Emerging a Leader, One Step at a Time
By Terri Bianco
Copyright © 2008 by Terri Bianco, TBEnterprises
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Published by Worthy Shorts®
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ISBN 978-1-935340-56-0
WS121
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Dedication
To all my clients and colleagues who know when to lead and how to follow. You inspire me.
Contents
Introduction
The Legend of Leadership
---Leadership “Boote Campe”
---Full Plates, Full Loads
---Succession Planning and the Gap
The Emerging Leader Program
---Overview
---Process
---Participants
---Multi-Generational Appeal
---Cohort Groups
---Consistency of Instructor
---Live Homework
---Accountability
---Peer Coaching
---Celebration
---Brain-Based Learning
Representative Training Program for Supervisors
Representative Training Program for Leadership
References
Introduction
It happens every time. At a certain point in a training session, magic occurs. It’s nothing I do in particular. It just happens. The team of employees and their managers are grappling with communication, leadership, teamwork — what used to be called the soft skills and are now the hard skills of today’s workplace.
A miasma of long-ingrained issues and predictable responses floats around the room. It’s awkward. The team is fragmented, disjointed, dysfunctional. They’re in the groan zone: seeking resolution, not finding it.
And then magic occurs. One or two individuals start coming around, expressing themselves. I see a glimmer of leadership. They are tentative at first; it’s not really their role. Or it is, and they do not want to be seen as taking charge. But still…. “What if we….?”
People shed their roles in an eagerness to resolve, move forward. Patterns develop. There is a blink moment when it all suddenly makes sense. Leadership has shown up. The team begins clicking. Relief is reflected in a collective sigh. Problems fall away, solutions are clear.
I retreat, relegated to recording their action plans. The room is energized. It’s a beautiful moment. It’s why I do what I do and why I love doing it.
~~
On other occasions I am sequestered in an office or encased in fiber optics conducting an executive coaching session by phone. The topic shifts depending on the needs or desires of the person I am coaching.
Most often, feelings of frustration surface. The client expresses angst over his or her seeming inability to connect with employees or staff, to deal with those petty issues that cause conflict. Faced with mandates to produce on deadline and within budget, to create miracles with diminishing resources or untrained staff, the manager gasps for breath. He or she seems to be treading water to avoid drowning.
“Do I have a productive team?” “How can I let my staff know I appreciate them?” “What should I cover in staff meetings that would be most productive?” “When do I get to look at my strategy?” “How can I get my boss to trust me?”
And sometimes: “I don’t know how to do this!”
The executive coaching phenomenon undoubtedly owes its popularity to the needs of individuals in positions of power who do not enjoy the scaffolding that supports their efforts. Driven to climb the career ladder, self-motivated and conscientious, the specific management or people skills paramount to the success of a leader somehow bypassed this otherwise highly competent individual.
As I listen to these individuals in coaching sessions, I dig for the values that drive them. My questions guide and support; techniques are brought out of my quiver and offered as golden arrows for them to use or toss. My whole focus is on their success—it is the only way I succeed.
So then more magic occurs. Shoulders relax. Eyes begin to glimmer. Breathing resumes at a deep and confident level. They share insights, create amazing solutions, develop plans that will work. This isn’t so hard after all. They know how to do this. With the mud churned up and the rock moved aside, the leader emerges.
I strongly believe there is a leader within each of us; that each of us has the capacity and the willingness and the heart to lead others—including ourselves—to a more effective workplace and a better world. And that innate ability often and sadly goes untapped and overlooked, by ourselves and by others.
My experience and work with the aftermath of untaught, unskilled, or haphazard leadership and its impact on both follower and leader has led me to the conclusion that we need a very focused, very specific leadership program to bring forth those who opt to become leaders and to give those who do not a heightened appreciation for those who do.
This is not a new idea. In its approach, it harkens back to apprenticeships, to mentoring. It smacks of boot camp or a military academy. It’s a shorter version of gaining a Master’s degree; it’s a more robust version of a certification program.
That I might want to become militaristic or structured around “teaching” leadership seems contrary to my rather global, creative self. But I think we need it. We have our collective heads in the sand about leadership and how one gets there. Leaders are winging it and seldom admitting it.
And we can’t afford do to that. We cannot afford it economically and we cannot afford it socially. We have skeptical and realistic younger generations coming up the ranks, and they are walking into a void—if they walk at all.
We need to offer opportunities for leaders to show up. I propose a concentrated, specific, step-by-step training program based on proven principles about how people learn. Let’s fine tune the legend of leadership. Let’s part the waters so individuals can emerge with their strengths, creativity, and authenticity—highly skilled and ready to lead.
Nothing is more important in today’s world.
The Legend of Leadership