Leadership is crucial to the success of any organization. Good leaders motivate, inspire, and enable teams to achieve their goals. The 6 P’s of leadership provide a useful framework for developing effective leadership skills.
The 6 P’s of Leadership
The 6 P’s of leadership are:
- Purpose
- Principles
- Passion
- People
- Performance
- Perseverance
Let’s explore each of the 6 P’s in more detail:
Purpose
Effective leaders have a clear vision and sense of purpose. They understand the organization’s values, mission, and goals. Leaders give teams direction by communicating how their work contributes to the organization’s purpose.
As a leader, you need to:
- Articulate a compelling vision for the future
- Set strategic goals and objectives
- Connect team members’ work to the organization’s mission
With a strong sense of purpose, leaders can inspire teams and align their efforts towards achieving the organization’s aims.
Principles
Principled leaders have integrity and lead by example. They act ethically and make decisions based on sound moral values. Leaders earn trust and respect by demonstrating high standards.
To be a principled leader:
- Clarify your values and moral code
- Make ethical choices, even when difficult
- Hold yourself accountable to the same standards as others
- Be a role model of integrity
Leading with strong principles fosters credibility and commitment from teams.
Passion
Passionate leaders bring energy and enthusiasm to their role. They are excited about the organization’s vision and purpose. Passion is contagious – it spreads throughout teams and motivates people to give their best.
Ways to demonstrate passion as a leader include:
- Showing genuine excitement and positivity
- Celebrating wins and achievements
- Leading by example with commitment and drive
- Inspiring others through communication and storytelling
When leaders exude passion, teams feel inspired to accomplish great things.
People
Exceptional leaders develop people. They invest time to understand individuals’ strengths, weaknesses, goals, and concerns. Leaders support teams’ growth by providing coaching, feedback, and development opportunities.
To focus on people as a leader, you need to:
- Show genuine interest in team members as individuals
- Foster trust, connection, and camaraderie within the team
- Provide supportive feedback focused on improvement
- Develop team members’ skills and enable professional growth
When leaders prioritize people, they cultivate higher levels of team engagement, performance, and loyalty.
Performance
Results-driven leaders focus on performance. They set clear expectations and accountability. Leaders monitor progress and align resources to reach objectives. They celebrate wins but also address underperformance.
To focus on performance:
- Set measurable goals and track progress
- Define clear roles and responsibilities
- Provide tools, training, and support for success
- Review results regularly and re-calibrate as needed
Driving performance helps teams achieve consistently high results.
Perseverance
Finally, persevering leaders demonstrate tenacity and resilience. They remain focused and steadfast despite challenges that arise. Leaders see setbacks as opportunities to learn.
To persevere as a leader, you must:
- Remain calm under pressure
- Be adaptable and open to change when needed
- Acknowledge failures but focus on solutions
- Consistently pursue the vision with determination
By modeling perseverance, leaders inspire teams to keep trying and never give up.
Benefits of Applying the 6 P’s
Mastering the 6 P’s helps leaders develop excellence across the key facets of leadership. Leaders who embrace the 6 P’s create purpose-driven, principled, positive, people-focused, high performing, and persevering teams.
Benefits of developing leadership based on the 6 P’s include:
- Increased alignment, engagement, and motivation within teams
- Improved organizational culture and teamwork
- Higher levels of trust, loyalty, and job satisfaction from employees
- More consistent achievement of strategic objectives
- Enhanced reputation for leadership excellence and employer brand image
Let’s explore a few examples of how the 6 P’s enable better leadership:
Example 1
A leader makes integrity a core value, models ethical behavior, and holds everyone accountable to moral standards. This principled leadership fosters an ethical organizational culture and greater trust.
Example 2
A leader invests substantial time mentoring team members, understanding strengths and development areas. People feel valued, leading to higher engagement and performance.
Example 3
A leader remains resilient during a crisis, transparently communicates challenges, and rallies teams around solutions. This perseverance drives progress despite obstacles.
How to Develop the 6 P’s
Developing excellence across the 6 P’s requires dedication and self-awareness from leaders. Here are some tips:
- Get feedback – Ask for input from your team, peers, and mentors to understand strengths and areas for improvement.
- Reflect – Regularly self-reflect on your leadership aligns with the 6 P’s and identify gaps.
- Set goals – Set specific development goals related to the 6 P’s that provide focus for growth.
- Find role models – Study other leaders who exemplify the 6 P’s and read books for new perspectives.
- Take trainings – Attend leadership trainings or workshops related to the 6 P’s.
- Start small – Pick one P such as “people” and set a goal to improve in that area first.
Mastering all 6 P’s is a journey that requires patience and dedication. But the rewards are immense in terms of superior leadership capabilities.
Addressing Weaknesses in the 6 P’s
Even effective leaders may encounter situations where they exhibit weaknesses in one or more of the 6 P’s. Some examples include:
- A leader has a grand vision but struggles operationalizing it into concrete goals (lack of performance focus).
- A leader achieves great results but overlooks ethical lines or burns out staff to get there (lack of principles and people care).
- A leader perseveres but fails to adapt strategy when conditions change (lacks agility).
Leaders who identify gaps in the 6 P’s can take proactive steps to improve such as:
- Solicit feedback from others on where you fall short and listen openly.
- Reflect deeply on your tendencies and triggers for poor alignment to the 6 P’s.
- Apologize and have courageous conversations when you make mistakes.
- Brainstorm approaches to handle those situations better next time.
- Ask peers to hold you accountable for improving.
Famous Examples of Leaders Exemplifying the 6 P’s
Let’s look at a few famous leaders known for excelling across the 6 P’s:
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela persevered through decades of imprisonment while fighting apartheid in South Africa. He exemplified integrity and passion while standing up for moral principles. Mandela brought together divided groups of people and built a shared sense of national purpose after becoming President.
Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs had a powerful vision that drove Apple’s innovation and performance. He conveyed incredible passion and inspired dedication from teams. Jobs persevered after being fired, and learned to better empower people upon returning to lead Apple to new heights.
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa demonstrated tremendous principle and purpose, dedicating her life to humbly serving the poor with compassion. She built hospitals, orphanages, and hospices while persevering through hardships. Mother Teresa inspired others worldwide to care for the needy.
These examples illustrate how the greatest leaders excel across the 6 P’s of leadership.
Using the 6 P’s to Evaluate and Develop Leaders
The 6 P framework provides a holistic model to evaluate leadership skills and develop leaders systematically. Organizations can use the 6 P’s to:
- Assess leaders’ strengths and gaps through surveys, self-evaluations, or 360 reviews.
- Guide leadership development programs around the 6 P’s.
- Select leaders for promotions who demonstrate excellence across the model.
- Conduct succession planning by mapping leadership capabilities to the 6 P’s.
- Develop leadership scorecards and benchmarks for improvement.
Here is an example evaluation rubric for assessing leaders against the 6 P’s:
| Leadership P | Exceeds Expectations (5) | Meets Expectations (3) | Needs Improvement (1) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Inspires teams with compelling vision and goals tied to organization’s mission | Communicates goals and links to mission | Lacks clear direction or alignment to mission |
| Principles | Demonstrates utmost integrity and makes ethical choices | Acts consistently with stated values | Cross ethical boundaries at times |
| Passion | Inspires and energizes teams through own enthusiasm | Shows interest and commitment | Lacks energy to motivate others |
| People | Invests substantial time developing people and unlocking potential | Provides feedback and opportunities to grow | Fails to develop or engage team members |
| Performance | Obsessively focused on setting goals, tracking metrics and optimizing | Sets goals and monitors progress | Lacks consistent focus on results |
| Perseverance | Tenacious, innovative and resilient leader even in crises | Steady under pressure and through challenges | Loses focus when facing obstacles |
Structuring assessments, development plans, and career tracks around the 6 P model enables organizations to systematically improve leadership capabilities.
Conclusion
The 6 P’s – purpose, principles, passion, people, performance, and perseverance – provide a holistic framework for leadership excellence. Mastering the 6 P’s enables leaders to create aligned, inspired, and high-achieving teams.
Leaders should regularly self-reflect on how they demonstrate the 6 P’s, seek feedback from others, and focus on continually improving. Organizations can use the 6 P model to develop superior leaders and drive better performance.
While leadership development is a lifelong journey, the 6 P’s provide a clear map that guides leaders at all levels to reach their potential. By deeply embracing purpose, principles, passion, people, performance and perseverance, any leader can excel and make an extraordinary impact.