Jdmbagirl's Blog

Leading Yourself

In TA3 for the Leadership class Phil Powell said in his interview that he believes he is an effective leader of others because he can lead himself. When I was reading one of my law magazines it talked about the importance of personal appearance in working with clients.  The magazine said that some people are negative about the importance of personal fitness, clean offices, putting forward a very good and attractive appearance because they think it’s shallow.  The article countered by saying that clients will interpret a person’s ability to manage a case file and be disciplined and successful in his/her work by that person’s ability to be disciplined and successful managing the basic things such as personal appearnce, personal health and surroundings.

One of the underlying themes and realities of each of the effective leaders we’ve studied is the fact that the leader’s personal values and morals weren’t about being leaders but about being good people.  The founder of Chick-fil-A certainly doesn’t camp out with people the night before a new store opens because he read in a business book that he should “connect with customers.”  He does it because of what kind of person he is at the core.  Core values and core beliefs manifest in every part of our lives; especially in our leadership style.  If I want to be an effective leader and employee in my work and personal life, I need to examine my personal values and match up how those values will translate into leadership in my professional life.

I value honesty, decisiveness, education, information and good/thorough training.  I believe that people are likely and willing to participate and to be successful if they know what they are expected to do and why.  I also like things to be done correctly – sometimes to a fault.  In my most recent performance evaluation, my boss told me to be less thorough and a little faster!  These are the traits I brought to my former job where I was directly responsbile for several employees and traits I bring to my current job where my leadership opportunities are informal training and behavior modeling for my colleagues.  However, I think that sometimes I fall short in the area of consistency.  I value consistency and cool reactions under pressure.  My former job was as a suicide prevention/crisis counselor – trust me pressure was daily.  But I worry that I am not as consistent as I would like to be.  I would like to take the lessons of this course and develop a way to take my known values and keep them in the forefront of my awareness so I can grow as a person and as a leader.

Leadership happens…

In my last post (the Buffy one) I  noted that “Leadership is a way of life.”  What I am starting to realize is that leadership happens whether you want it to or not.  Instead of leadership we could talk about influence.  Each of us influences those around us on a daily basis whether we consciously want to or not.  For example, a negative co-worker who constantly complains about the work load, who distracts other co-workers, who is lackadaisical and uncommitted to supervisors’ efforts to motivate and encourage is leading the group; she is leading the group away from success and she is toxic.  This person may not even be trying to lead because she obviously is not a “team player” who would typically want to be in charge of a group moving in the right direction; but she is leading none the less.  The anti-leader/leader doesn’t have to be so overt.  If a person comes in every day and just does his job, not one second more or less and puts in only the required minimum, the message he is sending is that he will only do what is required and nothing more.  This attitude is just as infectious as the overtly negative attitude.  These two co-workers have no overt power over their peers but they influence none the less.  Leaders plant seeds and with every action, comment and gesture a person plants a seed in those around him/her.  If the soil you’ve planted the seed in is already dedicated to another crop (already has ideas and motivations) then the negative seeds may not take root or make much of a difference in the face of the larger, stronger, more established crops; but in a new employee, an impressionable person who is the equivalent of a field which is not dedicated yet, it may make a lot of difference.  Further, if the negative seeds bombard the healthy field, it is like an infestation of weeds or insects – the field must be defended.

That brings us to the other side of the analogy.  The farmer/the leader must be diligent and watch for this sort of overtly negative or seemingly neutral team member who may be working against the efforts of the leader.  This could be called “getting the right people on the bus” but it may be more than that.  Some managers/leaders don’t have the power or opportunity to fire staff or to have full control of who is hired.  In these cases a manager may have to be more aware of those on the bus who are working against the team and proactively manage that person.  Without realizing it, each member of the team is leading/influencing the others on some level so a good manager/leader must be aware of the influences each is having and attempt to manage them when necessary.

More modern media leadership examples

Buffy…yes I said Buffy. As in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  This class has prompted me to look at leadership around me at every opportunity and frequently pop culture gives great examples.  We have already discussed some Star Trek references, now we are moving into the modern time.  Pop culture attempts to mirror reality which is why people identify with it.  Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for those un-indoctrinated, was a show based on the premise that a blonde, popular cheerleader-type girl is bestowed super-natural powers of stregnth and agility so she can fight and save the world from vampires and demons. Strange I know.  Here is the leadership lesson. In the mythology of the show other girls who carried this same burden/gift died very quickly in their battle – part of the show is that Buffy is  different.  She survives time after time despite actually being killed a couple of times in the course of the show.  How does she do it, what is different? All of the other “Slayers” are loners; they are isloated and have only one ally who even knows their secret.  Buffy on the other hand has friends and she leads them into battle with her even though they have no “super powers”.  Because of her team, her support system and the way she leads her group, she surpasses any girl before her and defeats more evil than anyone ever could.  How does she do it?  First, she trusts her team.  Time after time she goes to them for advice, research, support, she trains them, gives them jobs and fighting responsibilities and she cries on their shoulders when needed.  Yet at the same time she understands her burden and responsibility to keep others safe.  In the show she is the “choosen one” the one with the responsibility but also with the special gifts to make it possible for her to accomplish the goal.  The other team members do not have her ‘special’ gifts but they follow her into life/death situations everyday. She acted as a shepard to her team relying on them trusting them and then also never forgeting her obligation to lead them.

The show introduces another character, Faith, who is also a Slayer but has a totally different outlook on life.  Faith is very emotional, rageful, selfish and is very much the “loner” type.  She has had a hard up-bringing and does not trust people at all.  These two women are both capable of being the leaders, of defeating the bad guys and saving the world.  But in the end, Buffy is the one who accopmlishes the goal.  At one point in the show Faith takes control and tries to lead but fails.  For those familiar with the show you’ll see how when you reflect how Buffy’s style of leadership makes it possible for her to accopmlish her goals and more.  She was dedicated to the task, she was moral, she puts the needs of others ahead of her self at nearly all turns.  She developed a cohort of people around her she could trust and during times when she was absent from the group for months at a time sometimes, the group was able to continue fighting and winning to the best of their ability.

It may seem silly to refer to these science-fiction based pop-culture references but what this class has done for me is emphasize that leadership is a way of life and what is important is to look for examples of leadership all around.  If I am conscious of leadership models around me, I will be more conscious of leadership in my own life and efforts.