Part of a series inspired by Peter Drucker, an important mentor of mine
Drucker points out that effective leaders supply four basic requirements of any human organization: communications, teamwork, self development, and development of others.
Communications is basic to leading an organization: think vision-casting, facilitating dialogue, encouraging two-way flow of communication.
Good general communication then leads to good sideways communication: teamwork. Any team is made up of individuals with diverse knowledge and skills.
Self-development depends on the focus on contributions. When a leader asks, “What can I contribute?” They move directly into assessing their strengths, their current skills and knowledge-base, and where they might need to grow. In essence: what self-development do I need in order to make the contribution the organization needs?
The leader who focuses on their own contributions also stimulates the development of others. Others are spurred on by example to develop themselves. That’s true whether the others are colleagues, supervisors, or those being supervised. Growth—of both self and others—becomes an organizational expectation.