Leadershipshift: Agility for successful leadership

Leaders, it is time to sharpen the axe and review your current practices! It is time to be utterly ruthless and get to know your authentic self and your why? What is your purpose? Understanding the why behind your actions and decisions is crucial for inspirational leadership. Most people know what they do. Some even know how they do it. But truly great leaders? They start with why.

What is your purpose? Understanding the “why” behind your actions and decisions is crucial for inspirational leadership. Most people know what they do. Some even know how they do it. But truly great leaders? They start with why? Simon Sinek’s leadership philosophy emphasises empathy, servant leadership, and personal growth. The phrase “sharpen the axe” is indeed associated with his ideas, highlighting the importance of self-improvement and preparation for leaders. 

We live in a dynamic world, which requires evolving and inspirational leaders.  With education leadership in mind, I wish to refer to John Maxwell’s “11 Essential Changes Every Leader Must Embrace”. Change is so rapid today that leaders must do much more than stay the course to succeed.

John Maxwell talks about “Leadershipshift” which delves into the following: 

• The key is to know your Why? and learn HOW to leadershift.
• How open are you to change?
• Are you willing to ask more questions than giving answers?
• Are you willing to become a better listener and observer?
• Are you willing to rely more on intuition and creativity?

The ‘leadershipshifts’ that John Maxwell discusses require you to change the way you think, act, and ultimately lead in order to be successful in a dynamic world. It requires you to ‘Sharpen the Axe’ as Simon Sinek says and review your current practices. This is one way of doing so? The Why? The HOW?

Today’s leaders need to embrace the following leadership shifts and be innovative, adaptive and grow in this demanding dynamic world :

• The Adaptive Shift (Plan A to Option A): Move from rigid, linear planning to being flexible and open to continuous adaptation.
• The Volition Shift (Soloist to Conductor): Evolve from doing everything yourself to orchestrating a team where everyone plays their part.
• The Consistency Shift (Uniformity to Diversity): Transition from demanding everyone act and think the same to valuing diverse perspectives and strengths.
•  The Relational Shift (Pleasing People to Challenging People): Stop seeking approval and start pushing your team to reach their full potential.
• The Abundance Shift (Scarcity to Abundance): Shift your mindset from hoarding resources and competing to creating new opportunities and collaborating.
• The Reproduction Shift (Ladder Climbing to Ladder Building): Focus less on your own personal career advancement and more on helping the people around you build and ascend their own.
• The Communication Shift (Directing to Connecting): Move from barking orders to deeply listening, understanding, and engaging with your team.
• The Improvement Shift (Goals to Growth): Focus less on just hitting arbitrary metrics and more on continuous personal and professional development.
•   The Influence Shift (Positional Authority to Moral Authority): Shift away from relying on your job title to get things done, and build trust so that people choose to follow you.
•  The Impact Shift (Telling to Modelling): Transform from teaching people what to do into a leader who walks the talk and sets a living example.
•  The Passion Shift (Perks to Price): Shift your focus from what you can get out of a leadership role (status, perks) to the sacrifices and hard work required to bring value to others.

Are you ready to upgrade your educational leadership with a leadershipshift?

Which one will you start with?