Leadership Manifesto

When You Know Better, You Do Better

Over the last few weeks, I have read a wealth of material on different leadership and different styles. My learning has included reading peer-reviewed articles, my course textbook on Leadership, videos and Powerpoints on how to become a better and more effective leader, and having discussions with classmates on different aspects on leadership. I will share my top five lessons that I feel that I have learned from this leadership course embedded within this blog.

First, and most importantly, I have learned what makes a great leader as well as what makes a not so great leader. Most importantly, I have had to come to the realization that my leadership efforts fall somewhat in the middle of both great and not so great.

My grandfather use to always say, “Baby, when you know better, you are supposed to do better”. To this day, my mother repeats this phrase when she is trying her best not to say, “I told you so”. I use this phrase to apply this to my current leadership effort. Taking into account all of the information I have learned over the last nine weeks in this Leadership course, I have no other option but to improve in the area of leadership.

I have been able to identify what I care about most (in regards to leadership and my followers), as well as what others may perceive me to care about most. I am both excited and eager to retake some of the assessments that I have completed where I ranked myself in certain leadership areas. I have also started on a leadership professional development plan that I intend to share with the leaders who report to me. My desire is to first begin with becoming more of a servant leader, as I truly believe that this is the root and basics of leadership. Without a servant’s attitude and heart, one could easily be seen as just a manager. I want to influence others through the skills and new knowledge that I possess. I am in a key position to implement leadership changes within the departments that I oversee. It would be my hope that other departments recognize changes over the next few months and inquire about what may have brought such great changes about.

Leadership trickles down into the roots of a team. I have learned that the leader has the potential to set the culture for all followers. Followers are more likely to follow leaders who they can trust. In order to gain the trust of followers, the leader has to show confidence, determination, and intelligence. It is difficult for anyone to follow another if they are not confident, determined, or intelligent.I can attest to this because these have always been the traits I looked for when new leaders came to the organization where I work. It is also difficult to establish an effective working relationship with someone who may lack these traits.

My declaration as a leader is that I will take all that I have learned to become a better leader for my followers, my superiors, and for myself. My first priority is to do a better job of getting to know my followers so that I can exhibit empathy and support when they need it. I will remove the barrier that has been in place that required me to remain behind an invisible gate when it came to discussing personal matters with my team members. I have began to share more with those that follow me as well as with my supervisor and I can honestly say that it is a good feeling to have someone ask about your children by name or to remember an important event that you have previously shared with them. I feel that this is a process I have already began working on.

I know that I am a naturally caring person. I want followers to be able to grow and learn from me and I from them. There is a lot of work to be done on my behalf but I am definitely up for the challenge. I have found some of the leadership assessments online and will begin incorporating them into the performance reviews for the leaders that I currently supervise. I will also plan to have followers re-evaluate me on assessments where the interpreted scores revealed that I had areas that needed improvement.

Overall, I have wholehearted appreciated the Leadership Couse, the material provided, the related videos, and the feedback from those who have read this blog as well as my discussion posts. I plan to continue using this blog but on a monthly basis. I plan to share how the leadership changes I am making are impacting the followers and work environment. I hope that you all will continue reading and providing me with constructive criticism and feedback, as it is my hearts desire to do better for the simple reason that I now know better.

Can A Woman Really Lead?

 Women in leadership has become a common topic when within businesses and professional settings. It seems to be more noticeable these days when there are more women in leadership than there are men. It is so common, that it is believed to be socially accepted at this point. Women have taken on more leadership roles and are preparing themselves early to begin leading. Mothers and fathers are preparing their daughters in their school age years to be leaders. They are empowering their daughters and affirming their abilities to be able to lead in any setting that their hearts will desire.

In my church, the senior Pastor and Apostle is a woman. At the organization that I work for, the center’s Executive Director and Assistant Executive Directors are women. As the Program Director over the organization’s Child Caring Institutions (group homes), I too am a woman. Women have proven that we are more than capable of leading in senior or high ranking positions.

As I began to advance in my career, I did not find that it was difficult to do so. There was not much competition and there was not any stigma within the organization. I do not believe that the organization set out to hire or purposely promote women; however, for some reason, there are majority women preparing themselves for leadership. This is not to say that men do not prepare themselves, but the men in the organization did not seem to care to work as hard for promotion or advancement as the women did. I am lead to believe that within my organization, men are comfortable or complacent with where they are.

I believe that women are equally as capable of leading as men are. They are not better leaders, but are equivalent in their abilities to lead. Women no longer have to fight for a spot in leadership, and they are not seen as “less than” when compared to men in leadership. When allowed to earn their spot in the leadership spotlight, women seem to have a better skill of empowering or influencing their subordinates than men do. For example, most women are more empathetic and understanding of individuals, making them more easy to talk to. Their subordinates feel that they are “cared about” and are approached with personal conversations because of this. When a woman is able to influence her subordinates to perform better just by being who she is, she is considered (in my opinion) as powerful. She is able to win her team over and they are willing to follow her wherever she leads.

Men in leadership have seemed to be less empathetic and lead by the book versus by their natural personalities. Maybe not all men, but the majority of them do not believe or see the importance of being empathetic and understanding to their subordinates and often focus only on getting the job done.

When I as hiring for a Program Supervisor position a few years ago, I often looked for the individual who would be able to step into an already challenging role and be able to influence the already established team to change the culture of the environment. When I had given a male applicant the ability to try out this role as an Acting Program Supervisor, he came in and was focused on the vision and mission that I shared with him. He performed exactly as I needed him to in order to reach the overall goal, which is to ensure a safe and therapeutic environment for the children in the program who were currently in foster care.

When I hired a female Program Supervisor to work the opposite shift as the male, the entire milieu responded to her at a faster rate than they did with the male Program Supervisor, who worked the second shift. The female was not only able to come in and meet the goals set for her position, but she was able to build such a rapport with the staff that they began going over and beyond in their roles to make sure that they were pleasing to her. She valued their personal needs (family/work balance) and engaged in personal conversations with them frequently. She would ask about their family members and remembered their birthdays and other important and special events of the staff.

The male supervisor was nice, friendly, approaching, and understanding, but he lacked the characteristic to be personable. Nonetheless, they were both able to meet the needs of the staff and the youth that we serve. Both proved to be capable and valuable assets to the program. Their methods of operation were different; however, they were both able to improve the program in different ways. The female supervisor possessed the qualities that the male supervisor did not. Again, I want to stress that a woman is equally capable of leading in the same capacity as a man and they can both reach the goals using different methods and styles of leadership.

Leadership Legacy

Leadership Legacy - What do I want my leadership legacy to be?

When a person thinks of the word legacy, the thought is usually about what one would leave behind to his children, grandchildren, and their children. In the professional world, one who is in leadership may often think about what his or her leadership legacy might be.

When I think about my own leadership legacy, I wonder what others will perceive my legacy to be. It is important that others see the hard work that I have put into my role as their leader and how hard I have worked toward making the vision of the company a reality. If I ask myself the question, “What do I want my leadership legacy to be?” I would have to say that I want my leadership legacy to be that I have taught others the importance of putting Christ in the middle of all that you do.

At the root of all things should be the spirit of Christ. I have lived by this motto since I was a young child. My sisters and I would always ask each other after we had major arguments or even physical fights, “is this like God?” and then we would eventually hug and make up. As I entered high school, I would ask myself the now famous phrase, “What would Jesus do?” and then make up my mind if the behavior I was about to engage in would be pleasing to Christ.

In my current senior leadership role, I am not allowed to do a lot of talking about spirituality; however, when I am asked questions about myself or my leadership style, I speak freely about my desire to please Christ and my belief that my role within the company is a part of God’s purpose for my life. When I am asked to speak more about the principles I operate by, I explain that I believe that every decision, every action, and every new connection should involve Christ in the middle. If I do not see a way to ensure that everything is Christ-led, I will not move forward. So far, operating with this belief and by this principle has worked for me.

My belief in this principle is what I believe keeps my grounded. I literally ask myself if what I am preparing to do has room for Christ and if I do not believe there will be room for Him, I will not move forward. Since being in this role and making others aware of this belief, I have been able to establish partnerships for my program with spirit based organizations. The youth in my programs receive free life coaching and mentoring through my church. There is another church that provides mentoring and independent living programs for free as well. The involvement of Christ centered and spirit based relationships has proven to improve some of the views that the youth in my programs have about Christ.

I believe that my legacy of putting Christ in the middle of all that you do has been my consistent theme over the last fourteen years with this company. Although I am not able to walk into a room and openly speak about spirituality or the Lord, I am finding more and more opportunities to do so without having to initiate the conversations. Through these opportunities, I am able to share testimonies of how I have advanced in my career and without hesitation, I am sure to share how it was the Lord that led and guided me throughout the process. I’m asked so often about how I got to where I am now in my career, and there is no way to tell my story without including the Lord and what He has done for me. So any individual who I have had this type of conversation with knows that I credit my advancement to Him.

Although I am not able to initiate these conversations, I speak boldly when I am asked. When there are victories to celebrate for my programs, I give honor to God first. When there are celebrations for other employees, I am sure that we take a moment at the beginning of the event to pray over the food and give praise to God for the individual or event that we are celebrating. Whether positive or negative, I give reverence to Christ for allowing the opportunity for new things. My departments know that I start each day with prayer and that I take time throughout the day to say thank you.

Now, without any intentional influence, I have staff members who do the same. They begin their day with prayer. They bless their lunch before eating. They take time to thank God when things have worked out I the department’s favor. They reference Christ in department victories. I am known for always using the line in my supervision meetings, “as long as Christ is at the middle of all things, you can trust the process”. This statement seems to give an end to worry over those things that we do not have any control over. My subordinates and co-workers have grown fond of me bring this type of positive attitude to difficult and challenging situations and have adopted the same mindset with facing challenges.