Many aspiring leaders feel their capabilities aren’t being recognized. There's a simple checklist to make sure that you are seen as the leader you are.
A question I’ve gotten during some of my talks is: “How can I be seen as a leader?” Another variant is, “I’m not seen as a leader in my office, what can I do?”
As leadership experts will tell you, true leadership, sometimes referred to as influential leadership, doesn’t come from a title. The title confers authority, such as authority to sign checks, hire or fire someone, or direct projects. But authority is not the same as leadership. While we hope our authority figures display leadership, and that organizations confer authority to leaders, the two don’t always go together.
Let’s consider a similar question in a different field. “I’m not seen as a serious actor,” laments a performer. What advice would you give this person?
No one will take you seriously if they don’t see you do serious performances. The lack of recognition likely stems from one of three issues. The actor lacks the talent, lacks the execution, or lacks the recognition. Assuming they have the talent, our advice would be, go act in serious performances and make sure people know about it. Pass up the B movie action flick and do an art piece that you hope will bring you critical acclaim.
Returning to leadership, the challenge is the same. The first issue is the lack of talent. Presumably if you’re asking the question, you believe yourself to have the talent. If you’re not sure, ask people you have worked with in the past, or friends or colleagues who know you well and will be honest with you, about their perception of your leadership skills. Take their feedback and address any areas of weakness.
You can ask current coworkers but be careful. It can lead to good insights about exactly how you’re perceived in the leadership category; it could also backfire because if you are not respected as a leader, they may see your asking as showing a lack of self-awareness. Depending on your role and who you’re asking you might also get diplomatic answers that gloss over the issue. Asking current coworkers requires a delicate balancing act that is very specific to your current situation.
Assuming you have the talent, the next question is about your execution. If a great actor, but one unknown to you walks into your office, would you know he’s a great actor just from him standing in your office? You won’t know until you’ve actually seen him perform. If you haven’t had the chance to lead, then people won’t know you as a leader.
Remember, of course, that leadership is not positional, so you don’t have to wait until you have a specific title to demonstrate leadership. As discussed in The Career Toolkit, Essential Skills for Success That No One Taught You and other books and articles on leadership, it’s about influencing others towards a goal. You can do that no matter your current title and position. The opportunities come up often; put some effort into uncovering them if they’re not immediately obvious, or even speak with your manager asking for ways you can help lead some initiative. Make it clear that you’re not asking for a promotion or raise, but an opportunity to gain experience and prove yourself. With practice you’ll find opportunities all around you.
The third issue is one of recognition. As Rick Brandon and Marty Seldman describe in their book Survival of the Savvy (which I highly recommend reading), some people are better at socializing their success while others step back and feel that good work should speak for itself. Look at your accomplishments and think about in what ways you were explicitly recognized for them. It may seem obvious from your perspective because you were there for every minute of it, you know every conversation you had and every ounce of work you did. How much did your co-workers actually see (and just as importantly take note of and remember)? They might have heard about the project you were in charge of or heard the congratulations given to you, but did they actually see you lead? Did they see you champion an idea, marshal resources, bring others into the fold, or perform any other activities that we consider acts of leadership? If they only saw the outcome, even if successful, they might not appreciate how much leadership you demonstrated.
Even if they saw you lead, do they have the whole picture? If you show me a photo of you running a race or crossing a finish line, I may commend you for running the race. What is not obvious from that limited purview is how long or hard the race was. Was it a 5k? 10k? Marathon? Triathlon? Ultramarathon? Was it flat and seventy-threes degrees out or hilly and ninety-four degrees? You were there for every step of the race but from my limited visibility I may not appreciate all the hard work you did. Likewise, you co-workers may not realize how much you did.
It’s important to make sure your success is visible. Of course, you need to do it in a way that’s not boastful and perceived as politicking. As with so many things, an internal network helps, because now you have others who can help spread the word of your efforts.
We all want to be recognized for our leadership. As we are the center of our day, it’s not always easy to know how we’re perceived by others. If you’re not seen as a leader (or an expert, or a good teammate, or most any other quality), consider if it’s an issue of ability, execution, or recognition. Each one can be overcome, but the first step is to understand why followed by a plan of action to address the shortcoming. See this as your next leadership challenge.
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