Carll Wilkinson Carll Wilkinson is the President and CEO of Smith & Wilkinson, a talent advisory firm that specializes in Executive Search, Executive Coaching, Group Leadership Development, and CEO Succession services. I think it is useful to think of leadership behaviors as falling into four modalities: Managing, Leading, Coaching, and Mentoring. Managing is primarily focused on creating clarity. It is specific, concerned with goals, planning, organizing, training, execution, and accountability. Leading is primarily focused on creating feelings, and is a unique expression of the leader’s character, values, and integrity. Coaching is primarily focused on creating new perspectives. It is simultaneously supportive and challenging. Mentoring is primarily focused on transferring knowledge. It is unstructured, informal, personal, and relationship based. The lines between these concepts are blurry and permeable, and it isn’t important that everyone agrees on exact definitions or on which behaviors go in which modality. The key here is to use the mental model to prompt conscious and intentional leadership decisions and behaviors. Some of these skills and behaviors are relatively straightforward, others significantly more involved. There isn’t a right way and a wrong way to lead, but there are definitely more or less effective and productive approaches. As in all areas of life, mistakes and missteps are our greatest teachers, and sound judgment and wisdom are the accumulation of countless data points running through the algorithm that is our intuition. As you are preparing for a leadership conversation, run through the model with these questions: ɨ Do I need to create clarity? Are there specific tasks or objectives that haven’t been adequately defined? Do I need to provide course corrective feedback? If so, I’ll be working primarily within the Managing quadrant. ɨ Do I need to motivate this person in a new way? Do I need to transfer some of my passion and enthusiasm to them? Do I need to lend some of my strength and conviction to them? Would it be more effective to appreciate them, or to create a sense of urgency? All of these approaches fall primarily in the Leading quadrant. ɨ Am I trying to help a trusted colleague reassess an assumption or habit? Is this person conscientious and motivated, but stuck in a thinking rut? With the right series of thoughtful questions, can I encourage them to think differently? This approach would live primarily in the Coaching quadrant. ɨ And lastly, is there someone at my organization that just needs some advice? Have I held that role previously, already made mistakes I can see coming, or been through similar challenges where I wished someone had taken me aside to chat? If so, I’ll be working in a Mentoring quadrant. In conclusion, growing and improving as a leader is a lifelong endeavor, challenging but richly rewarding. Leadership is an adaptive skill, not a prescriptive skill, and there is no one way to lead, just more or less situationally effective approaches based on the people and circumstances. Make this model your own, slice and dice the concepts as you see fit, and happy trails as you continue your own leadership journey. MANAGING » Planning » Goal setting » Directing specific activities » Training of processes and procedures » Organizing and running a meeting » Providing accountability » Giving performance feedback COACHING » Active listening » Asking insightful questions » Creating powerful distinctions » Identifying limiting beliefs » Seeing hidden potential » Offering new perspectives » Challenging assumptions MENTORING » Transferring knowledge » Providing advice » Leveraging expertise » Sharing personal experiences » Modeling behavior LEADING » Inspiring and motivating » Creating strong feelings » Showing appreciation » Exhibiting courage » Showing integrity » Decision-making » Conflict resolution 11 feature
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