HOW TO BECOME A COLLABORATIVE LEADER

If you are a “lone wolf” or “lone ranger,” are you a real leader? What leader is a leader if he or she doesn’t gather people around him or herself and empower them to feel that they are a part of something bigger and better than all of them? This highlights a fundamental fact: You can’t be a true leader unless you are collaborative in your style. Anyone who thinks and calls him or herself a leader but does not share, coordinate, cooperate, and create a sense of a team is self-deceived. They are only a leader in their mind, not in reality.

But how? How do you develop into a collaborative leader? What’s involved in developing the skills of collaboration?

1) Set the vision of collaborating and being a collaborative leader.

Since vision is what drives big outcomes, start with a vision. What is yours? How robust is your vision? How exciting? If you are more excited about doing things to gain the glory, the recognition, the praise, etc., then it will be very hard to create a compelling vision of collaboration.