Leaders Develop Leaders

Q: Our company has promoted many people into supervisory or management positions in the past year because they excelled in their jobs. Some are excellent natural leaders, and some have become bossy, critical, judgmental and tyrants with their teams. How do we develop their leadership?

A. Everyone has natural leadership within them, but many people have never been taught to be a leader. They’ve seen or experienced poor management from parents, former managers, teachers or coaches, or television shows, etc. Great leaders are not judges or bullies. Executives and managers continually need to improve their own leadership. They do this with a coach, classes, conferences, books, etc. Learning never ends.

I recall a time when a Division Manager that I was consulting with asked me, “Marcia, how do I become a better leader?” He led an organization with 6000 people, and I led no one. Luckily, we had a three-hour exploratory conversation with numerous questions and reflections, and I was grateful I’d been intensely studying and reading about leadership with my mentor for several months.?

The role of a leader is to develop the people. That does not mean a leader tries to motivate or micromanage them! (common management beliefs or fads!) A leader’s role is to create the environment where people are self-motivated and can contribute! That’s where the power is!?

Great leaders question everything! They question beliefs and assumptions, the systems people work in, what resources are needed, what communication is needed, the way people work. Leaders are authentic and get people together often to engage, to ask for their feedback on what do we need to improve, everyday??

Great leaders are great communicators. They communicate the aim and direction of the organization, and they give the teams the freedom to implement their ideas about how to achieve the aim. Leaders create a workplace where people get to know each other so they trust each other, collaborate, and problem solve together. They continually improve and create innovative products and services. Leaders appreciate employees, not through individual recognition ("Employee of the month", or making winners and losers), but by saying "Thank you," creating group/Town Hall meetings where people can share their successes.?

With a foundation of respect and transparency leaders show compassion, flexibility, and inclusion. They regularly ask, “How can I help you? What do you need to do your job better or faster?”