During the next several months we will discuss nine leadership competencies that will greatly affect your ability to function as a business owner, manager, or supervisor.  In this issue will we consider two of these competencies: passion and humor.

In recent years there has been a global interest in competencies, especially leadership competencies.  Generally the emphasis is on choosing competencies that will create wealth for an organization or business.

In the world of employment, some definitions of “competencies” relate to work, such as tasks, results, and outputs.  Others define competencies as the characteristics of the people doing the work, such as knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, orientations, and commitments.  A combination of those two definitions has been called an attribute bundle, that is, a collection of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Most people in the leadership field are familiar with such competencies as problem solving, financial analysis, and marketing savvy.

Altogether there are 67 core leadership competencies identified by Michael M. Lombardo and Robert W. Eichinger in the Career Architect ® Model.  Of these, nine qualities have been singled out as the capstone of the Leadership Model.  This capstone is supported by two leadership pillars: (1) management skills, and (2) financial acumen.  These three components—leadership competencies, management skills, and financial acumen—are the framework for managers and supervisors to act in their “leadership moments.”

Good leaders must have management skills and an understanding of financial management.  Upon these they can add leadership qualities.  These nine leadership competencies build on traditional management skills of strategic planning, problem solving, decision-making, delegating, and so forth.

Now is a good time to begin developing your own understanding of the nine leadership competencies.

The first competency is passion.  Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines “passion” as “emotion; the emotions as distinguished from reason; intense, driving, or overmastering feeling of conviction.” 

A passion to succeed, and even a passion not to fail, will provide a company with a phenomenal competitive advantage.  To determine your passion for leadership, score yourself from one to ten—one being a low level of passion and ten a high level of passion.  What score did you give yourself? 

One way to bring out your natural leadership abilities is by getting involved in activities you really enjoy.  These will energize you, and others in your organization will be able to tell that you have a sense of purpose.

The Second Leadership Competency

The second leadership competency is humor.  There are many benefits of humor.  Humor helps to relieve daily pressures and instill a feeling of camaraderie. It makes us more human, more approachable.  The words human and humor even sound similarly.  Humor is derived from the root word humor or umor meaning moisture or fluid—the opposite of dryness.  Humor keeps life fluid or moist.

Humor means something different to different people.  To some, humor is a good stand-up comedian, to others a slapstick comic; to others, the subtle use of words, such as puns.

A comedic voice impression will set some off in uncontrolled laughter, while a tone of voice or foreign dialect can evoke frenetic laughter in others.  Some find humor cracking jokes, poking fun at themselves, or using dry or wry humor.  Others will tell funny stories to elicit chuckles.  Humor requires taking risks, taking chances that people will find them funny.  If they don’t find them funny, well, that’s not very funny, is it?

There are four ways to use humor in your business: (1) to reduce stress and burnout, (2) to release tension, (3) to reduce illness, and (4) to help others view a situation from a different perspective.

Many humans tend to become less inclined toward humor as they get older.  They get “professionally serious,” so to speak. Yet, they will watch a funny movie or stage production where a comedian gets paid to do what they have forgotten how to do—be funny.

Some CEOs of companies will wear humorous articles of clothing, such as neckties with figures of cartoon characters just to let people know they are approachable.  That’s their way of using humor.

It’s good advice to practice humor in your daily life.  Studies show that those who do usually live longer. 

On a scale of one to ten, how would you grade your level of humor—one being low and ten being high?  Now think of ways you will use humor in your leadership role.  Write out at least five ways and begin using them this week.

As you develop the qualities of passion and humor in your work and daily life, you will be cultivating leadership competencies that will help you perform your organizational role at a much higher level of effectiveness. 

We will discuss the other seven leadership competencies in future issues of this newsletter.
 

Article by Forrest L. Farmer
Clean-Pro Industries, Inc.