Where Leadership Starts: Circle of Impact
A series of reflections on Chapter Four of the Circle of Impact: Taking Personal Initiative To Ignite Change.
The following is a selection with a comment from chapter four, Leadership in Transition, from my book, Circle of Impact: Taking Personal Initiative To Ignite Change.
Where Leadership Starts
All leadership begins with personal initiative. It is an act of personal choice. We choose to do something. We choose not to do it. The choice leads to a change. Not just any change, but one that is intentional and purposeful.
Leadership is open to anyone. It does not discriminate. All that is required is a person taking initiative to make a difference. This is the sole basis of what it means to be a leader from the perspective of the Circle of Impact. All leadership begins with personal initiative to create impact that makes a difference that matters. This is all that it takes to lead.
The former way of understanding leadership is complex. As a follower, we operate with a limited understanding of the leader’s intentions and organizational context. We were removed from an immediate and intimate relationship to the leader. Fear, doubt, and a lack of trust are normal aspects of relating to leaders in this way that is now in transition.
Circle of Impact Leadership is rather simple. Too simple? I don’t think so. It is also practical. Too practical? How can that be? Just decide what is important then act to make a difference that matters.
Imagine however you spend each day. In your mind, walk through a typical day, from the moment of waking up through work, time with family and friends, then into the evening and rest. Can you see how each moment you are presented with opportunities filled with purposeful acts of impact? The moment you see the solution to a client’s dilemma, you make the call. Unexpected, yet deeply appreciated, you make a difference for them. The moment in conversation with your assistant you say, “Tell me which way will make it easier for you to get this done.” The look on his face tells you that you have relieved him of the fear of the project not being on time and over budget. The moment you decide to turn team meetings over to the team to design and carry out you see what you didn’t before, that the meetings are not about you, but them. Can you see the difference that your life can have? Imagine every day like this. More importantly, can you imagine your team and your family operating with this mindset?
Really, Anyone Can Be a Leader
Taking leadership initiative doesn’t mean that everyone becomes a CEO. Rather, it means that everyone becomes a high-level contributor of impact. Leadership is not the role or the title, but how we function within the context of our lives. It is not limited to work. It involves every aspect of our lives.
I first saw this principle at work at the college where I served. I was the college’s chaplain and director of leadership programs. Along with the other offices on campus that served students outside the classroom, we were always trying to understand what was happening with students. One semester, we conducted a survey to discover which members of the staff had the most one-to-one contact with students. No, it wasn’t faculty, nor the athletic coaches. It was not even the student affairs staff. It was the housekeeping staff in the residence halls. These almost-invisible members of the college community had daily interaction with students. They were in a unique position to see the ups-and-downs of students’ lives. As a result, we invited them to join our team. We met regularly with them to talk about what they saw, and how they could support the students.
When I ask people if they are leaders, and they reject the idea, I then ask them about the things that they do that make a difference in the lives of people and their communities. They tell me stories of the places they serve, the people that they help, and the contributions that they are making in their communities. They may not want to be the boss or desire to have the responsibilities of a CEO but they are functioning as leaders nonetheless. They are making decisions to act to make a difference that matters.
They lead in all kinds of ways. They serve on community boards. They help build Habitat for Humanity homes for low-income families. They coach youth sports teams. They deliver meals to home-bound seniors. They write music, sing in choirs, and perform in community theater. They are painters, jewelry designers, and writers of poetry. They run for public office. They mentor underprivileged children in reading and math. For many their genuine contribution as leaders happens outside of their job. They, too, are invisible, except to those whose lives are changed by their acts of leadership initiative.
Many people are contributing leadership at work. They serve on company task forces, help coworkers meet deadlines, and offer words of encouragement to clerical staff. They solve problems, collaborate across departmental boundaries. They take continuing education courses to improve their knowledge and skills. They innovate ways of improving processes that are no longer as effective. They listen and support coworkers who are struggling with problems at home. They share ideas to help others. They contribute as high-performing team members. Leadership is happening. It is just not happening as a function of the role, but rather as an expression of the character of the person.
Each one of those activities begins with a decision by the individual to do something rather than nothing. They step into action because they want to make a difference right here, right now. Leadership is an active expression of a person’s values. We know who they are by what they do. They are leaders because they show us what matters to them by their actions. Passivity is not a leadership quality. Action is. Leaders lead through their actions, even when the action is not to take action. As leaders, we need to connect to w_h_y_ _taking this action is important to us personally.
The Why of Personal Initiative
A person who takes initiative is doing it for a reason. Genuine leadership is personal. It rises from within us. It is motivated by our desire for personal meaning, for happy, healthy relationships and for making a difference that matters. The initiative could be a small act of kindness like holding a door open for someone whose arms are filled with packages. Or it could be something large, like the formation of a health organization to eradicate a tropical disease in a developing country. The measure of leadership is defined by the impact that comes from our purpose for making a difference.
In acts of personal initiative, we see individual statements of purpose expressed. We better understand people by observing how they act. When their words align with their actions, then we have a more complete picture of who this person is. Acts of purpose reveal to us the values that define the person.
When Margaret, the office receptionist, brings fresh flowers every week for the reception area, she does so because she believes that it matters. To her if one person a day goes over and smells the flowers, she knows she has made their day a bit brighter. It is a small act that makes a difference. In the world of business, every day is filled with small acts that are intended to make a difference. This is how leadership is born out of personal initiative.
The action may be so representative of the attitude and behavior of the person that no one thinks of it as an act of leadership. They say, “That is Margaret being Margaret.” If Margaret retires or misses work for a few weeks because of illness, her absence is noticed because the flowers that she brings each week are not there. These small acts of leadership are often taken for granted. We, therefore, need to take the personal initiative to recognize these moments of impact with gratitude.
Leadership is a personal expression of our values and purpose. It is also a social one. Margaret acts out of her desire to bring beauty to the office each week. She does this as a personal expression of her desire to make a difference. While the act is worthy of our thanks, the measure of impact is a question of change.
Margaret’s act of bringing beauty into the office touches the lives of guests to the office. However, her act would be more easily seen as an act of leadership if other people began to do things to change the atmosphere of the office. The measure of leadership is not the act itself, but the impact that is created. Margaret’s act is what I call a “start small, grow big”one. It is a small act to bring flowers each week. It makes a small difference. But it is not a sustainable one if her act of initiative has not become a socially shared one. If Margaret’s purpose is just personal, then her act of impact upon the office may well fade once she is no longer employed there. If, however, the other staff’s response to Margaret’s weekly gift of kindness to the office is to begin to look for other ways to improve the office’s environment, then her small act of leadership has provided the motivation for others to join her in leadership. Margaret’s example to the staff is her freedom to make a difference. As a result, the office staff begins to take initiative to improve how they work together and how clients find the office a comfortable place to conduct business. In this, Margaret has inspired leadership initiative.
Leadership is both personal and social. The measure of leadership is not the act itself, but the impact that comes from the act. Circle of Impact Leadership is more than personal. It is social because it is through the social that sustainable impact is found. Without the social, the personal can be self-serving. Without the personal, the social can miss the larger opportunity to create a change that matters.
Human Agency
Since originally writing the above in 2017, I have come to have a greater appreciation for human agency. This is the capacity of any individual to make a decision to initiate some action that makes a difference. This is not a cultural value or a philosophical construct. It is the way we function in the world.
When you decided to do something, to take some action, to take initiative of any sort, you are exercising your human agency. It is the actions we take that truly define us.
You can probably see how not taking action, especially when the thought has crossed your mind, is also a way of defining who we are. Not to draw a too fine a line between acting and not acting, but the point is not the action, but the impact of the action.
For example, I have known people who were described to me as “never having an unexpressed thought.” What does that assessment (?) or judgment (?) say about the impact that person has had?
While “all leadership begins with personal initiative”, the measurement of that leadership is not the initiative but rather “the change that makes a difference that matters.” It begins with the initiative of an idea, acted upon, and then realized as impact.
This is where leadership starts and ends.