The Art Of Showing Up: How To Own Your Leadership Role And The Authority It Brings
Source | www.forbes.com | Christine Comaford
Sue, CMO at a Midwest insurance company, receives a litany of excuses from her VP Marketing when deadlines are missed. And he continues to miss them.
Dan, VP Sales at a Silicon Valley software company, runs ragged tracking the performance of his sales people and cajoling them into using the CRM. He often donates time from his own assistant to do the sales people’s CRM data entry.
Karen, VP Talent at an East coast professional services firm, has frequent challenges with one of the firm’s top consultants. He changes agreements constantly, says he doesn’t remember promises made, and even bullies her and her team.
What do all these leaders have in common?
They’re not owning their role and the power and authority it brings. They’re not standing in their energetic weight. They’re being “inappropriately small” and letting their direct reports become “inappropriately big” by default. Nature abhors a vacuum. If you don’t stand in your energetic weight either someone else will, or if you’re the leader, anarchy will result.
The Art Of Showing Up: Standing In Your Role And Its Weight
Energetic weight is the energy, the power, the authority that comes with a given role. Now the role has it, sure, but does the individual with that role choose to use it? Standing in one’s energetic weight is about standing up for what you believe is right, it’s about doing the right thing, it’s about treating others with respect and also drawing the line when others are not honoring who you are and what your role represents.