The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership

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The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership

• Spring 2004

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The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership

• Model the Way
• Inspire a Shared Vision
• Challenge the Process
• Enable Others to Act
• Encourage the Heart

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Model the Way

• Spending time with others, working side by side
  with colleagues, making values come alive, being
  highly visible during times of uncertainty, and
  asking questions to get people to think about
  priorities and values

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Inspire a Shared Vision

• Know your constituents and speak their language
  have intimate knowledge of their dreams, hopes,
  aspirations, visions, and values forge a unity
  of purpose by showing how the dream for the group
  is for the common good ignite the flame of
  passion in others by expressing enthusiasm for
  the compelling vision of the group.

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Challenge the Process

• Leaders venture out. No one ever claimed to
  achieved something by keeping things the same.
  Leaders are pioneers. They search for
  opportunities to innovate, grow, and improve.
  Leaders know well that innovation and change all
  involve experimentation, risk, and failure. The
  proceed anyway. The key that unlocks the door to
  opportunity is learning. Leaders are learners.
  They learn from their failures and their
  successes.

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Enable Others to Act

• Leaders make it possible for others to do good
  work. They know that those who are expected to
  produce results must feel a sense of personal
  power and ownership. Constituents neither perform
  at their best nor stick around for very long if
  their leader makes them feel weak, dependent, or
  alienated. But when a leader makes people feel
  strong and capable as if they can do more than
  they ever thought possible they give it their
  all and exceed their own expectations. When
  leadership is a relationship founded on trust and
  confidence, people take risks, make changes, keep
  organizations and movements alive.

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Encourage the Heart

• People become exhausted, frustrated,
  disenchanted. Theyre often tempted to give up.
  Leaders encourage the heart of their constituents
  to carry on. Its part of the leaders job to
  show appreciation for peoples contributions and
  to create a culture of celebration. Recognition
  and celebrations arent about fun and games,
  though there is a lot of fun and there are a lot
  of games when people encourage the hearts of
  their constituents. Neither are they about
  pretentious ceremonies designed to create some
  phony sense of camaraderie. Leaders know that
  celebrations and rituals, when done with
  authenticity and from the heart, build a strong
  sense of collective identity and community spirit
  that can carry a group through extraordinarily
  tough times.

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The Ten Commitments of Leadership

• Find your voice by clarifying your personal
  values
• Set the example by aligning actions with shared
  values
• Envision the future by imagining exciting and
  ennobling possibilities
• Enlist others in a common vision by appealing to
  shared aspirations
• Search for opportunities by seeking innovative
  ways to change, grow, and improve
• Experiment and take risks by constantly
  generating small wins and learning from mistakes
• Foster collaboration by promoting cooperative
  goals and building trust
• Strengthen others by sharing power and
  discretion
• Recognize contributions by showing appreciation
  for individual excellence
• Celebrate the values and victories by creating a
  spirit of community

• Model the Way
• Inspire a Shared Vision
• Challenge the Process
• Enable Others to Act
• Encourage the Heart

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80 Action Points

• Find your voice (8 action points)
• Set the example (8 action points)
• Envision the future (8 action points)
• Enlist others in a common vision (8 action
  points)
• Search for opportunities (8 action points)
• Experiment and take risks (8 action points)
• Foster collaboration (8 action points)
• Strengthen others (8 action points)
• Recognize contributions (8 action points)
• Celebrate the values and victories (8 action
  points)

• Model the Way
• Inspire a Shared Vision
• Challenge the Process
• Enable Others to Act
• Encourage the Heart

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9. RECOGNIZE CONTRIBUTIONS BY SHOWING
APPRECIATION FOR INDIVIDUAL EXCELLENCE

• Be creative about rewards
• Make recognition public
• Provide feedback en route
• Be a Pygmalion

• Foster positive expectations
• Make the recognition presentation meaningful
• Find people who are doing things right
• Dont be stingy about saying thank you

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10. CELEBRATE THE VALUES AND VICTORIES BY
CREATING A SPIRIT OF COMMUNITY

• Schedule celebrations
• Install a public Bragging Board
• Create a commemorative award honoring exemplary
  actions
• Demonstrate caring by walking around

• Show passion and compassion
• Be a cheerleader your way
• Have fun
• Set the example plan a celebration right now