Robin Burke & Tiffani McCurtain Leader’s Compass A good leader has a compass in their head and a magnet in their heart. What Direction does your needle point? Robin Burke & Tiffani McCurtain

Leadership is more than being in charge and managing people Leadership is more than being in charge and managing people. Leadership that separates good leaders from great leaders, is leadership that builds other leaders. According to Tom Peters, the greatest leaders are those who don’t look for followers. Think of Martin Luther King Jr, Gandhi or Nelson Mandela, They were trying to create more leaders in order to help many others to find and create their own destinies.

Leadership Compass Goals Give us a vocabulary and a way of thinking about working with each other in our teams. Deepen our appreciation of everyone’s different work styles. Understand the need for a variety of work styles. Reflect on our own individual work styles and identify areas for growth. Understand the negative and positive impacts of each style taken to excess. Learn the qualities we can develop to better become leaders. Pay attention this information will be needed later on.

Leadership Compass Basic Assumptions We will categorize ourselves into the work style that fits us best at work. No one is purely one style, rather everyone typically has portions of all styles. For this discussion we will pick one that fits us best at work. All comments will be directed towards a workstyle, not a person with the qualities of that direction. Pay attention this information will be needed later on.

We’ll give you a couple of minutes to do the Compass Self Assessment.

North (Warrior) Strengths Weaknesses Assertive, active, and decisive. Thinks in terms of bottom line. Likes a variety, novelty, and new projects. Perseveres; not stopped by hearing “No”; probes and presses to get at hidden resistance. May get defensive quickly, argue, and try to “out expert” you. Sees things in black or white, little tolerance for ambiguity. Not heedful of other’s feelings; may be perceived as cold. Has trouble relinquishing control; finds it difficult to delegate responsibilities. These are the leaders that get things done. They are able to make decisions when they need to be made unlike the Wests who are indecisive. Everyone here has worked with a West and they weren’t able to come up with a decision. Norths are the people who like to multitask working on more that one project.. When given a no answer they question to find out why that answer was given. Some phrases that you will hear from a North are do it now, I’ll do it and what’s the bottom line. They also tend to be the know it all. They don’t have a gray area it is all black and white. This tendency can cause friction with the East people who are thinking out side the box in shades of different colors. They don’t appear to take into account others feelings and so they are appear to not care.

East (Visionary) Strengths Weaknesses Likes to see the big picture. Very idea-oriented; focuses on future thought. Adept at problem solving. Likes to experiment and explore. May lose focus on tasks. Poor follow through on projects. Not time bound; may lose track of time. Easily frustrated and overwhelmed when outcomes are not in line with vision.

South (Healer) Strengths Weaknesses Supportive of colleagues and peers. Feelings based; trusts own emotions and intuition as truth. Integrates others input in determining direction of what’s happening. Receptive of other’s ideas; team player. Has trouble saying “No” to requests. May over-compromise to avoid conflict. Internalizes difficulty and assumes blame. Has difficulty consulting, confronting and dealing with anger. South are the people that people that try to make all people happy because they can’t say no and are trying to compromise so that everybody is happy and gets something out of it. When things don’t go right they assume that the fault is theirs and internalizes it. Southies are not good at confronting the other directions and so the other directions will like working with them because they will not fear being approached by a South leader.

West (Teacher) Strengths Weaknesses Uses data analysis and logic to make decisions. Moves carefully and follows procedures and guidelines. Weighs all sides of an issue; balanced. Seen as practical, dependable and thorough. May get bogged down by information. May become stubborn and entrenched in position. May appear cold or withdrawn in respect to other’s working styles. May resist emotional pleas and change.

Medicine Wheel North- Warrior East-Visionary South-Healer West-Teacher The Leadership compass draws from the Native American Indian based practice called the Medicine Wheel. All the directions have profound strengths and potential weaknesses and every person is seen as growing in each direction, according to Leadership Compass: Appreciating Diverse Work Styles. North is the warrior because they are the people that believe in action. Back in our ancestors days they are the ones who acted and protected the others because of their decisiveness. East is the visionaries because they are able to create and see the big picture. South's are healers are in the here and now and are able to support and trust others. West’s are teachers they are thinkins, enjoy keeping traditions and rely heavily on data and logic. They are the ones that are passing down the knowledge that they have.

Results of Compass North South Justify your decisions around values and ethics. Let the person know you like them and appreciate them. Be aware that this person may have a hard time of saying “No”/ Provide plenty of positive reassurance and likeability. Give them positive, public recognition. Establish timelines and stick with them. Let them know they will be involved. Provide them with plenty of autonomy.

Results of Compass East West Listen and be patient during idea generation. Avoid criticizing or judging ideas. All and support divergent thinking. Provide a variety of tasks. Allow plenty of time for decision- making. Appeal to tradition, a sense of history, and correct procedures. Provide data-objective facts and figures. Use logic when possible. The Leadership Compass is a good tool to use to see where our comfort zone is in our leadership style. We need all points of the compass to be a leader.

Leadership Compass According to Everyday Democracy Ideas & Tools for Community Change “Teamwork begins with self-awareness and awareness of other people’s leadership styles.” We can’t be good at everything so we need to bring together people with different styles and talents. How many work with several people in your office. How many of you can do the job of everyone else in your office. The reason that we have a team approach at our jobs is because we can’t do everything and if we can there maybe some one better at it than us. For example I am one of five counselors where I work. I am the only one that teaches adult education which is one class we have to get our clients ready for going back to school or taking the GED. They reason that I have that group is because I also have a teaching background. I am a licensed teacher and am more qualified to teach the class. By being aware of the different styles you as a leader are able to play up to peoples strengths and help them with their weaknesses. I hope that by doing the leadership compass it will help to identify the different styles of leadership and how to work with them.

Purpose of the Leadership Compass The purpose of the Leadership Compass it to enable you to articulate at a higher level why you work they way you do, as well as identify skills and strengths that you would like to enhance. Hopefully it also prompts you to consider the way in which your sty plays out on a team and how each person might become better at changing work styles to balance a team or fit a given work situation.

How to grow as a leader? Write your goals down. Develop your grit. Find your purpose pattern. Always be learning. Complete the TED talk MBA. Start using a career coach. Get International experience. Work with a mentor. Engage in skilled volunteering. Goals- Research has found that if your write down your goals, even if you never look at them again, you have a much higher likelihood of achieving them. Grit- What is it? Grit is the tendency to sustain interest in and effort toward very long term goals. Self-control is the voluntary regulation of behavioral, emotional, and attentional impulses in the presence of momentarily gratifying temptations or diversions. Grit is the best predictor of success. By becoming aware of your “grittiness” and learning how to strengthen it, you will be more likely to succeed in all walks of life Purpose Pattern-”people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Your “purpose” is the foundation of your ability to be effective in your role, and will continue to fuel your growth. Understanding your “why” will help you be more effective in your current and future roles Everybody has skills worth developing. It might be something technical or soft skills like cross-culture communication. Or it may just be more effective use of tools like excel or Microsoft. Similar to your goals, write a lit of your skills, prioritize them and start learning them What is TED talk? Nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas usually in for of short powerful talks that you can assess online. The MBA is a series of 143 videos and links that covers essential theories, skills and concepts taught at leading MBA programs to help you in your personal and professional growth. Career Coach- this can be anybody that you meet with somewhat regularly, at least once a quarter, to talk about your current job, your career path and way to continue growing Its not someone that you have to pay or that has an official title International Experience- I’m not talking about just traveling the world, I mean exposure, volunteer your real skills, go back to school/ get a formal degree or certificate related to international topics., Be well rounded Mentor- a experienced and trusted adviser, in addition to a coach, you should use mentor too. Research proves that mentors can help you be higher performing, but they can help you learn faster from your successes and failures. Skilled volunteering- Nothing accelerates development more than experience, and skills-based volunteering is prove to have transformative benefits.

Thoughts to Ponder What are the strengths of your style? What are the limitations of your style? What style do you find most difficult to work with and why? What do people from the other “directions” or styles need to know about you and so you can work together effectively? What do you value about the other three styles?

Resources Everyday-democracy.org/resources. Leadership Compass: Appreciating Diverse Work Styles. Leadership Compass Building Intentional Communities. How to grow as a leader, HuffPost.com www.nsrfharmony.org

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