The TRUE Leader
Mar 10, 2024
I started to realize that there are a few schools of thought that I wanted to share.
Leadership is one of the things I truly want to develop on my team, for my team.
I came from a management position working in a typical corporation, and one of the things that I noticed about other leaders in the company, was that for the most part a lot of them were delegators. I thought I had it backward when I mentioned that I like to lead by example, so that I have the trust and respect of the ones in my care, to understand that I was willing to do the things that I was expecting them to do. I also wanted to demonstrate how things can easily be done, with practice and hard work. For the longest time, I had other managers convince me that I was not an effective manager unless I can delegate. I agree to a degree that I cannot do everything and that I eventually need to have faith that they could do their “job”, but I did not want to be that “throw my feet up on my desk” kind of manager.
They made me believe that I was a bad manager because I was not letting my team become more independent because I was helping them when they needed me.
Now, there are two schools of thought: If you're always going to have the answer for your team member, they may depend on you to think for them and thus you will ultimately be responsible for every decision that they make. Or if you're the type of manager who directs his team member to go seek help elsewhere you will eventually reduce your credibility as a manager.
There's a learning curve for everything. What if your team member needs a leader to demonstrate how to properly serve clients? Are you confident that your leader can properly train you to serve your clients in a way that is in alignment with HIS expectations?
Or more importantly, if you're a leader yourself, are you confident that you can lead by example, the kind of work ethic that you expect of your team members?
As a leader myself, I believe that I better be able to walk the walk. If I ever wanted a team to do what's right, then I better be an example for my team.
Another school of thought, is how often do we learn from the mistakes we make? Too many people are afraid of making mistakes, and they would rather have someone make the decision so that they do not need to take accountability for any errors that might occur. But making errors are part of the process of learning.
Even as a leader, I realize that I am not perfect. I need to be able to show vulnerability to allow my team to learn, make mistakes, and grow.
Leadership starts with you. It starts with how you lead your work team, it starts with how you lead your family, and it ultimately starts with how you lead yourself.
I was not a bad leader, I was in an environment that did not allow me to make mistakes, learn and grow.
I led myself and left that environment.