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By Guest Blogger Terry Welford | The Welford Group LLC

3-Dimensional Leadership is a simple and practical model of leadership which groups critical competencies into three dimensions or categories:

• Personal Dimension
  Competencies that enable leaders to model personal effectiveness, including accountability, credibility and trustworthiness, ethics and integrity, flexibility, and self-awareness
• Interpersonal Dimension
  Competencies that enable leaders to work effectively with others, such as communication skills, managing conflict, negotiating skills, team building, and relationship skills.
• Organization Dimension
  Competencies that enable leaders to effectively utilize the right tools and techniques with the right people for the right purpose at the right time. This includes change management, decision making, planning and goal setting, process improvement and strategic thinking.

It’s the integration of competencies in all three dimensions that produces successful leaders. It’s not enough to display high personal effectiveness. Nor is the ability to work effectively with others – the sole key to being an effective leader. The good news is that leadership is a skill, one that can be consciously learned and developed. It’s about leveraging your strengths, and working on your development needs. The more strengths you develop across all three dimensions, the higher probability you have of achieving success.

Leadership is a journey, not a destination. So, how does one begin the journey? Here are five tips to get you started and increase your effectiveness as a leader:

1. Raise your self-awareness. Undertake self-examination. Ask for feedback.
2. Start small. Going from good to great follows an “S” curve of learning. Starting small means doing something now, something within your control that will have immediate impact.
3. Build on your strengths. Figure out what you do well and magnify it.
4. Connect competencies and leverage combinations. For example, leaders who are highly competent in results-orientation and relationship skills have a powerful combination.
5. Develop your weak areas. You can improve your leadership effectiveness through self-development. Read. Get a coach. Attend leadership development workshops.

Effective leaders are made, not born. Everyone can get better at leadership. Decide to become a great leader and take steps now to move yourself down the path.

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