By Amelia Chan, CHRP

In our world of easy labels,  leadership defies simple definition. It is a universal pursuit with no paint-by-numbers blueprint.  It is a journey with no single route clearly mapped.  Make no mistake, true leadership is a concept that is very real and attainable, but difficult to pin down and describe in a formulaic way.

There are lots of recognized leaders in every station of life, but what makes them so? How do we aspire to be leaders in our own individual world and practice our leadership skills?

To help me answer these questions, I talked to three distinguished HR leaders, all recently recognized as Fellow CHRP (FCHRP) recipients for their respective lifetime contributions to HR leadership: Les Waldie, Joan Harrison (pictured right) and Catherine Richardson. Leaders realize the power is in making connections and building relationships that make things happen. Our three FCRHP’s serve as ready examples of this generosity of spirit – from Waldie’s participation in business exchanges with developing countries to Harrison’s dedication to the integrity of CHRP standards and Richardson’s mentorship and support of HR resources for the non-profit sector. There is a leader in each of us. Regardless of whether we have the formal title, are nominated, or bestowed it by birth or declaration. As humans we have enormous capabilities that come out when the right motivations bring them out in us. Here are some of the key leadership qualities required of our leaders today:

Leading Transparently by Example

Modeling and leading by example are clearly among the most important aspects of true leadership. The strength of character and credibility of the leader is what inspires others to follow. Employees need to respect and believe in the concepts being advocated to them. This is where the practice of commitment and consistency proves the seriousness in which the leader treats the issues and puts them in operation in a tangible way. Waldie emphasizes the importance of being committed to what you take on. This is one of the key messages he emphasizes with those who he coaches, as well as in his own personal pursuits. Waldie only takes on causes he is committed to and when he does choose to undertake a project, he commits to following through. In other words, he leads by example. Harrison’s experiences and beliefs reflect this commitment to strong values and modelling the standards, as do her words: “Every leader has a very strong value underpinning. They are consistent and they live by them.”

Inspiring Intrinsic Motivation

Enabling others to achieve by inspiring a shared vision is another key trait of successful leaders. Whether it is engaging others through humour or their own personal commitment to a cause, leaders have the extra ability to align strategic organizational goals with individual personal goals. This focus provides clarity of vision that results in a call to action so that things are put into operation. This linkage is the connection that brings people together from all parts of the organization to achieve a common purpose with varied inspirations and roles. The ability to align big and small goals is an awareness as well as a skill; essentially, this is the glue that keeps things on track and everyone pulling together.

Leaders know that they can’t do it all themselves. True leaders use their intuition to identify opportunities to coach and mentor others for greater things. Waldie firmly states that you not only “treat people with respect and as equals, give them clear tasks, and then you stay out of the way,” you also need to “have a process to be available and responsive when people seek help and guidance.”

It is a type of coaching that combines a pragmatic execution with an intuitive approach. Catherine Richardson believes that we need to “consistently provide 360 degree feedback and masterfully coach them to excel at what they do best.” Furthermore, Richardson indicates that leaders need to “allow their reports to make mistakes and, more importantly, reflect on what they learned from their mistakes.” Through leadership and guidance, successful leaders develop the emotional strength and confidence to help people think their way to a conclusion as opposed to being led.

Effective Communications

Communication with transparency and clarity of vision create a sense of inclusion, trust and rapport with the team. True leaders communicate consistently in a variety of ways: they actively engage their followers, ask direct questions on how to improve (themselves), provide transparent information that includes good and bad news, and regularly brainstorm for progressive new ideas.

By using various communication methods, leaders are better able to manage expectations. Richardson refers to this as an “Invitation to Possibility – whereby a realistic vision encourages hope and inspiration particularly during the most challenging times.” The open communications approach alleviates some of the challenges of “staying current with the expectations of an emerging workplace.”

The challenge of HR leadership is to find ways to foster our future leaders through the same leadership principles we support. As Waldie points out, we have “the challenge of engaging the emerging workforce with the established one.” Moreover, Harrison believes that it’s HR’s role to find ways to deal with profound and persistent organizational problems by partnering with operations.

If HR models the same leadership traits as what we coach our leaders to, we will be able to “help them to excel at what they do best so they can help move the organization forward” as Richardson purports. It’s not as easy as it sounds. We are “dealing with less defined problems (in HR) but more complex in nature… We are trying to set a good example of approaching thorny problems – organizational, team or personal. The problems that come our way are the ones that are not easily defined by a text or a course that you can take.”

So we have to show true leadership by blazing some trails of our own.

For the full leadership Q&A with FCHRP’s Waldie, Harrison and Richardson, click here.

Amelia Chan, CHRP is the founder of Higher Options Consulting Services, a boutique firm pro- viding superior HR support to businesses and individuals.

(PeopleTalk: Winter 2010)