock ourselves into our box. “I can’t do it that way, because that isn’t how I lead.” When we hear ourselves say this, we know we have jumped to the ultimate problem with leadership labels which is…
Labels = Identity
When we say I am a <name the style> leader, we now identify as that, and it creates a world-view and parameters in which we behave and perform. But as a human, you are more elastic, more capable than that label. The world/your customers/your team needs you to be more and adjust based on the situation. But once you have turned your leadership style into a label and co-opted it as part of your identity, it is much harder to perform in new and adapted ways.
What Then?
Does this mean that all styles and assessments should be thrown out?
Not at all.
What it does mean is that as we learn about styles and take assessments to help us understand our leadership success, we keep the big picture of leadership in mind. Leaders have a responsibility and opportunity to reach valuable outcomes with and through others. When we keep that ultimate perspective on our role as a leader, we can use tools like leadership styles to help us, but not allow them to become labels.
Thank you for making me "think", this is sticking with me and resonating with how to continuously develop myself and my team.
Really liked the insight of the no labels article. It led me to think about something I should perhaps not write about – too volatile – but I am going to anyway. I think it should be said. I used to identify myself politically as an independent. The entrepreneurial and business owner part of me often identified with the Republicans, and sometimes the spiritual part of me did, too. Flat out the Republican candidate stood for – and still can – more of the issues that I identified with. As a woman and Minnesotan and volunteer and also the spiritual part of me often identified with the Democratic candidate. Like the leadership "labels" being too much of one thing and simplified and put in a box does not serve either the Republicans or the Democrats. Instead of the division – could we please just get back to being good humans? Wanting the best for ourselves, our families, our neighbors and our country does not fall underneath a label. It falls under what those individual candidates stand for and are voting for. Vote for the one whose values you identify with the most. That part is "simple". It is the person that represents us the best at this time.