I had a conversation today about my first manager as an instructional designer about how she paved the way for who I am today. She removed roadblocks, helped me create healthy habits, really "saw" me in a world where that is pretty rare, and empowered me to become the confident, creative, business woman I am today. She was a natural leader, but she was always authentically herself as well. She was still one of the coolest people I've ever known.
Every time I create leadership training, I think about her.
How do we teach new managers to still be themselves, but to also:
- Connect with each direct report individually and learn who they are and how they work because they're... well, an individual.
- Remove roadblocks from their path and perhaps even be a little protective over them. They're your people; if you don't have their backs, who does? If they can't trust you then why are they even there?
- Teach them. Invest in them. Teach them to take criticism because it comes from a place of love, but also teach them that you genuinely value their perspective and want their options shared with the team. Show them respect. If you give them a safe place to fail and to share, they are far more likely to take chances and succeed in the future.
- Prioritize their mental health. If you allow your people to burn out you will lose them. Period. The more you prioritize their mental health, the more likely you are to retain them. Beyond the human element, this is a simple business fact.
Perhaps I was just blessed with such a profoundly positive example early on in my career, but I've also had toxic managers who negatively affected my career as well. I can easily pinpoint the difference it made to my mental health and to my success.
Leadership training, in my opinion, is the solution to so many of these issues we see come up. Too many times I see people, without any leadership or supervisory experience, put in a manager role simply because they were good at their past roles up until that point. If they don't have PEOPLE skills how are they going to succeed at leading people? We're just setting them up for failure.
Leadership training is a necessity. (via Dean Elkholy)
III Armored Corp Senior Aviation Warrant Officer Advisor
6moBest post on LinkedIn I’ve seen in a while John. As you could have guessed, my first question is, (and maybe a good one for all of us) “am I that leader to someone else?” The sooner I can recognize my own areas of “emotional ignorance”(my own failure to recognize where people are coming from and how my attitudes and speech upset or even offend), the better equipped I’ll be to approach my boss with empathy. Chances are they blind to their effect on others. As for good techniques to make that approach, I’m going to listen in on this thread.