Susan Zelinski’s The Zen of Business. The Business of Zen.

5 Foundations of a CLEAR Leadership Style: How to be Transparent

Posted under Leadership, The Zen of Business ☯ May 4th, 2009

Would you like your employees to live the values of your organization and give that ever-elusive discretionary effort to “wow” your customers? Then you’re going to have to be a transparent leader with a CLEAR style.

1. Consciousness

The Zen dictionary defines consciousness as a quality of the mind generally regarded as subjectivity, self-awareness, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and one’s environment.

Transparent leaders are conscious. They know who they are — their strengths and weakness, and their unique, best way of relating to others. To be a transparent leader, tune in – be conscious of – how you are impacting your teams and customers. Know what’s really going on in your organization, who’s making your strategy happen, what needs fixed, and how associates truly feel.

2. Listening

There are moments as a leader when nothing you have to say is as important as listening to what your associates are telling you. Here are a few tips to help you listen effectively:

Relax: Turn off your own thoughts and the need to make your point. You became a leader by speaking your mind, solving problems, and driving for results. Let that go for a moment.

Focus: Focus on the process of listening rather than the outcome. You will become aware of all the messages a person is sending you – non-verbals, tone, words, context and environment.

Desire: Tap into your genuine interest to learn about the other person’s perspective. The auditory process of hearing involves registering the literal meaning of the words a person uses. The emotional process of listening means wanting to know the thoughts, feelings and ideas of others and using all your senses to gather this important information.

Ken Donaldson wrote a great article with more tips on how to be present when listening at Relationship Success Strategies – Zen Listening

3. Emotional intelligence

Transparent leaders are tapped into their emotions and those of others. I’m not talking about falling apart when the Kodak moment commercials air. I’m referring to the ability to recognize how you are feeling in certain situations so you can channel your emotions rather than allow them to influence your reactions, decisions and behaviors in unconscious ways. It’s not okay to allow your feelings to manage you. It is okay to leverage those feelings when intuition is telling you something important. It is okay to connect emotionally with your employees when the right thing to do is recognize their feelings before jumping into the business at hand.

We are emotional beings. Shutting that part of yourself off shuts off a source of important information that can serve you as you lead.

4. Authentic

The people you trust disclose their honest thoughts and share information without pretense. So, as a leader, if you want people to trust you, be authentic. Honor the real you and share that person with others. Associates will be inspired to follow you — not just execute your directives. They’ll give you the extra effort you’re looking for because they believe in you.

O.K. now, I finally get to put my Shakespearian Lit class to good use. We’ve all heard it and it’s the best way I can sum up authenticity: “To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” — William Shakespeare in Hamlet

5. Real

Transparent leaders are willing to admit mistakes so they can address problems. Great leaders don’t sugar coat or ignore the negative. If your goal is to have a team of employees who genuinely want to follow you, acknowledge the reality of each situation, good and bad, yin and yang, so that together you and your team effectively respond to the big picture to make your customers happy and your strategy successful.

Transparency only really builds trust if you’re always transparent; not just when it’s convenient. CLEAR leaders engage the passion of their employees and leverage their commitment to deliver on the values and mission of the organization.

Share your thoughts

• Comments
• Name (required)
• E-mail (will not be published) (required)
• Website
• Notify me of followup comments via e-mail