Five Signs You’re a Magnetic Leader

Are you a “magnetic leader,” the kind that draws others to you?

If not, are there behaviors and skills that you can work on that would enable you to be more magnetic whilst driving results?

Those questions were recently put to 24 high-ranking corporate leaders that I had the sincere pleasure of spending two days with at the Profitability Business Simulations “Magnetic Leadership” Program that I wrote about in this post just prior to attending the event several weeks ago at Wrigley Field.

I have to admit that going into the program I wasn’t convinced that a leadership simulation would truly enable others to get a real feel for someone’s leadership style, approach, strengths and weaknesses.  Yet, it did.  It absolutely did.

The Simulation

The 24 leaders were divided into teams of 8 and assigned a CEO and COO for each of four different simulation rounds.

I had the pleasure of playing the “customer” during each simulation round, which involved a one-hour strategy and planning session led by the CEO and COO, followed by a 10-minute, high-stress implementation period where product was produced and delivered to the customer.

As the customer, I had the opportunity to directly experience the impact of the strategic choices and direction set by the CEO, as well as the impact of resource allocations made by the COO.  Said differently, sometimes the product got to me on time and met my needs, and sometimes it didn’t.

The Leaders’ Experience

How did I know that the person’s true strengths and weaknesses were coming to the surface?

Following each simulation round I would lead my team in a coaching session that enabled the leaders to get immediate feedback on the direct impact their leadership approach – and decisions – had on the results of the task, as well as on their ability to magnetically lead their team members.

In so many cases they were saying, “This is the feedback I’ve been getting at work as well, but now I understand what it really means.”  It was as if reality was hitting them over the head and they were all having light bulb-popping “a-ha” moments!

You see, the beauty of the simulation was the ability to immediately see, feel and understand the direct impact of their leadership decisions and their personal style and approach on the business results (whether they made any money and whether they met my “somewhat fickle but so true to life” customer needs) and on their team members.  In some simulation rounds the teams felt inspired by their leaders; in some they felt completely ignored.

Five Magnetic Leadership Traits

There were five traits that stood out over the course of the two days that were clearly present in those leaders who were most successful at not only driving results in the task phase, but of truly motivating and leading their teams.

1. Calm and uplifting demeanor and tone

This was hands-down the biggest surprise for me.  I never expected this to stand out so dramatically, but it absolutely did.  Those CEOs and COOs who had a calm and uplifting demeanor throughout the process – and a tone of voice that went along with this demeanor – were most successful by far.  I can’t stress this enough!

During the implementation phase of the simulation there are many team members that are “heads down” making product and who barely even look up during the course of the 10 minutes.  For them, it was the tone of voice that they heard from their leaders that made all the difference to them during the stress of those 10 minutes.

Think of what this means for you as a leader when you consider all channels of communication you use.  What tone are you sending out verbally, through your body language and in written form as a leader?  Is your demeanor one of assuredness that draws people to you, or is your stress level serving as a repellant of sorts?

2. Trust – and awareness of this trust – between the leader and team

Throughout the simulation those leaders who performed best heard from their teams during the coaching sessions, “I knew you were there, I felt your presence and I knew you’d help me if I needed it.”  Not only were these leaders willing to be there for their teams – they were present with them throughout the entire process and there was full awareness that they were present and ready to help.

At the same time – and this turned out to be critical – they only “jumped in” where requested.  They trusted their team members to do their jobs to the best of their ability, and the team members valued this trust.  Those who “jumped in” without being asked made their teams feel like they were not fully entrusted to produce and achieve results.  Again, critical insight.

3. Encouragement

Leaders who did the best job of motivating their teams during the 10-minute action phase were very encouraging.  Team members with their heads down heard comments like, “You’re doing a great job, we’re on target, three products made and only one to go…”

Whereas some leaders might think of this as “leadership fluff” the reality was it made a great deal of difference to the teams and to their level of focus.

4. Proper alignment of resources with vision and strategy

Those leaders who “messed up” did so from the get-go when they did not align their resources with their vision and strategy.  For example, leaders had a choice of following a customer service strategy, low cost strategy, quality strategy, innovation strategy, etc… with each strategy having different customer requirements and different profit potential.

One team that chose the customer service strategy – basically focused on meeting my customer needs for new products and fixing my “broken” products, simply didn’t assign enough people to building and maintaining product, and they did not spend enough time determining what my real customer needs and priorities were.

SIDE NOTE: In one simulation the “salesperson” asked my needs and I wrote them down very clearly.  Unfortunately, that piece of paper never made its way to all of the other team members. My needs were not properly communicated by the leadership to the full team.  Of course, they didn’t succeed at the task.

Once you have set a strategy, you absolutely must ensure that your resources – people, time, dollars, energy, focus – align with that strategy.

5. Communication of the vision and strategy

This is where the rubber meets the road – where it all comes together.  You’ve got a brilliant vision and strategies aligned with it.  You’ve properly allocated your resources to ensure that you can bring the vision to life.

Now, you have to clearly communicate your vision and strategy to your team.  Successful simulation leaders (and real life leaders) understand just how critical this is. Communication of your vision and strategy must reach all levels of your organization so that every employee understands the role they play in achieving that vision, and so that they may align their efforts with the strategies you’ve laid out.

In the simulation, those who did best communicated their vision and strategy from the outset, and reiterated it throughout the process.

Just prior to the 10-minute, high-stress task phase they regrouped with their teams, reminded them of the strategy they were pursuing, the role each of them would play and what they were to focus on for the next 10 minutes.  It made a tremendous difference.

A final word on “vision”

At the end of the two days the 24 leaders were asked to write down the key attributes that characterize a magnetic leader.  Without any prompting from me the overwhelming winner was “vision.” Yes, I was smiling from ear to ear.

What are your thoughts on my observations? Do they resonate with your own experiences? Please share in the comments; I’d love to hear from you!

~

If you enjoyed this post please consider sharing it with others using the share links below.  I would also be honored if you would subscribe to my blog. Subscribe Here to receive posts in your email in-box. To receive posts via “READER” Subscribe Here.

Thank you for reading and for being part of this community – it means so much to me.

You can find me on Twitter at @LisaPetrilli and on LinkedIn. To hire me for Visionary Leadership programs, Marketing Consulting or for the Social Media Concierge program, email me at Lisa@CLevelStrategies.com.

Photo is Mount Rushmore by Sebastian Bergmann.