Foundations of Leadership

I have led many teams over the course of my career. Some teams were already well-oiled machines, others, not so much. Let me tell you there were a lot of heavy lifting days with those ‘not so much’ teams. Those teams, however, are the ones that I enjoy the most. There is usually a lot of hidden talent, priceless gifts and gold nuggets in those teams that just need to have the dirt brushed away a bit. All in all, what I know for sure is the faces change, the organizations change but the personalities and behavioral characteristics of people remain the same.

I might not the greatest expert on leadership but I do know how to build and lead successful teams. How do I do it? I use several leadership principles that fall under two major guiding principles: Seek to understand without a hint of judgment and Practicing Presence.

Seek to understand: I have found that if you approach your employees with the sincerity of trying to figure out the why’s of failure and not the who’s of failure they will have a tendency to be more vulnerable and transparent with you and you then get the added benefit of the front line worker helping you develop a better policy, procedure, process or protocol. The key is keeping the first thing first. So the questions that always arise are ‘what is the current process, why did it fail and does it need to be revised? If the process didn’t fail but there was failure in following the process, you have the privilege of mentoring the employee, which in the end protects their integrity and makes them a better employee.

Practicing Presence: I am sure you have read many blogs and newsletters on leadership that touts visibility as a major key to being a successful leader. I will concur! It is one of the single best things you can do as leader. Your employees not only want to see you but they want to know that you know what’s going on in their department. They do not really care how many meetings you have to attend. They want you to visit with them. They want to feel that you care about them as individuals. They want you to see them working so they can receive that just in time coaching, teaching and accolades where warranted. No matter what type of team you are leading, whether it is currently a dysfunctional team or one that is well-oiled your presence matters! What does practicing presence mean? It does not mean just being there. It means being there AND making a connection with them while you are there. The next time you are physically present with your employees, ask yourself these questions.  Am I truly in the moment connecting with them or am I on the phone, typing an email when they are talking to me or thinking of the things I could be doing instead of talking to them? These are hard questions and I have to be honest, there was a time that I would rather pluck my eyes out than visit some of my teams. It was painful when I didn’t understand the purpose and gift of my presence.

When you are not in tune with your purpose of leading it is challenging to be fully present and easier for you to become enveloped in the whirlwind of your busy schedule but I will tell you, your employees will remember the connection you made with them more than the answer you gave. In turn it is a win-win for everyone; the employee becomes more engaged AND productivity in the department goes up. The next time you are about to be overtaken by the whirlwind of meetings, emails and phone calls, I adjure you to try these simple yet complex principles. I believe that if you practice just these 2 foundational principles of leadership, the burden of leadership will greatly diminish for you. I can affirm that it takes less time to be curious and present than it does to scurry along from meeting to meeting without clarity of what your employees are actually doing. You will find that they will be more appreciative of your role as a leader and will even stretch themselves in areas that they might not have before.

Get connected!

Erika Dudley