In their book, The Leadership Challenge, authors Kouzes and Posner define leadership as “a relationship between those who aspire to lead and those who choose to follow.”

What does it mean to “aspire” to lead? Herbert N. Casson, author and speaker, said, “the men who succeed are … the few who have the ambition and willpower to develop themselves.”

The obvious parallel is to that of your relationship with your Clients: you encourage them to make the effort to achieve their goals and they choose to follow your advice. A natural assumption is that the more successful you are at inspiring your Clients to achieve their goals, the more likely it is that you will excel as leader of a Deliverables Team.

The same skills are required in both situations:

• high level communication
• commitment
• professional discipline
• accountability conversations
• moving toward a shared vision
• encouragement and inspiration
• setting an example

High Level Communication
In Module 3, the Listening is an Art Section emphasized the importance of implementing high level listening skills for a number of reasons, such as demonstrating to your Clients that you care about them, are attentive to their words, and want to support their goals.

Commitment
The dictionary defines commitment as a pledge or obligation. In this situation, it is the promise you made to your Clients in the Commitment To Hire™. Additionally, it is your commitment to your Success Road Map® and Financial Road Map®.

Professional Discipline
This is the leader’s dedication to always be on top of his or her game: to keep abreast of the best tools and ideas for serving Clients. Know that your work is in compliance and never compromise your ethics, integrity or morals.

Accountability Conversations
Experienced leaders know that people appreciate being held accountable to achieve their goals and the goals of the team. In your role as "Accountability Coach" for your clients and your Deliverables Team, your job is to remind individuals of the commitments they have made to themselves and to point out actions and behaviors are not in alignment with the objectives.

Moving Toward a Shared Vision
High level leaders understand the importance of leading with a vision – a compelling picture of where the team is heading – and that this is by and large their role. The vision of a Values-Based Financial Planning™ Deliverables Team is unambiguous: actualize the Success Road Maps of every member, actualize your Clients’ Financial Road Maps.

Encouragement and Inspiration
Encouragement literally means to give heart and inspiration to give spirit. The leader’s role is to infuse heart and spirit into the team, with the outcome that their work is in accordance with the organization’s vision. A good leader remembers to balance getting things done with an abundance of supportive observations, thoughtful expressions of gratitude, and specific praise and commendations.

Setting an Example
By all of the means above, the leader models how he expects his team to be. Those in positions of authority tend to forget the power of their every gesture, word or action in forging the culture of the team.

Your Deliverables Team, without you as their conductor, is just a conglomeration of people working in parallel. Only with you at the hub does your team of Subject Matter Experts gel into a Best-in-Class Deliverables Team. Your primary role is not to perform checks (although you will do some of that) nor is it to "do the work," (although you are responsible for making sure the work gets done). Your challenge is a constant balancing act of assuring the work gets done and synchronizing the doers.