Page 135 - Using the Enneagram System to Identify and Grow Your Leadership Strengths and Achieve Maximum Success

110 What Type of Leader Are You?

think that providing customers with a customer service hotline is
a strategy, when in fact the strategy may be either (1) increasing
perceived customer benefits or (2) improving the way in which
products and services are utilized. With either strategy, the hotline
would be one of several tactics within that strategic area.
Twelve years ago, when Anita was still relatively new to leader-
ship, one of her team members described her this way:

“I always know what I’m supposed to do, but not always
why I am supposed to do it. I know Anita thinks I’m very
competent, but I could add much more value to the organiza-
tion if I just had a larger perspective on both my own work
and that of our team.”

Development Stretches for Ones

KEEP THE BIG PICTURE IN THE FOREFRONT Your job as a leader is to
take the broadest view and to focus on the forest rather than on
the trees. You need to let go and leave the detail work to those
who work for you. With every project for which you are respon-
sible, ask yourself these questions on a regular basis: Is the work
I am personally doing at the strategic level—i.e., vision, mission,
and strategy—and not the tactical level? Have I delegated the
tactical work, or am I still involved in the more detailed level of
execution?

LEAD FROM VISION Ask yourself these questions: What is the
greater purpose of the work in front of us? What are we trying to
accomplish (not in terms of goals, but rather in terms of the
biggest dream or desire) in the next three to five years? What are
the values underpinning these efforts that are essential to this
vision? Be sure to gather input from those you work with, and
make sure that the final vision is shared with everyone in your
work area. When you communicate the vision, have a two-way dia-
logue and then make adjustments as needed.