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Leadership: It's Not Just for "Leaders" Anymore!
Overheard in the parking lot after work:
“My boss wants me to take this ‘leadership
training’ class. I’ll tell you what, if there’s one thing I don’t want to
be, it’s a leader. I pretty much like what I do now. Sure, I
wouldn’t mind making a little more money—who wouldn’t? But if that means I
have to be a manager, then forget it. Send someone else to leadership
training class!”
When we hear the phrase “company
leadership,” we immediately think of the boss, the senior management
team, the CEO, or the board of directors. But it’s a mistake to assume, as
this guy in the parking lot does, that “leadership” means being in charge,
or that leadership abilities are reserved for the executive or even
supervisory ranks. Leadership is everywhere, or at least it can be
found everywhere—in engineers, admins, analysts, developers, testers. The
more people who demonstrate leadership abilities—no matter what job
they’re in—the healthier the work environment and the more successful the
business.
What does “leadership” look like in a job that’s not managerial? Here’s an
example:
It’s the weekly project meeting, and
everyone is stuck. Five different people have just given their accounts of
problems they’re working on, and with each story, the situation gets
worse. It sounds like each person on the team is depending on someone else
to complete their work before proceeding. But whoever they’re depending on
is equally stuck on whatever it is they’re doing. After the five different
updates about these inter-dependent, seemingly impossible problems,
everyone stares at the project manager, waiting for her to cut through the
confusion and figure out what to do. But she’s as confused now as everyone
else and worried to death about the impact on the schedule of all this bad
news.
One person in the meeting, though, has some clarity about the situation
and speaks up. “It’s Joe’s problem that has to get worked out first. He’s
in the critical path for all of us, and we’re all going to stay stuck
until Joe figures it out. So how about we all put aside what we’re working
on and go work with Joe. Is that okay with you, Joe?”
That’s leadership.
How so? That project team member hears each update and is tracking how the
problems are interrelated—that is, he listens well and makes sense
of confusion. Once he realizes that Joe’s problem is in everyone’s way, he
speaks up—that is, he takes initiative. (He could have just sat
their silently and let the PM continue to sweat.) Then he rallies others
to help and, not trying to make Joe feel like he is being criticized for
getting stuck on a tough problem, he asks him if that is okay,
demonstrating teamwork and empathy. And remember: he isn’t “in
charge.”
Leadership is a term that describes things like commitment to goals
or having an inner rudder that tells you what’s “right” to do. Leaders
demonstrate initiative. Leadership characteristics also include empathy,
being circumspect (seeing things from others’ perspectives) as well as the
ability to make and carry out decisions. Leaders take chances and
challenge the status quo.
We think of leadership as belonging to people in charge because we often
recognize leadership abilities in people who are in these visible
positions. We also notice when they’re lacking these ingredients—that’s
not hard to spot!
But initiative, teamwork, empathy, and commitment are qualities that can
reside in anyone. And the more people in an organization who have them,
who can recognize develop those capabilities within themselves, the
stronger and more resilient the work environment, not to mention the
individual.
It would be a mistake to assume there’s an add-water-and-stir approach to
becoming a better leader, but certainly leadership development classes are
a good place to start. Having clarity about what constitutes leadership
and how you can make use of it in day-to-day work is a first step—also
something you often learn in class. Knowing your own leadership strengths
and shortcomings is essential, too. Recognizing that developing as a
leader is an inexact science and a lengthy process, perhaps there’s no
time to waste?
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