Leadership skills of a successful Entrepreneur!
20 January 2016 - Brenda Ochola

#ImpactHubScaling
funda

Written by Funda Sezgi, Program Manager- Impact Hub Stockholm

Gregg Vanourek is an interdisciplinary thought leader, speaker, author, and change-maker. A longtime champion of value-based leadership and personal development, Gregg has been a leader in dynamic startups and other ventures. He conducts learning and development programs and speaking engagements worldwide. He is the co-author of three influential books: Triple Crown Leadership (an International Book Awards winner, and a book that has been called “the best leadership book since Good to Great”), Life Entrepreneurs, and Charter Schools in Action.

On 18th January 2016, Gregg delivered a workshop on ‘ Entrepreneurial Leadership”, where he shared with participants of the Impact Hub Scaling and BENISI programmes, some of his insights on the kind of leadership it takes to build an innovative and impactful social venture that achieves exceptional results, operates with integrity, and stands the test of time.

Here are some tips from the workshop:

“An Entrepreneur is the one who undertakes” is the first known definition of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneur is a doer. What does being an entrepreneurial leader mean? Can one afford to be an entrepreneur and not a good leader?

Startup context: Extreme conditions in terms of time pressure, resource constraints, uncertainty and chaos. Being an entrepreneurial leader is even more of a challenge in this context. Leadership is a quest. You are going on a journey with your venture.

Triple crown leadership:

EXCELLENCE: What does it take to build an excellent organisation?: Think about your results & impact across different stakeholders.

ETHICAL: How do you get the results? We take this for granted, but we should do the right thing even when it is costly and difficult. Integrity is one of the most important characteristics.

ENDURANCE: Standing the course of time and being operationally sustainable. All the incentives always run to the short term. The entrepreneurial leader himself is responsible for ensuring that long-term goals are followed.

The participants then completed a self-assessment to evaluate how ‘leadership derailers’ affect their work.

After a discussion on what prevents us from being effective entrepreneurial leaders, the participants of the workshop discussed the five common dysfunctions of a team and how a leader can deal with them:

5. Inattention to results (ends here) >> focus on collective outcomes

4. Avoidance of accountability >> confront difficult issues

3. Lack of commitment >> force clarify and closure

2. Fear of conflict >> mine for conflict

1. Absence of trust (begins with this) >>  go first

Diving deep into the “Triple Crown Leadership” concepts, the participants then had a discussion around HOW to do it right as a leader.

When creating a team or recruiting, we tend to focus on the ‘head’ side: education, knowledge, skills, experience, intelligence, competence.

“We need to think more about the ‘heart’ side: integrity, emotional intelligence, cultural fit, passion, authenticity, courage. You can train for the head side, but the heart side is more difficult to get.”

It is better to not recruit for the head, but for the heart. You should also develop and reward people for both of these, not just the head! E.g. 50% performance evaluation for whether the employee has met his/her targets, the rest for the behaviours and the soft side.

Gregg also touched upon the importance of “building the best team one possibly can as early as possible”. Some of the tips Gregg gave for recruiting the right team are:

Pay attention to cultural fit

Find outstanding specialists

Complement your weaknesses

Design creative ‘trial runs’ before hiring

Check references carefully

The discussion finally revolved around “the edges of leadership”, which is one’s natural tendency, and how one can act as an effective leader.

What edge do you tend to gravitate towards? Which is most comfortable?

Left edge: collaborating, build relationships, listening, seeking consensus, persuading, nurturing, praising, thanking

Right edge: authority, discipline, toughness, execution, accountability, confidence, decisiveness, firmness

Versatility: Effective leaders ‘flex’ between hard and soft edges. Velvet-only and steel-only leadership fails.

Velvet (the soft edge of leadership): you are the ‘chief character officer’. The soft stuff is actually the hard stuff.

Steel (the hard edge of leadership): you are ‘chief execution officer’.

When should you invoke the steel?

In defense of the triple crown quest – excellent, ethical and enduring + destructive of the culture (toxic).

“I know you all think we should do X, but I’ve decided we need to do Y”. You need to find the right balance between hard and soft edges, and sometimes it is time to exercise your authority!

Are you ready to scale-up your social business across Europe?

Then apply to Impact Hub Scaling and get support from mentors like Gregg Vanourek to help you grow your business internationally!