A Leadership Philosophy

Philosophy can be defined this way:
a theory or attitude held by a person or organization that acts as a guiding principle for behavior.

 I was involved in a meeting yesterday with a staff person and another volunteer for a community organization I'm involved with as a board member and we were talking about the roles and responsibilities of the board and how best to assist them in performing for the highest good of the organization. I'm relatively new to this particular group but my experience as a volunteer board member and as a leader of volunteers goes back for some years, so I bring that perspective and history with me to this situation.

As we talked I verbalized a thought and realized later that it was part of my leadership philosophy. The thought I had was about how I had internally resisted the direction of the board chair when he volunteered me for a role that we had not discussed beforehand. I could think back to many other times when I had either watched or acted as a leader and done the same thing with equally predictable results: failure!

This lead me to realize that one of my leadership philosophies would be that desired change must come through communication and agreement, not by direction and demand. It really had irritated me that I wasn't consulted before it was announced at a board meeting that I would take on this responsibility and it felt like I had been set up to fail. And I reacted as so many people have before me and will for time immemorial: I said nothing and for the most part have done nothing about it.

Knowing what I do I realize that this reaction may be normal but not the most productive for the organization. I am aware now that this "top down" style of leadership does not motivate me or create a feeling of inclusiveness and "buy in". I can use this lesson and apply it to areas where I am asked to lead. I can remember  how valuable it is for everyone to feel heard and understood. Even those people on a team that you think might be the most evolved need to be treated like equal partners.

What is your leadership philosophy? How did you come to learn it and live it?