We have all experienced a poor and a great leader. Maybe even at first hand. We have, therefore witnessed the difference. The difference it makes on the individual employee, the team, the customer experience, and the business outcomes. It never ceases to amaze me how big the difference is between poor leaders and great leaders. But if you are a leader, what does it take to change to become a great leader?

In this episode, my guest, Jack Zenger, and I will discuss how you can develop as a leader. Because we can all develop to become better leaders. The good news is that there are clear and specific things you can do. The bad news is that it is not easy. As with all changes. 

Jack Zenger has more than 60 years of experience with leadership development. He is a frequent writer for Harvard Business Review and has written several bestselling books on leadership. He is here to tell us what a good leader is. How to become one. And how to stay one.  

JACK WILL TALK ABOUT:

• That leadership development is just like any other change – same rules apply 
• The importance of immediate application of your new behaviour
• How important feedback is for a leader and to give and get good feedback
• How you can hold yourself accountable for your new leadership behaviour

ARE YOU BUSY? HERE ARE THE KEY POINTS

Here are my key takeaways from the podcast. But there are more goodies in the episode itself, so hopefully, you will listen to it. 

#1: Developing leadership skills is just like any other change

Leadership development is about changing behaviour and, in that sense, developing leadership skills is just like any other change. What works, the pitfalls and good first steps are very similar.

#2: Make it stick by being held accountable

One thing is to get awareness of yourself as a leader. Another is knowing what to change and plan to do it. But what is important is to go out and do it. Do what you set out to do. And that is hard. The answer is accountability. 

You should find ways to hold yourself accountable for your change. Have someone ask if you executed on your new behaviour as you promised. Having to admit out loud that you have not done it will make you more inclined to do it the next day. You are being held accountable.

#3: Get some results quickly. 

Focus on getting results straight away. You shouldn't talk about change happening years from now, not even months from now. You should talk about change happening today. I cannot emphasize the importance of immediate application enough. As Zenger puts it: "If you haven't seen any change in the next six weeks, you will never see any". So, if you want to make a change, you need to do something different tomorrow, and you did not do yesterday.