Emerging Leaders

Notes From the Field - Steven Reynolds

“I’ve come to believe that a leader is anyone who holds her- or himself accountable for finding potential in people and processes. The term leader has nothing to do with position, status, or number of direct reports.” - Brene Brown         

During the past three years I have had the unique privilege of working with some of the brightest upcoming expat emerging leaders affiliated with multi-national companies in our Indianapolis community. What initially began as simply teaching ESL Business English to these transplanted global GenX and GenY talents, has evolved into a much more dynamic career coaching and consulting process. 

They each typically get 60 – 120 hours of language training as part of their relocation package when arriving for short or longer-term assignments. I have had a diverse mixture of women and men from all over the world – Turkey, Japan, Switzerland, Peru, Brazil, China, France, S. Korea, Germany, Syria, Cuba, Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Eritrea – and often including a talented non-working spouse who also gets ESL and CCT (cross-cultural training) hours. 

What I have discovered on this enlightening journey with these fascinating folks is the ubiquitous transformational power of language. Even as we deal in English which is their second or third language, and our disorienting USA marketplace culture which can be misleading from their stereotypical expectations, I am continually amazed at their increasingly mature behavior in surmounting these multiple hurdles.

Below are some of my challenging inputs we engage with weekly in our mutual quests to emerge as extraordinary leaders and stewards of the vision.

1.   As an emerging leader you certainly have what it takes to be very effective at managing your team as well as your relationships within the hierarchy of the organization. I continue to see you function with integrity, determination and courage to do what is right for yourself, for your team and for your company. 

 Integrity = is the wholeness we find at our core Being and it requires that we understand what fits and what doesn’t into our authentic self.

 2.   You accept and take responsibility for your future and have increasing authority which is earned by emerging leaders who are recognized as speaking their own words (truths), owning their actions, taking control of their own destinies, rather than playing scripted roles designed by others.

 3.   Continue to be committed to always bring action to your insights, love and humility to the truth (reality) you discover, while valuing courage, adventure and necessary risk taking in living out your unfolding vision for the future.

 4.   Leaders go first, and to be a leader one must embrace a vision of where one wants to go. It is not a matter of knowing or believing you are right; it’s a matter of taking the first steps.

 5.   Skilled leaders begin high-risk discussions with the right motives, and stay focused on what they want to accomplish.

 Key – is to focus on your goals during the difficult conversations, always moving toward dialogue. What do you want for yourself? What do you want for the other person? What do you want for the relationship? What do you want for the company?

 6.    Continue to clarify what you want with “I” statements and clarify what you don’t want with “I” statements. You can’t change others (you are just not that powerful), but you can change your own behavior and the way you interact with others.

 7.   Continue to speak up with courage and vulnerability while maintaining kindness (respect), humility and humor - as often as possible. Remember this is the beginning of a longer process and you may be breaking through established cultural and emotional barriers like, “I can’t be honest with my colleagues.”, while setting a new agenda for how you will conduct yourself in future meetings.

 8.   Don’t focus on explaining, defending and pretending (exaggerating or lying), rather focus on clearly defining yourself and what you see, want, need and desire in the future for this relationship/career position, etc. It may take several more crucial conversations over time for other people to realize you have changed and you are not going back to the old way of interacting and doing business with them.

 9.   Don’t be too serious or anxious - anxiety is contagious. Rather be passionate, hopeful and open to creating new ways of interacting with everyone. Continue to smile, laugh and be your enjoyable self (charming and affable might be the right words here) which are great assets for emotionally intelligent leadership. You can generally succeed without diminishing the other person, especially if it is your supervisor or boss.

 10.  If you are truly doing your job ‘they’ (those people above you in the hierarchy) may not know what to do with you. You are becoming a DANGEROUS person, able to tolerate ambiguity and adversity while taking personal responsibility for your choices which is vital for all extraordinary leaders pursuing excellence and lofty goals.

 11.  You continue to prove yourself over time and emerging leaders can share success and not be too concerned with getting all the credit. Your success may intimidate your co-workers but don’t be slowed down by reactive sabotage. They will eventually get over it (realizing you are unstoppable) and actually respect you more for standing firm and reaching for your full potential.

 12.  STAY OUT of CONTROL ….and always have more fun than you should, while not  taking yourself (or others) too seriously. This has been and continues to be my go-to mantra for myself, family members, friends, students, colleagues and global clients over the past two decades.

Probably too many words……hope you find some are helpful on your unfolding journey as an emerging leader.

 Steven Reynolds is a Global Training Coordinator at LTC Language Solutions. He is also a Business ESL instructor, and focuses on the transformational power of language with expat corporate executives. You can find his blog – NOTES FROM THE FIELD and other works at LTC’s blog and LinkedIn