The Leadership Action Canvas was created during an amazing two minute brainstorm between Ali Ahmed and I one evening in our Leadership course at Johns Hopkins University. Our task was to create a ten minute presentation describing how we would utilize the discussions and activities presented through our class. Ali and I wanted to create something that could be repeated, so we could measure our success and improvements over time.
You may be thinking that this template looks a lot like the business model canvas. This is not a coincidence. I love the quick repeatable one pager approach and believe that templates like this should be used more frequently.
Here are some thoughts on using the canvas.
Vision
What is your vision and how are you unique? Can you answer these questions with ease and would your peers and direct reports believe in your statement? This section can be used to evaluate how you see yourself now, who you want to be in the future, and the steps to bridge that gap.
Communication
How do you tell your story? What is your communication style and is it effective? Communication is an area where everyone can improve. Is your team able to act on your emails or verbal queues? Are you able to be persuasive with your direct reports and management team? What can you do to become a better communicator?
Teamwork
How do you communicate during conflict? Where do you get stuck? Do you get quiet? loud? angry? Understanding and addressing our communication styles during stressful times will help us become better leaders. This section can also be used to strengthen how we interact and support our teams.
Skills & Competencies
What do you know? What can you develop? This little box is too small to identify everything you think you know and need to develop. The idea is to identify key areas where you lack knowledge that are causing setbacks in either your ability to lead and/or excel in your life.
Decision Making
Is your decision making style gut based or information based? How do you collect information to make your decisions? How do you deal with people that question your decisions? Are you easily persuaded to change your mind? Do you examine all points of view and consider impacts before you communicate decisions?
Creativity
Do you have new ideas to share? Are you able to create new ways to view complex topics? Can you take an object and think of ten million things to use it for? Do you think outside the box? While many of us exercise physically, we also need to regularly flex our creative muscles!
Innovation
Are you good at identifying needs and new approaches to solve the need? How good are you at idea generation, evaluation and implementation? Have you cultivated a learning system as a leader when a venture or initiative flops? Do you set aside time to ideate with your team?
Work-Life Relationship
We purposely did not chose the word "balance" in this statement. Do you understand the trade-offs you are making in your work-life relationship? Are you being challenged? Are you consciously choosing how much time you spend on work vs. your home life and hobbies? Do you feel in control of this choice? What can you do to create the relationship between work and life to be the type of leader you admire?
Humanity in Mind
How are you giving back? Have you found opportunities to mentor others? We can donate money to causes, but those of us in leadership positions have an opportunity to give back in the form of time to help others craft their impact on the world we live in. During the leadership course at Johns Hopkins, classmates interviewed over 40 leaders throughout the country, and one common theme that surprised us was the focus on giving back. If you have a skill to share or a cause that makes your heart beat faster, make time for it!
If we all take the time once or twice a year to complete the Leadership Action Canvas, it can be a powerful tool to evaluate our leadership goals and growth!
Comment with your email address if you would like a pdf copy!
No comments:
Post a Comment