Article: What is Leadership, Really?
Expanding from last week’s article, “What is Leadership, Really?” I started to break down and define “leadership”. To recap, on the surface: Its communication, vision, purpose, motivating others, unity, responsibility, accountability, making mistakes, and being confident. But so much more
Great, you might ask……where do I go from here?
Be consistent.
You’ve been a professional for a few years now.
You already know the ropes and know what processes are needed for each program or project to be efficient. Its great to do the same process throughout the years, what if a new software comes out to make your work more efficient. Project management software is like that – there are so many other online programs out there that can make your life easier at work.
(A Google search will give you tons of options)!
There have been so many times I wanted to use Monday.com or TEAMS Planner or Asana. But Monday.com was not cost efficient for the company since I was the only 1 that wanted to use it. I’ve used TEAMS Planner before. It’s great – but you need a team to use it with you. I’ve used Asana.com for this business. This was a great product and very efficient too, but there is a learning curve.
OneNote.com is great too. It allows for notetaking and keeping track and scheduling of daily tasks while linking them with Outlook. Great if you have 365. One thing it doesn’t do at all is allow for budgeting. And from what I read online, there is no hope that it will ever get updated. OneNote tried to update it a few years ago, but lost most of its great features, so they went back to the 2016 version.
Do your research, get quotes, find the best one and lastly talk to your boss before buy and implementing. There may not be money in their budget for new software, you may be the only 1 using the software, or your IT team will not support it. If you do get approval to get new research – test, test, test before purchasing. It may not be the best for you.
There is always a learning curve. You will need to schedule that in to your calendar!
Be Humble. You may be the go-to person in your department or business. People already know that. But remember what Micah said:
Micah 6:8: He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
If you are anything in life, BE KIND
Be resilient. In the 2006 Rocky Balboa movie, Rocky said:
“You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward.”
Life is hard. Everyone has an agenda that you don’t know about. When you have a bad day, get up, and keep moving forward.
I’ve written reports where my boss hated it. After working so hard on a report and submitted before the deadline, my boss gave it back to me. Wow….red lined everywhere. He did not have time to explain it all to me. I had to figure out why so many corrections were needed on my own. I sucked it up, took a deep breath and started to rewrite it. It was a learning experienced!
This is where communication comes in. Its important to talk to others that have written reports and got it write as they can offer valuable advice.
Be Decisive.
You have to make decisions. As a mid-level professional, you are required to make them. Let’s say you were given an assignment to write a report on why your company wants to have a Christmas party. The first thing is to take a deep breath. Event planning may be out of your comfort zone as you have never put on an event or party at work. Once you get through the who, what, where, when, why and how’s of the event, write the report. You will see if the data does or does not back up having a Christmas party. Regardless of your data outcome, you have the back up to support your decision.
Some people may not like outcome, some may. Upper management may not like it or they will support it. Don’t change the data. Show off your results. Stick by it.
Be Sincere. Everyone has a story. Everyone is going through something. In the customer service profession, the person that comes to your window may be having a bad day. They may have gotten bad news from their doctor. You will never know. We’ve all had customers like that. The customer starts yelling at you for no reason.
DO NOT YELL BACK!
Talk to them with compassion. Service with a smile. Apologize for their inconvenience. It will defuse the situation. They make walk away a little bit happier. Don’t talk to your co-workers about the customer in a bad light. This will make you look bad as well.
You have just shown compassion for the customer that your whole office will talk about.
All in all….just be you. You may be the person someone looks up to someday.
PAY IT FORWARD:
As John Quincy Adams said, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.”
