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.