Earlier this year I was asked a question by a supervisor, What do you stand for? She wanted to know what I stood for at work. Over the course of the summer I was asked this by multiple levels of supervision. It is clear that as a leader we need to have vision and clarity, we need to be able to articulate our goals and share with our teams the direction we need to travel. I have been in numerous leadership roles over the last 25 years and certainly have developed what I stand for. One of my most important goals is to encourage, develop and teach those that I work with to be the best in what they are responsible for. When we share our knowledge with others we should not worry that they will take our place and we will lose our position, instead we should be confident that as they grow, then we are growing as well and that a new position, job or purpose will naturally occur for ourselves. We build faith in ourselves, and work on helping others do the same. This doesnt always happen overnight and everyone has a different growth curve. As a leader you need to recognize this dynamic and find ways to overcome difficulties within your team in order to build comradely and confidence. Working together as a team, each confident in there ability is much more effective then a group that is unsure and walking on a perception of thin ice. This will naturally result in increased productivity and more quality results, where as threats and heavy handedness will destroy moral and create fear. Results are created either way, for me though I am a believer in encouragement over terror any day. It is unfortunate that I was not able to focus on this goal and was handed an answer that fit like a childs ball cap - awkward, restrictive and uncomfortable. The result was a bleeding of talent and a decrease in effectively achieving the intended result. Needless to say I will not be forced to lead people into an abyss for a goal that is mostly good for the one and not the many. Teamwork makes the Dream work, as corny as that quote is it is simple truth. It is so very exciting to see someone you have coached, taught, encouraged and mentored succeed beyond measure and I will not be deterred from doing my best to assist in that. This lesson for me has been real, difficult and heard loudly, Im not changing to appease someone, I will continue to be me and in the process I pray that my goal will continue to be fulfilled. Thanks for reading. Have a blessed day!
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 16:46:43 +0000