Growing Leaders

You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case. —Ken Kesey

Being a leader at work, in your community, church, or elsewhere can be a formidable challenge and a valuable learning experience.The following are my thoughts that I hope are helpful to one starting out.

Leadership is not something that is bestowed upon you by position. It is something that you slowly develop and become recognized for BEFORE you are placed in a supervisory or leadership position. Think about the professional quarterback - did he learn how to throw passes after he signed on? or did he work for decades to train and develop and slowly worked his way up in progressively challenging teams and positions? Being a leader in the workplace is exactly the same way. 

Here are my thoughts.

Cultural values. Wherever you are live out and demonstrate the cultural values of the company you work for or the community . If you are at odds with the values where you are why do you work there? If you want to be a leader model the values, proactively, and visibly. Leaders guide others towards the right behaviors in a manner consistent with the values, they do this by demonstration. If you want to be a leader start demonstrating the values daily.

 “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” - Mahatma Gandhi

Be the Change. Leaders need to not only accept change but help those around them accept change and adapt. This requires a higher degree of emotional intelligence. The world is in an unprecedented high rate of change – this will probably continue at least through our lifetimes. As such, we expect our leaders to guide us through change and to help others along that do not have the same level of experience and insight. If you want to be a leader become an "agent of change". Learn about the change grief curve. Volunteer for everything that you get a chance to be a part of. Go for it.

“Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will – his personal responsibility.” - Albert Einstein

Self-Motivation. Leaders need to be self-motivated and driven to not only complete work but to seek it out without being told. Nobody ever gets promoted, or grows, by completing the minimum acceptable amount. To grow one must strive to do more and often needs to set personal goals significantly higher than what is expected. One needs to learn to rely on their own internal motivation rather than waiting or counting on the motivation or direction of your supervisor or manager. If you want to lead and drive others you have to learn and demonstrate that you can do this yourself.

“Wag more.  Bark less.” — Author Unknown

Positive focus. Leaders take the extra time to focus on the positive and to be vocal about it. Take a moment to mention something helpful or positive that a peer or a report has done. Be positive, give recognition, and talk about it. Praise others. Do not take credit for your team – give them the credit. Find a positive thing everyday and take the time to share the positive with the person who is contributing the positive. Learn about the law of attraction and be honest withourselve about what you are transmitting and receiving.

"It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much." - Yogi Berra

Communication. Leaders communicate well. This means using the right words and going through proper channels. Learn to write simply and clearly. Have a peer review the things you write before you send them to make sure they are concise and professional. If you need to take a class at a community college to improve your writing and speaking ability. Speaking in public is an activity that you simply must learn to do and the only way is practice. Practice at every opportunity.  Failure to follow chain of command is a sure sign one is not fit for a leadership role. Always go through your direct line supervision and seek out the approval of other supervisors before assigning work to their resources. Be clear, and to the point, cut back your town and your personality – that can grow later.

"We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us." -  Joseph Campbell

Acceptance. Leaders know everyone will not always agree. Often the mentality tends to be that I can argue the point and be disgruntled about an issue because it’s just me. I can set up an adversarial approach. Leaders sometimes need to set their personal preferences aside and get on the bandwagon. That does not mean they cannot engage in useful debate, but know when to call the “time of death” on the debate. It does not need to be "my way" just a way that is safe and will work.

"You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do. " - Henry Ford

Drive Improvement. Leaders not only do things – they improve things. Come up with some ideas of how we can improve and drive them into your suggestion system. If you do not have an idea submittal process make one, step outside the box, if not you who?

“As a collaborative leader, you support people in their work—you remove roadblocks and help them win.” - Kenneth H. Blanchard

Collaboration. Leaders form positive working relationships outside and beyond their immediate teams. Get to know the other areas and other teams in your work place. Work with them – no one is going to lead you by the hand. You need to make this happen on your own.

Drive to Results. Leaders go out and get it done. They don’t wait to receive the pieces of the puzzle before solving it – they go out and make the missing pieces. Demonstrate this drive and fit for purpose attitude – this demonstration is how leaders influence. If you want to lead start leading yourself first!

 Great Tedx on Leadership

Previous Posts

Servant Leadership

Building Team Accountability

Create Workplace Bliss

Leadership Fundamentals

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Tim

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Tim Crocker currently is engaged with the SASOL LCCP Cracker Project in Westlake Louisiana as the Utilities and Infrastructure Manager LCF. During his 25-year career, he has worked on infrastructure development at BASF, Biofuels technology development with British Petroleum, and Utilities Management at Georgia Pacific and Domtar. His areas of expertise are Process Improvement (Kaizen), Steam and Power Generation, Water Treatment Systems, Chemical Recovery, Energy Management, Waste Treatment, and Performance Management. Tim received a BS in Chemistry from the University of Portland along with a second Major in Philosophy. Later he earned his MS in Paper Science Technology from the Institute of Paper Science in Atlanta, GA. Currently, Tim lives in the Moss Bluff community with his wife Cathy and daughter Yuri. They enjoy gardening, amateur astronomy, cooking, and model rocketry.