What makes versatile leadership essential? When I took over my first team at the age of 26, consisting of 25 individuals, including a sub-team manager, my intuition told me that I had to lead in a versatile manner, like a “chameleon,” because otherwise, I’d lose, return to where I was, or simply live in constant frustration! I changed my attitude by 180%. It was a challenge because within the banking structures, I grew from the very bottom, as a specialist, mainly working operationally, focused on my results, while considering organizational priorities. After a month in a managerial role, I knew that the role of a specialist had ended unless someone better came along.
Adaptation and Focus: Keys to Versatile Leadership
What did I do? I focused 100% of my attention on people. I learned to decisively communicate my expectations, set goals, but also inform them about how and when these would be evaluated. It’s a leadership element I pushed forward. I acknowledged that my employees were as good as, if not better than me, so I encouraged their independence, delegated responsibility for challenging tasks, asked, listened, had coffee with them, and celebrated successes together. It’s an activating leadership element. I had to focus on the here and now, on quarterly goals and monitoring results. It’s an element of operational leadership. However, looking at the team’s performance, I had to constantly seek new actions and initiatives for the next quarters. It’s an element of strategic leadership.
Reflective Growth and Success
I also understood that I needed to focus on myself to derive any satisfaction from this work at all. Looking back, I can say that the actions I took align with the versatile model of B. Kaplan and R. Kaiser, where the aim is to adapt each of these styles to a specific situation. Moreover, this approach helped me consistently stay at the top of the region, among other TOP mid-level managers. Furthermore, based on this model, I successfully run my own company!
Challenges and the Need for Versatile Leadership
Clients from the Versatile Leader program say – if you don’t have the skills to switch between these styles, you must learn it! During exercises, they see a plethora of problems related to NOT operating in this way, such as:
- either doing things for people due to various reasons,
- or not having time to ask, so it has to be done our way,
- or only thinking about current actions,
- or diverging in priorities because so many new things inspire us.
Conclusion: The Call for Versatile Leadership Development
What makes versatile leadership essential? EVERY manager learns Versatility in the management development program – the Versatile Leader. Perhaps you or your managers need to become one? Or maybe you’re planning training and workshops in 2023? The Versatile Leader is an #EmpatheticWarrior who shows strength in achieving results while caring for relationships. They can think globally and take care of operational actions, all without forgetting themselves!
She is an expert in communication with managerial experience in large corporations such as ING Bank and PKO BP. She has years of experience in team management, training, and sales - as an experienced team manager, bank branch director, PCC-level ICF coach, and owner of Manufaktura Lidera. Together with the team, they help the management and managerial staff to build effective communication within the company and develop efficient teams. Everything they teach, they have practiced or are currently practicing.
