Last month 30 hotshot agency execs and client side marketers were chosen for The Marketing Academy program. As part of a series of articles from those future Australian leaders, Telstra's Sean Hall shares words of wisdom around the responsibility and contribution of marketing leaders.
A question that is often put up as a leadership test is “would I want to be followed by me?”
The trouble with this question though is that it really requires a good level of self-awareness to be asked in the first place.
Penny Ferguson of The Living Leader defines leadership as:
1. How you choose to think,
2. Understanding responsibility at a profound level; and
3. Understanding how you communicate and the impact of it.
None of these qualities requires the actual management of people. So maybe true leadership starts with really knowing yourself and having the courage to instead ask the question “am I the best version of myself, and if not, what am I doing about it?”
It’s very common for the words manager and leader to be used interchangeably, however the differences couldn’t be greater. So what is the difference between being a manager and being a leader?
Here are some simple questions to ask yourself:
1A You feel great when you give someone advice.
1B You feel great when you give someone ownership.
2A You believe in developing people by primarily helping them overcome their weaknesses.
2B You believe in developing people by primarily focusing on their strengths.
3A In meetings you like to be one of the biggest contributors.
3B In meetings you say as little as is required to reach an outcome.
4A You make an effort to thank people for their work.
4B You make an effort to appreciate people for their work and who they are.
5A You just feel better when you know where your people are at all times.
5B You just feel better knowing that all of your team take responsibility for delivering.
6A Your focus is to create followers.
6B Your focus is to develop other leaders.
If you scored mostly A’s then you are a manager. This was a major lightbulb moment for many of us on The Marketing Academy program as we realised we weren’t the leaders we thought we were.
The good news however, is that if you choose to become a leader then revisiting the three points earlier is the perfect starting point to making positive changes. If you scored mostly B’s, congratulations you are displaying great leadership tendencies. Keep it up.
Global high performing companies believe that everyone has the potential to be a leaTder. This is a belief shared by The Marketing Academy, that good leaders create followers, while great leaders develop other leaders. Investing more in the personal leadership capability of people results in a new more effective, more engaged type of chief who will go on to develop even more chiefs.
Now the choice is yours. Manager or chief? Incorporate more of a B mindset into your style tomorrow, you might just be surprised at the result.
Sean Hall, general manager of employee experience at Telstra is one of the 30 attendees of The Marketing Academy.