THE FIVE PRACTICES OF EXEMPLARY LEADERSHIP

(The Leadership Challenge, Copyright © 2017 by James M Kouzes and Barry Posner) 

Leadership is not about personality; it’s about behavior—an observable set of skills and abilities.
When the co-authors of The Leadership Challenge, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, first set out
to discover what effective leaders do when they’re at their personal best, they collected
thousands of stories from ordinary people—the moments they recalled when asked to think of a
peak leadership experience. Despite differences in culture, gender, age, and other variables,
these “personal best” stories revealed similar patterns of behavior. The authors discovered that
when leaders experience their personal best, they display five core practices: they Model the
Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the
Heart. Jim and Barry called these behaviors The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership . ®

Together, these practices provide the basis for The Leadership Challenge . ®

1. Model the Way

Leaders establish principles concerning the way people (constituents, peers,
colleagues, and customers alike) should be treated and the way they should pursue
goals. Leaders create standards of excellence and set an example for others to follow.
They put up signposts when people feel unsure of where to go or how to get there.
Leaders create opportunities for victory.

Exemplary Leadership Starts With You

It is a common misconception that leadership is innately tied to a title; that simply because
someone is promoted to a prestigious position, the respect of their colleagues will automatically
follow. However, as we have all likely experienced (from either perspective), that is not always
the case. True exemplary leadership is developed through the consistent practice of behaviors
and skills that start from somewhere unexpected…within yourself.

In the best-selling book The Leadership Challenge , James Kouzes and Barry Posner outline The
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Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership  and how they create a framework for the development
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of exemplary leadership, starting with the first practice, Model the Way.

Who Are You? Clarify Your Values

To effectively Model the Way, you must start by clarifying your own values. When assessing
what kind of leader you want to be, the first step is to look in the mirror and answer the question:
who am I?
Next comes authenticity. It is easy to look to established leaders as a guiding example for what
all leaders should be, but it’s important to take the time to explore your own communication
style. People are drawn to authenticity, and when your people know that you are speaking and
acting from your heart, your values, and your experience, they are more likely to see you as a
leader.

Model Commitment to Your Values

However, leadership is not only about your values. After all, an organization thrives when all are
committed and engaged, and it is important to remember that your people’s values and beliefs
are their driving force. When you create space for everyone to explore their own belief systems,
you will model commitment to the common cause because everyone is able to stay true to their
beliefs and be valued for the diversity and perspective they bring to the organization.

Of course, what creates real success in the workplace is the space where you and your people
align your values for a common cause. Shared values are the foundation for building productive
and genuine working relationships. Creating an environment of camaraderie and respect
involves everyone getting comfortable with sharing, starting with the leaders, whether it be
about the kind of work they enjoy doing or what their favorite food is. The more you model
vulnerability and authenticity by getting to know the people you work with and what matters to
them, the more easily you will be able to reach your full leadership potential and achieve results.
Once you have clarified your own values, found your voice, and inspired commitment through
camaraderie and connection…what’s next?

Set an Example
It’s time to set the example! Be an example in your organization for the kind of behaviors you
want to nurture. People look to leaders to see if they are, in fact, walking the walk. As Kouzes
and Posner say in the book “The power of the leader’s personal example can’t be stressed
enough. Researchers find that leaders who persist in attaining organizational goals, promote the
organization to outsiders and insiders, and initiate constructive change in the workplace are
much more likely to have direct reports who exhibit the same behaviors than leaders who don’t
set that kind of example.”

Exemplary leaders understand the power of their words. How you speak about the people in
your organization, your client base, or your audience can quickly and effectively paint a picture
of how you think of the world and your position in it. “The words people choose to use are
metaphors for concepts that define attitudes, behaviors, structure, and systems,” the authors
say. Choose your words wisely, and others will follow.

When you take on the responsibility of leading by clarifying your values, aligning with your
organization, and setting an example to Model the Way, you are well on your way to becoming
an exemplary leader.
As you embark on your journey to become an exemplary leader, the Leadership Practices
Inventory (LPI ) assessment can guide the process. The LPI measures how frequently each
®  ®

individual exercises The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership and with this information,
individuals at any level and in any organization can identify exactly where they excel as leaders
and where they have opportunities to improve. 

2. Inspire a Shared Vision

Leaders passionately believe they can make a difference. They envision the future and
create an ideal and unique image of what the organization can become. Through their
magnetism and persuasion, leaders enlist others in their dreams. They breathe life into
their visions and get people to see exciting possibilities for the future.

Inspire a Shared Vision: How to Create a Common Purpose

When was the last time you imagined the possibilities? Whether it was about the cabin you
dream of building, the community food shelf you want to start, or how you want to leverage your
expertise at work to start an outreach program with that nonprofit in your community, did you
know that by dreaming big you were starting to employ the second of The Five Practices of
Exemplary Leadership® – Inspire a Shared Vision?

Leaders who take the time to envision the future, and share that vision with their people, have a
tremendous impact on the motivational levels of others, as well as workplace productivity. While
dreaming big at work may be more about where you want to go as an organization (or within
your organization) and less about that cabin in the woods, learning how to tap into that tendency
to imagine the possibilities is a big step on your journey to exemplary leadership.
 
How Do I Create a Vision for the Future?
Creating a vision for the future involves thoughtfully reflecting on both the past and the present
to define the patterns, trends, and themes that have defined your life until this point. It is when
you have done those steps that you can look to the future and create the vision that will drive
you, and your organization, forward.

Reflect on Your Past

Though the idea of looking to the past to inform the future may seem counterintuitive, looking to
your personal history to reflect on where you’ve been is an important step in grounding yourself
for your journey forward. It’s easy to be so future focused that we don’t take time to reflect on
how we got to where we are. As James Kouzes and Barry Posner say in The Leadership
Challenge, “Your personal history is your traveling partner on every journey you take.”

Prospect Your Future

“Leadership requires you to spend considerable time reading, thinking, and talking about the
long-term view, not only for your specific organization but also for the environments in which
you’re operating,” Kouzes and Posner say in The Leadership Challenge. After you’ve taken time to
reflect on your past and tend to the present, it’s time to prospect your future. This is where those
big dreams you’ve been ruminating upon come into play. What are your goals? When you look
to the future of your role or organization, what do you see?
 

Express Your Passion

When you think to the future you’ve envisioned, what do you feel? It should be excitement,
motivation, and passion. When you put in the time to not only dream up a future you want but
strategize how to get there, you have already started to express your passion for the future.
Leaders who express conviction and enthusiasm about the future, no matter their role or title,
are consistently seen as more effective. Leaders who wake up and hit the ground running
towards their vision are leaders that people love to rally behind.

Find a Common Purpose

Everyone should feel passionate about the work they do and the organization they do it for.
Regardless of your particular role or title, you have the power to adopt these leadership
behaviors and build the skills necessary to become a leader from wherever you are. Leadership
is not limited to those holding a prestigious title or leading the vision for the entire organization,
individuals at all levels can envision the future of their role or department and contribute to the
common cause. This input can provide valuable perspective that could take an already
ambitious and exciting goal to the next level.

How can leaders find a common purpose with their people? Once you have shared your vision,
ask your people what their vision for the future of your organization is. Listen when they share
their unique perspective; you may find they provide an alternate way of thinking that could
propel your vision forward or share challenges you were previously unaware of.
 

Make a Cause for Commitment

Finding purpose in your work is a universal desire and when your people feel as though their
contributions and dreams have a place in your shared vision, they will be more inclined to
commit to your mutual goals. Brainstorm together how you can achieve your dreams and Inspire
a Shared Vision. When you have arrived at these goals together, it will be far easier to get
through difficult times because everyone is committed to the common cause.

Like any skill, inspiring a shared vision takes consistent self-reflection, commitment, and
practice. Through utilizing the behaviors outlined in the second of The Five Practices of
Exemplary Leadership, you can take another step towards becoming an exemplary leader.

As you embark on your journey to become an exemplary leader, the Leadership Practices
Inventory (LPI ) assessment can guide the process. The LPI measures how frequently each
®  ®

individual exercises The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership and with this information,
individuals at any level and in any organization can identify exactly where they excel as leaders
and where they have opportunities to improve. 

3. Challenge the Process

Leaders search for opportunities to change the status quo. They look for innovative
ways to improve the organization. In doing so, they experiment and take risks. Since
complex change threatens to overwhelm people and stifle action, leaders set interim
goals so that people can achieve small wins as they work toward larger objectives.
Effective leaders unravel bureaucracy when it impedes action. And, because leaders
know that taking risks involves mistakes and failures, they accept occasional
disappointments as opportunities to learn.

From Inspiration to Innovation: How to Challenge the Process

Have you ever caught yourself going through the motions, only to wonder if there may
be a different, more effective way to do what you have been doing all along? Taking
time to explore innovative ideas and have an open mind to experiment is the foundation
of the third of The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership , Challenge the Process.
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Considering new ways to approach your work can benefit not only your organization,
but your own path to exemplary leadership.
Often, work processes are so engrained that we don’t question why we do them.
Regardless of their effectiveness, it is easy to go on autopilot and not stop to consider
whether there is a better way, especially when the organization at large continues to
encourage the status quo. Challenge the Process allows leaders to step back and
assess where they have room to grow and do things differently, while creating an
environment within their organization that makes it safe to challenge norms in the
pursuit of greatness.

Encourage Innovation

Exemplary leadership is grounded in innovation. Regardless of your status or title, you

have the power to assess the kind of work you do and the systems you typically work
within, to challenge yourself to think outside the box.

“Sometimes challenges find leaders, and sometimes leaders find challenges; most often
it’s a little of each,” say James Kouzes and Barry Posner, authors of The Leadership
Challenge. Typically, when exemplary leaders reflect on times of powerful growth and
success, they recall moments when they overcame challenges or took the initiative to
overcome adversity.

Exemplary leaders seize the initiative and exercise outsight, and you can, too.
Make it Safe to Experiment

How often do you shake things up? Not only in your work life, but in your personal life
as well? Doing novel things, like taking a class on a subject outside your comfort zone,
or challenging yourself to participate in a new sport increases personal fulfillment and
can transfer to the professional environment.

Pursuing opportunities that challenge yourself, while creating an environment where the
people around you are encouraged to do the same, can help you on your path toward
exemplary leadership. Looking outside your experience to explore new ways of doing
things can help you innovate from right where you are.

As they say in The Leadership Challenge, “You can’t achieve anything new or
extraordinary by doing things the way you’ve always done them. You have to test
unproven strategies. You have to break out of the norms that box you in, venture
beyond the limitations you usually place on yourself and others, try new things, and take
chances.”

Take Concrete Steps

When learning to Challenge the Process, it’s important to create opportunities to
celebrate the small wins. Taking small but concrete steps to make impactful change will
inspire more innovation, not only within yourself but with those around you.
Like any skill, challenging the process takes consistent self-reflection, commitment, and
practice but the small changes will add up to bigger wins. By challenging the process
and creating a new way of working, you can inspire the exemplary leader in everyone.

4. Enable Others to Act

Leaders foster collaboration and build spirited teams. They actively involve others.
Leaders understand that mutual respect sustains extraordinary efforts. They strive to
create an atmosphere of trust and human dignity. They strengthen others, making each
person feel capable and powerful.

Enable Others to Act: How Building Relationships (and Trust) Can

Elevate Your Business
Did you know that one of the most important qualities of a great leader is their ability
to create great leaders? A common pitfall among potential leaders is the misconception
that they must be in charge of every step of a project, whether or not it is truly
necessary. This behavior can lead to lengthy process delays, poor morale, and
frustration within the organization. Or perhaps, and this may take some vulnerability,
have you found it difficult to build trust within your organization, thus relying on the idea
that you must be involved in every decision or step of a project, no matter how small?

While it’s not uncommon to equate leadership with tactical participation in every step of
a process, that kind of leadership behavior can contribute to a number of problems – not
only for the organization but the leader themselves. Truly exemplary leaders foster
collaboration and strengthen others, creating a warm, collaborative environment where
people have the confidence to do their jobs and make decisions independently. These
leaders utilize the fourth of The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership : Enable Others
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to Act.

Learning how to Enable Others to Act, whether you are a traditional leader of people or
an individual contributor, can elevate your entire organization. When people feel trusted
and empowered, extraordinary things happen.

Facilitate Relationships
As James Kouzes and Barry Posner say in The Leadership Challenge , “Extraordinary
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performance isn’t possible unless there is a strong sense of shared creation and shared
responsibility.” Individuals on the path to exemplary leadership need to make the
commitment to foster collaboration by creating a climate of trust and facilitating
relationships amongst the people within the organization.

As the workplace continues to evolve and teams are more diverse and globally
dispersed, it is important that leaders at every level put in the work to get to know and
understand the people they are working with.  

 
Provide People with the Resources They Need to Succeed
Another important thing to consider as you gain the skills to Enable Others to Act, is to
ensure that everyone has the resources they need to succeed. These can be tangible,
like access to equipment, programs, and technology, or interpersonal, such as more (or
less) touchpoints throughout a project, opportunities to lead, or access to educational
opportunities.

Arming your people with the resources they need to succeed will contribute to the
climate of trust and empowerment you create as an exemplary leader.

 
Demonstrate Trust
However unintentional, leaders who rely on micromanaging to get the job done
inadvertently sabotage the success of their team or project by disempowering people
and undermining their area of expertise which creates a fractured and toxic work
environment.

Once you have taken the time and energy to get to know the people you work with, you
have likely learned a lot about their professional and educational background, and how
skilled they are in the area in which they were hired to work. It is easier to trust and
empower people you have taken the time to know and understand.

The next step is to take this information you have gathered and relationships you have
built and turn that into trust – empowering your people to act independently and
confidently.
 
Like any skill, learning how to Enable Others to Act takes consistent self-reflection,
commitment, and practice. Through utilizing the behaviors outlined in the fourth of The
Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership , you can take another step on your journey to
®

becoming an exemplary leader, while inspiring others to improve their own leadership
qualities along the way.

As you embark on your journey to become an exemplary leader, the Leadership

Practices Inventory (LPI ) assessment can guide the process. The LPI measures how
®  ®

frequently each individual exercises The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership and
with this information, individuals at any level and in any organization can identify exactly
where they excel as leaders and where they have opportunities to improve.

5. Encourage the Heart

Accomplishing extraordinary things in organizations is hard work. To keep hope and
determination alive, leaders recognize the contributions that individuals make. In every
winning team, the members need to share in the rewards of their efforts, so leaders
celebrate accomplishments. They make people feel like heroes.

Encourage the Heart to Build Community and Achieve Results

Have you ever worked on a project, contributed to the success of an initiative, or landed
that big client for your organization and were met with…well, nothing? Without
celebration, or at least appreciation, hard work can often feel thankless, and it’s hard to
maintain motivation and commitment while feeling underappreciated.

 
For many in the business world, knowing how to create a spirit of community and
appreciation doesn’t come as naturally as learning how to meet deadlines and drive
results. Learning how to create an environment where wins are celebrated,
contributions are appreciated, and hard work is recognized is the last of The Five
Practices of Exemplary Leadership : Encourage the Heart.
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Whether you are a traditional leader of people, or an individual contributor, learning how
to Encourage the Heart is an important part of becoming an exemplary leader. Taking
time to connect, engage, and celebrate is imperative when creating a spirit of
community that not only considers achievement and success, but also, the heart.

Recognize Contributions
As James Kouzes and Barry Posner say in The Leadership Challenge , “Believing that
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people can succeed is only part of the equation. If you want people to give their all, to
put their hearts and minds into their work, you must also make certain that people know
what they are supposed to be doing.”
 

Setting clear expectations, goals, and rules provides a clear path to success.
Celebrating the wins of high performers gives everyone something to work towards but
encouraging people along the way is just as important.

Personalize Recognition
A one-size-fits-all approach to recognition may be better than none, but only slightly, as
that kind of approach can feel forced and insincere. Taking time to get to know
individuals will help you understand what kind of recognition would feel meaningful to
them. Some people like public acknowledgement for their hard work and others prefer a
personal note or increased responsibilities.
Celebrate Victories
Many organizations overlook the importance of social connection. “When social
connections are strong and numerous, there’s more trust, reciprocity, information flow,
collective action, and happiness – and, by the way, greater wealth,” say Kouzes and
Posner. Creating a sense of social connection amongst coworkers can lead to better
workplace wellbeing, accountability, and commitment to the organization.

Taking time to connect with workplace celebrations, recognition gatherings, or purely

social time whether virtually or in-person can bring joy and connection to the workplace
which helps to build that spirit of community that helps leaders Encourage the Heart.

When you are involved with every level of your organization and seek to know and
understand the people you work with, these celebrations and recognition events will be
inherently more meaningful as you will have been there every step of the way.
Like any skill, learning how to Encourage the Heart takes consistent self-reflection,
commitment, and practice. Through utilizing the behaviors outlined in the fifth of The
Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership , you can take another step on your journey to
®

becoming an exemplary leader, while inspiring others to improve their own leadership
qualities along the way.
 

As you embark on your journey to become an exemplary leader, the Leadership

Practices Inventory  (LPI ) assessment can guide the process. The LPI measures how
® ®

frequently each individual exercises The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership and
with this information, individuals at any level and in any organization can identify exactly
where they excel as leaders and where they have opportunities to improve.

Three decades after Jim and Barry conducted their initial research, The Five Practices of
Exemplary Leadership model continues to prove its effectiveness as a clear, evidence-based
path to achieving the extraordinary—for individuals, teams, organizations, students, educators,
and communities. It turns the abstract concept of leadership into easy-to-grasp practices and
behaviors that can be taught and learned by anyone willing to step up and accept the challenge
to lead. The LPI : Leadership Practices Inventory —one of the most widely used leadership
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assessments in the world—provides feedback that leaders can use to adopt and strengthen
leadership behaviors. Ongoing studies consistently confirm that The Five Practices and the LPI
assessment positively relate to both the effectiveness of leaders and the level of commitment,
engagement, and satisfaction of those they lead.