02.09.23 - Edinger's Insights: Assertiveness as a Magnifier of Your Leadership Strengths

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February 2023

Individual Leadership: Assertiveness as a Magnifier of Your Leadership Strengths

Assertiveness may be your most useful skill as a magnifier of your leadership strengths. We positively recognize assertiveness when leaders are proactive and driving for results. But it also gets a bad rap when it engenders negative behaviors, like being pushy and annoying. That’s not really assertiveness. That’s being pushy. Or annoying. But as a complementary leadership skill, assertiveness can be a non-obvious way to amplify many leadership characteristics:

Integrity – assertiveness enables leaders to speak up when something conflicts with values
Communication – assertiveness adds power and conviction to messages
Collaboration and Inclusion – assertiveness makes room for dissenting opinions and different views
Leading Change – assertiveness supports pushing back, and dealing with pushback

For more on developing the skill of asserting yourself, here’s an article I wrote for Harvard Business Review.

Organizational Leadership: Metric Mania

The adage known as Goodhart’s Law says, "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” Every business has a handful of metrics that determine the success and health of an organization. But I’ve noticed an increase in performance measures for individuals and teams that become an end unto themselves. Too often the metrics become a substitute for strategy, instead of milestones that help to make course corrections, allocate resources, and support decision making. This is especially true when the metrics are used to evaluate employees or determine promotions and compensation. Instead, use metrics to help guide your team and advance your most important goals. But don’t allow them to overtake your focus.

Leadership in the World: The State of Customer "Service"

James Joyce wrote “that many a true word hath been spoke in jest.” So, when I saw this recent Saturday Night Live sketch roasting the Southwest Airlines holiday debacle, I laughed. But I also recognized the broader truth regarding the service many companies provide. The sketch hits Southwest hard, but the issues surfaced are true in many companies:

Poor systems and infrastructure
Shifting burdens to the customer under the guise of “self-service”
Poor staffing and staff development
Abdicating responsibility for quality or effectiveness after the customer has paid

If your business relies on serving customers, especially in the B2C arena, take note: it’s only so long that you’ll be tolerated. This is not about customer service. These are leadership issues about decision making, strategic perspective, and the future value of your business. And outdated systems, byzantine processes, and poor performing staff are leadership choices.

Perspective: Feeling Less Busy

The start of a new year always feels busy, and this year was no exception. The usual volume of work coupled with finishing a new book (more on that soon), has left me feeling that there is just too much on my plate. We can only increase our productivity somewhat with time management, meditation, rest, or time off. Sometimes the answer is that you must do less. What can you delegate? What can be deferred? And most important of all – what can you decide you aren’t going to do? In evaluating all three strategies, I’ve found in nearly every instance that the “less is more” principle is a winner.

Upcoming LinkedIn Live: How To Increase Employee Engagement During a Downturn

Join me on Tuesday, February 21, at 10 am Eastern to discuss how to increase employee engagement during a downturn.