Manila, 21 August 2019 — Are your leadership goals, habits, and behaviors above the line?

Cutting through Complexity

Where is your leadership: above or below the line?

If it’s below the line, what will you do to bring it above the line?

These two questions demonstrate the power of reducing the complexity of your life and work as a leader to a simple matter of location: is it above the line or below the line.

In my personal and work experience, this helps when you engage in self-reflection or coaching, especially when you link it to a time frame for action, such as this year.

Let’s see if we can apply the above-the-line question to key result areas in the three worlds you inhabit: your observed world, your personal world, and your social world.

Observed World: Leadership as a Bigger Game

Leaders choose to play a bigger game in their life, in terms of goals, results, and impact. From that perspective, is your present ‘game’ above-the-line that you set for yourself?

Leaders engage in (un)learning and agility to work in a world where the speed of change is unprecedented in history. Is your adaptability above-the-line that you set for yourself?

Leaders are increasingly called to work on the world’s pressing sustainability problems. Is your contribution to solving these problems above-the-line that you set for yourself?

Personal World: Leadership as an Inside Job

Leaders regularly question and realign the values they live and lead by. Are your values still above-the-line that you set for yourself in the bigger game you want to play?

Leaders build strong habits as a foundation for consistent practice to influence change. Are your habits above-the-line to support your adaptability to solve today’s problems?

Leaders stretch their confidence and overcome their fears by taking on challenges. Is your courage above-the-line to engage in new and challenging assignments with curiosity?

Social World: Leadership as Contact Sport

Leaders practice effective behaviors at work. Is your effort to learn and practice effective leadership behaviors above-the-line to support the goals and values you set for yourself?

Leaders support high-performing teamwork to achieve significant results. Is your team-building above-the-line to achieve the changes you want to influence in your workplace?

Leaders commit to actions and results and seek feedback to improve their performance. Is your feedback process above-the-line to hold yourself accountable for great results?

Work Ahead

These are questions I use for self-reflection and to help the leaders I coach to play a bigger game, align their inside job, and practice effective behaviors as a contact sport.

If you want to get your leadership above-the-line and like to do that by working together with a group of like-minded leaders, check out our community of leaders.