My Leadership Journey — It All Started With a Crisis
One of the most consistent refrains in business today is that everyone is being asked to do more with less, less time, less money, less people. All around less resources. Let me tell you a story about a time when I was just getting started in the business world as a new leader. I was a supervisor in a contact center and we were given the directive of cutting back on overtime. At the time, I had a team of eight customer service specialists and I shared with them the importance of finishing their day on-time.
I had a member of my team who had an amazing ability to make the people she was talking to feel like they were her only priority. There was only one problem, she consistently worked overtime because her calls were so long. She and I had a conversation reminding her of the importance of ending her shift on-time every day. Despite that conversation, nothing changed so I decided to up the ante. I started by sending her an instant message a few minutes before the end of her shift with a reminder to end the call she was on as quickly as possible.
When that too failed, I chose to be even more aggressive in my attempt to get her off the phone. The next time she was on a call at the end of the day I decided to stand just outside her cubicle so she could see me and quietly reminded her to get off the phone. When she finally did, I asked her why once again she took a call right before her shift ended when we had talked about it several times. I was so aggressive in my questions and how I was handling the situation that it made her cry. She is one of the nicest people you will ever meet and I had made her cry.
That was the moment my quest for leadership knowledge started. I realized that although I had been leading people in different capacities for years I really did not know how to lead. To lead you must be able to convince people to change their behavior because they see the benefit of making the change. I started by looking around me for role models that I respected and who had a head start on understanding what it takes to be a leader. I found two people who I would spend the next several years learning from; I learned how to listen. They were both incredibly generous with their time and sharing their experiences. The next thing I did was start reading; I read books, articles and blogs anything I could get my hands on. What I did not do was try and embrace all things I read or heard. I took it all in and then evaluated it to determine whether I could authentically implement what I learned.
I find myself a decade removed from my crisis moment and I am no less dedicated to learning all I can about leading. My goal is to be the kind of leader that people want to follow and who helps them be more successful than they think is possible.