"I Want to be a Leader! Or do I?"

                       “We’re promoting you to a leadership position”. These should be words that bring satisfaction, and a sense of significant accomplishment! So then why do they feel more like an exercise in frustration as time moves on? What many of us work towards, being able to lead and have the chance to help others reach their potential, feels so different than we anticipate it will. Why?

Maybe it’s because we’re not ready for the responsibility. Maybe it’s because it takes more effort, more energy and more learning than we expected. Maybe it’s because it alienates us from our peers when we end up being their supervisor. Maybe. But usually these are not the issues, at least not in the last 5 or so years.

Maybe the things that take away some of the enjoyment and satisfaction we should experience as leaders include some of these instead:

·        Cell Phones – a seeming addiction to the little screen, almost to the point of not being able to function without it being within reach

·        “New Math” – whatever that’s supposed to mean (other than someone in head office didn’t have enough work to feel useful) – younger employees struggling with fractions, decimals, addition, multiplication, angles. “What do you mean you don’t know what 3/8” is?”

·        Too many of our high school grads are coming out semi-literate – this inhibits their ability to read plans, drawings, instructions, manuals, etc

·        Teachers often aren’t allowed to fail students anymore – no zeros on papers, and no failing a grade – it might damage them…??????? Seriously?

·        The people around us seem to be so easily offended, except when they’re commenting on someone else’s social media post! Basic manners can be a challenge for some.

·        Being at work on time, working hard, and not leaving early are often seen as going above and beyond instead of the starting point for job performance.

·        The idea of earning promotions and pay raises can appear as a foreign concept to some of the people we will supervise.

Now, here are a few things to consider before we nod our heads too frantically in agreement:

1.      Most people who make it in the trades past the first 3-6 months generally have a decent work ethic, aren’t easily offended, and have learned that many of the issues I identified above don’t cut it in their workplace. Trades seem to almost naturally weed out those people who are looking for the easy ride. But those issues still do exist and still cause leaders stress.

2.      In most cases, the failure rests with our (30+ years old) generations. Here’s why – we’ve made some mistakes as parents and teachers. Our children didn’t need us to coddle them or keep them running all the time so they didn’t have time to stop and think and figure things out for themselves. Our kids needed to learn how to get back up after they failed, they needed us to encourage them and then figuratively kick their butts when they needed it, to tell them to put down their cell phones, because no, the phone actually wasn’t a part of their anatomy. They needed to learn that they had to earn success, promotions and pay raises, and that hard work is a good thing, it actually makes us feel better about ourselves. Our young men needed us to let them know that in spite of what they’re told, girls generally don’t find it attractive or interesting when guys sit in front of a gaming console for hours on end.   (Oh, here’s a little something extra – there really isn’t enough video game developing jobs for half of the high school grads).

****FYI I don’t do all this right as a parent or as a leader. The fact that my oldest daughter and her fiancé have a lot of this stuff figured out doesn’t mean I’m the one who can take credit. They’ve had a lot of good people invest in them! **** Most parents try hard, but we’ve been operating from a false sense of expectations in many cases. (the same goes for many teachers)

3.      Here’s the big one!!!!! There are a LOT of really great younger people coming into our workplaces! Most of them just need us to invest some time and effort to help them reach their potential. Complaining and griping about them helps nobody, not them and not us.

Are there challenges the younger people we supervise deal with? Of course, but that’s where the opportunity for leaders comes in. We can help people reach their potential! 

This means we need to put in extra effort. It means we need to be better leaders! I never liked getting yelled at when I made a mistake, and nobody does now either. (But this doesn’t mean that I didn’t deserve to get yelled at, at times) We need to be better than that, we need to help people grow, learn and get better in their roles.

As leaders, we need to be able to lay out clear expectations, affirm people when they’ve earned it and correct them when they deserve to be. We need to encourage them to grow and learn, and then we need to model this for them as we continually grow and learn. 

No longer does “leadership” mean we’ve arrived, it means we now have to shift into overdrive when it comes to getting better at what we do! 

You are in a leadership position because somebody believes you have what it takes. Rise to that level and beyond. Someone believes in you, prove them right, become the leader you’d follow!  Todd

Todd Reimer is the founder of Boots on the Ground Coaching, and author of More Than a Hammer: Leadership Tools for the Trades – Part 1 & 2   

This isn’t a sales pitch, (ok maybe it is a bit of one) but take a look at the links above or below to check out some resources for leaders (specifically those in the trades) we provide for people just like you. www.morethanahammerbook.com  www.bootsonthegroundcoaching.com Enough said about that. Good luck as you continue to learn and grown as a leader!!