Diana Gabriel

Certified Professional Coach

  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • COACHING
  • WORKSHOPS
  • BOOKS
  • TOOLS
  • BLOG
  • ARTICLES
  • FAQ
  • CONTACT

Leaders Are Future-Focused

January 23, 2012 by Diana Leave a Comment

What do you think is the single quality that distinguishes and differentiates high-potential leaders from ordinary contributors in an organization?

It’s their ability to be forward-looking and focus on the future. There’s a lot of research on leadership development and this single quality stands out.

What do you need to develop in yourself if you want to be perceived as a high potential C-office candidate? To become a better leader or distinguish yourself as primed for promotion, you’ll want to develop your capacity to envision the future.

In the work that I do as a coach, we spend time working on developing a future-focus. Some people are naturally predisposed with a future-orientation. But even if you’re not, you can still learn to expand this skill.

Focusing on the future sets leaders apart. The capacity to imagine and articulate exciting future possibilities is a defining competency—perhaps the most important one, next to honesty.

In The Leadership Code(Harvard School of Business Press, 2009), Dave Ulrich, Norm Smallwood and Kate Sweetman reviewed leadership theory and distilled leadership competencies into five overarching roles:

  1. Strategist—Leaders shape the future.
  2. Executor—Leaders make things happen.
  3. Talent manager—Leaders engage today’s talent.
  4. Human capital developer—Leaders build the next generation.
  5. Personal proficiency—Leaders invest in their own development.

While leadership has evolved over time, these five areas of focus have remained constant as key functions of effective leaders, across all industries. Leaders must be able to answer the question,“Where are we going?”

We look to our leaders to envision a future,figure out where the organization must go to succeed, evaluate ideas for pragmatism and determine if they fit the company’s core mission. Leaders focus on how people, money, resources and organizational capabilities will work together to move from the present to a desired future.

To become a strategist, your thinking must be future-oriented. You’ll need to become intensely curious about trends, both inside and outside your organization’s field. You’ll need a systematic way of staying informed and tracking changes. This requires you to engage everyone in the organization and collect new ideas from various sources. Invite everyone to participate in creating a better future.

My question to you is what are you doing to develop more forward-looking thinking?

 

 

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: diana gabriel, leadership, sustainable leadership

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Connect with Diana

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Testimonials

Working with Diana was great. She helped me identify my leadership strengths and find ways to use them to maximize my value to the organization as I transitioned into a new role with greater responsibility.
Executive of a NonprofitMissouri
The main benefit of coaching was simply the reworking of my priorities to bring some semblance of balance back into my life as it applied to my family relationships and personal well-being.
Stephen S. TalmageBishop, Grand Canyon Synod

Creating a Framework for Success as a Sustainable Leader in a Socially Connected Environment
Being a sustainable leader isn’t just a ‘touchy-feely’ term. It’s about creating innovation and collaboration within your environment. It’s about accomplishing goals that matter. And yes, it’s even about improving the bottom line of your business.

Because nothing is sustainable if it doesn’t “increase profitability and your competitive advantage.”

Download my Complimentary Workbook: “Creating a Framework for Success as a Sustainable Leader in a Socially Connected Environment.”

Recent Blog Posts

  • 5 Steps to Make Change Stick
  • How Do I Make Change Stick?
  • Making Change Stick
  • Sufficiency, Sustainability and Generosity
  • Failure?

Blog Post Archives

Contact Information

DianaSmLogo Diana Gabriel, PPC
Professional Certified Coach

diana@dianagabriel.com
507.345.7090

Top Posts & Pages

  • The 4 Components of Trust
  • The Ten Commandments to Human Relations
  • 10 Characteristics of Effective Meetings

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets
  • Home
  • About
  • Coaching
  • Workshops
  • Books
  • Tools
  • Blog
  • Articles
  • FAQ
  • Contact
  • Site Map

Copyright © 2019 — Diana Gabriel, PPC • All rights reserved. • Privacy Statement • Legal Notice

  • Home
  • About
  • Coaching
  • Workshops
  • Books
  • Tools
  • Blog
  • Articles
  • FAQ
  • Contact
  • Site Map