A Recipe for Success

To be a successful leader, just like in making grandma's gravy, you need all the right ingredients. We delved into this recently at the Treasury Executive Institute where we compared core competencies of leadership to the varied ingredients in a recipe.

In grandma's Sunday gravy, each ingredient complements the others. Each is essential, and the recipe cannot succeed without all of them. Similarly, each leadership skill complements the other and one cannot be a successful leader without the ability to use all of the skills.

Having basic supervisory skills is like using a condiment. It sort of rides over the top, sometimes dominating the flavor. Managerial skills, the ability to manipulate resources, is sort of like jarred tomato sauce. It provides consistency across the whole and smooths out the edges.

But true leadership brings everything together allowing the flavor of each individual to realize their impact and become part of the whole. Just like grandma's gravy - the individuals can shine and contribute their essential elements to something wonderful. 

My workshop focused on the confluence of the competencies from the Executive Core Qualifications, identifying situations and types of employees where those skill sets would make the most impact. We examined a complex case and learned how difficult it was to be successful when you are limited in the skill set you could use, and how all the skills would be needed.

The key to successful leadership, the primary ingredient that serves as the base of all the others -- the tomato in our gravy analogy -- is communication. 

Ultimately, you cannot expect someone to follow you unless you can communicate to them where you want them to go and why you are taking them there.  

Want to learn more? Contact me about how to adopt the leadership recipe workshop for your organization.