6 Questions for Determining Your Leadership Philosophy
I’ve had multiple occasions recently to reflect on my own leadership philosophy. Not only have I been asked about it explicitly, but in several conversations with friends and others, the topic of leadership has come up with both positive and negative examples. This got me examining my leadership style and the principles that make up my overall philosophy.
Reflecting on your philosophy can be a surprisingly useful exercise, because we don’t often examine many of the underlying tenets that govern our actions. But as we do reflect on it, we can begin to uncover not only our own beliefs and principles, but also the principles we value in our own leaders and managers.
So What is a Leadership Philosophy?
When I think of a philosophy in general, it is the set of principles and beliefs that govern our actions and direction. It is made up of many different pieces that are all intertwined, guiding us through various situations.
So a leadership philosophy is made up of the core principles that govern the actions of a leader. Not only what they do, but the vision that they set and the policies they put in place to guide others.
I often see “philosophy” confused for “style”. While style will be influenced by philosophy, they are not the same. Style may be the implementation of philosophy, but it is not equivalent. Additionally, style can be much more determined by situation while the underlying philosophy, though subject to reflection and revision, should not be changing situationally. It should be much more resilient and all-purpose.
Why Determine Your Leadership Philosophy?
Everyone has a philosophy, even if they don’t determine explicitly what it is. All of our thoughts and actions, especially when it comes to leadership, govern our direction. So even without determining or reflecting on a leadership philosophy, you have one. You just may not know exactly what it is or how it drives your decisions.
By taking time to reflect (and write out) your philosophy, you can begin to have a much better understanding of the forces driving your decisions and leadership.
Additionally, you can start to measure where your philosophy and implementation may not be aligned. Are there practices you currently have as a leader that don’t measure up to where you’d like to be? Determining your philosophy and reflecting on it gives you the perfect opportunity to ensure they are aligned. Or what you may need to do if they aren’t aligned.
But what if you aren’t currently in a leadership or management role? For product managers reading this, hopefully you already recognize that even without managerial authority, you are in a critical leadership role. For others, I’d likely argue that you too are in positions of leadership, even if it’s not readily apparent.
Regardless, most of us likely have managers and leaders in some capacity. By understanding our own leadership philosophy, we can better recognize the underlying principles guiding our managers. This is important for working with managers and fulfilling our responsibilities. But it is also critical in determining where we will work best. If your leaders and managers don’t have principles that align with your own, how can you expect to do your best work long-term? Ensuring that we determine our own philosophy and then find leaders who also align with our principles is crucial to our individual success and happiness.
How to Determine a Leadership Philosophy?
As I was thinking about this topic and fleshing out my own philosophy, I asked myself a series of questions that helped me begin to articulate my own philosophy. Here are some of the topics I used to help me determine my philosophy:
- How do I currently lead on my team and in my organization? It’s helpful to take stock of what you currently do in order to understand why you do it.
- How would I like to be perceived as a leader? This helps uncover additional principles that you may find important to your philosophy.
- What gaps are there between what I do and what I would like to do? Are there gaps? If so, why?
- What leaders do I admire and why? Understanding the philosophy of others and why you admire it will help you uncover your own philosophy. This can be famous leaders, or leaders you know personally.
- What leaders do I dislike and why? This can also be famous leaders or leaders within your organization. I often find that the best examples for me are the ones that help me understand what not to do.
- What are my personal principles? Your personal principles should align with your leadership principles and philosophy. This is, of course, your philosophy, so it needs to align with your values.
What is My Leadership Philosophy?
As I’ve had the opportunity to reflect on the principles of leadership that I value, I’ve been able to articulate my overarching philosophy and the underlying principles. I go more in-depth on my own philosophy in my post My Leadership Philosophy & Principles, but I’ll summarize it here as well:
Get the right people working on the right thing in the right way — and get everything else out of their way.
The key underlying principles for my philosophy are:
- Get the right people
- Establish principles and live them
- Set the vision
- Define the framework
- Give continuous feedback and recognition
- Get everything else out of the way
Not only is this the way I try and lead, but it is how I want to be led as well. Understanding that and articulating it are critical as I continue to lead various teams and take on more leadership roles, but also in understanding the kinds of leaders I want to work with.
As you begin to reflect on your own leadership philosophy, you’ll begin to set the stage not only for how you lead others, but the kind of leaders you work with. I’m convinced that if more leaders and managers would reflect on their own philosophy as well, we’d begin to see significant changes across companies and teams. So let’s all begin to be that change by understanding our own philosophies and creating the kinds of teams and organizations that everyone will admire.
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