In the past few weeks, we’ve focused on the internal work of Leadership Tonality: clarifying vision, identifying values, finding your leadership voice, and learning to live in alignment with what matters most. That work is essential because leadership always begins on the inside.
But internal clarity is only the beginning.
At some point, leadership stops being about what we intend and becomes about what others experience. And what others experience is not our intention. It is our behavior. The consistent patterns of what we do, how we respond, and what we reinforce begin to define the actual tone of our leadership in real time.
As a young musician, the motivation to practice wasn’t always there. In fact, it often wasn’t! While I had good intentions about wanting to play my trumpet well, there weren’t always corresponding actions to get me where I wanted to go.
I had a vision of the kind of player I wanted to be.
I just didn’t always take the actions necessary to become that player.
We don’t feel our way into acting. Rather, we act our way into feeling.
When I allowed my feelings to drive my motivation, progress was often inconsistent. But when I allowed my vision to drive my actions, things began to change. I became less focused on whether I felt like practicing and more focused on the specific behaviors required to improve.
Long tones.
Lip slurs.
Scale studies.
Listening.
Repetition.
The vision provided direction. The behaviors created progress.
To improve as a player, I needed my body to behave differently. Improvement was not the result of good intentions. It was the result of repeatedly engaging in the actions that produced the sound I wanted to create.
Leadership works the same way.
Most leaders have a vision of the kind of leader they want to become. They can articulate the values they want to embody and the impact they hope to have on others. The challenge is that vision alone does not produce results.
Behavior does.
Our leadership tonality is shaped by the actions we repeatedly engage in. The habits we develop, the conversations we have, the standards we reinforce, and the behaviors we model all contribute to the culture we create around us.
Vision provides direction.
Behavior creates progress.
Over the next few weeks, we are going to explore six behaviors that have a profound impact on the way we communicate, coordinate, and collaborate with others. These are the everyday actions that help transform leadership from something we aspire to into something others actually experience from us.
Because when the pressure is on, we rarely rise to the level of our intentions. We fall to the level of our habits.
Developing these behaviors helps ensure that our actions remain aligned with the leadership tone we are trying to create.
Leadership is not revealed in our aspirations.
Leadership is revealed in our repetitions.
This is all part of the larger leadership conversation explored in my book IN TONE Leadership. You can learn more at www.petehazzard.com.
If you’d like to continue exploring these ideas in a more collaborative setting, I want to encourage you to check out The Conductor’s Circle mastermind experience, where we work in small groups to clarify and refine the all-important concept of Leadership Tonality. You can learn more at THIS LINK.
Until the next rehearsal!