Leadership

Leadership. Leader. Ship. My boss asked the team today what a leader is. And that is difficult to define. It’s different for different situations and different groups. The very essence of being a leader can be so different depending on which leader you look at. It’s very interesting that on TUI Nordic we speak a lot about leaders, and that does not only mean the persons who has a leading role in the hierarchy, it’s about leadership in all roles. The project manager is one of the leaders in the project, but so is the architect, and the test responsible. And our staff on the field are all leaders. They are leaders for our customers.

So, evolving leadership is something that is discussed and is evolving all the time. I won’t go into the tools we’re using, that are corporate secrets, but my boss said something really interesting about leadership. To be a good leader you need to know yourself. You need to know your strengths and your weaknesses. You need to become self aware. This is hard. And then you need to build on your weaknesses and not build on your current strengths.

And this is really in line with my beliefs. Leadership comes from the inside and only after self awareness can leadership be confirmed by the outside. You are only a leader if you believe that you are one, act like one and is treated as one.

Most of my friends are asking if I’ve taken a trip yet (since I’m working in the travel industry). Well, yes. But this has been an inner journey which I’ve just started. And this is just an example of what I’m experiencing during this trip.

The captain of a ship need these traits. I won’t bother explaining why since either you’ve been sailing under bad/good captains and know what I’m talking about or you haven’t and then I have no chance making you understand. But I think this is why a sailing exercise can be so useful as a team building event discussing leadership.

Agile and lean implantations need good leadership and I also believe that agile and lean can help in building these leaders. Getting people to constantly improve themselves and their situation, having people take responsibility and be proud in there work are all things that can make you a better leader.