Leadership - Initial steps

Hello everyone, I'm Luciano Mayer, and today I intend to bring you some insights on leadership. As you already know, I have been working with people, companies, and project leadership for a long time. Throughout my professional career, I have observed many times people and companies trying to create leaders but often experiencing frustration because they couldn't create the leaders they desired. After reflecting, reading, and listening to many inspiring leaders and individuals, I decided to write my perspective on this.

Let's get started. A widely used technique for developing leaders is to immerse them in a leadership program. For three days, all managers, directors, vice presidents, C-level executives, and so on, gather in a hotel or some other location to attend lectures, group dynamics, engaging conversations, and exchange experiences. All three days are focused on team leadership, management techniques, feedback, assertive communication, and many other topics. After this immersion, the company declares that these participants are the leaders and that they will be responsible for driving change and cultural evolution within the company.

I'm sorry, but this won't be true for the company if they don't have space and opportunities to put into practice everything they have learned.

Using a sports analogy, it's like inviting people who have never run in their lives to participate in a three-day immersion where they learn the best running techniques, the right shoes, proper breathing techniques, and so on, and expecting them to be ready to run a marathon the next day. Obviously, they won't be prepared for that. In the same way, people are not prepared for competition, and the professionals in the company are not yet leaders. Just like any sport, leadership requires daily training, and it's important to remember that we won't always get it right on the first try. We will have good days and not-so-good days, but in each of them, we will learn. We will learn what we should keep doing and what we shouldn't repeat. Becoming a leader is a matter of practice and resilience. We should recall the immersion experience and put some of the learnings into practice, collecting feedback from our subordinates. Being a leader means being willing to fail and yet not giving up, just like athletes and people who have decided to change their lifestyles. The key here is consistency and putting into practice the techniques, behaviors, and communication methods based on the knowledge acquired through immersions, books, videos, etc., a little bit every day, EVERY DAY. We have to be persistent. We have to set an example for our subordinates and the company. Being the example is the most complex and challenging part because, above all, we have to change ourselves before putting these learnings into practice.

Have you ever stopped to think if you are the leader you would have liked to have when you started your professional career?

To achieve our goals of becoming better leaders, we can follow some paths. In sports, there are several ways to achieve good physical condition and reach our goals on our own. However, this can be a tough and complex path, which is why people usually seek a dedicated fitness trainer (personal trainer) or group training (when we go to a gym and there are several instructors, but none are solely dedicated to you). It all depends on your goals and how quickly you want to achieve them. In leadership, it's no different. There is a lot of material and content available on the internet and in books, but there are also professionals who can help you reach your goals faster and more effectively. Companies can also hire one or two professionals to assist in the company, just as there are instructors in gyms.

The most critical points of this reflection are:

• Be consistent.
• Be persistent.
• Don't be afraid to fail (we can always start over).
• Never give up.
• Collect feedback.

Try to be the leader you would have liked to have when your subordinates were at the same stage in their careers.

I believe this is a good starting point for us to strive for excellence in leading people.

To conclude, I would like to hear your feedback.

See you soon, and until then, stay attentive to daily learnings and take care.

#leadershipdevelopment #leadership #takethebucketofyourhead #changinglives