YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY

Springfield, MO

Log in Subscribe

Opinion: Learn to grow into leadership material

Posted online

“There just isn’t anyone on staff who can step up and take over for me. I’m looking to hire a general manager.”

Are you burning out? Are you looking for someone to help? Perhaps you are unsure of your skills as a leader and don’t see any “leadership material” in your team members either. Of course, it would be great if you could call a headhunter or put an ad on CareerBuilder and find a superman or superwoman who could make everything better. He or she could take the reins and fix your business while you cash checks at your beach house. I’m not saying that never happens. I am suggesting a more predictably successful route.

Leadership can be learned. I’ve met lots of top-level executives from many companies, of all sizes. They are all imperfectly human. In other words, when it comes to taking your company to the next level, why not you? Why not the wonderful people who work for you already? You could grow into leadership.

The inspiration half
Listen to famous speeches, read inspiring books, study the lives of successful leaders, and clarify your own dreams and vision. Start, or dust off, your business plan. Write down your mission and values. Set some goals that get your blood flowing. Do you want a turnkey company? To spend more time with your kids? To create career paths for team members? To give back to your community? Write it down.

Then what? Many leadership courses, books and speakers share inspiring stories of how, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” (The original quote is attributed to John F. Kennedy, FYI.) But what do leaders actually do when the going gets tough? My friend Jack Tester says, “The most successful leaders inspire and implement.” They create a compelling raison d’etre, and they get stuff done.

The implementation half
When studying leadership, you’ll find plenty of lofty advice on inspiration. When it comes to implementation, you’re looking for less sexy fare, like help with planning, creating an organizational chart, scheduling time, holding meetings, managing projects and writing procedures.

Leadership Exercise No. 1: This exercise can help you tactically identify what is getting in the way of achieving your dreams. Schedule a meeting with the owners and people in managerial positions to create or update your organizational chart, and position descriptions. You may discover that you and/or someone else is/are holding several positions and juggling lots of tasks.

Next, you are all going to fill in your calendars with exactly what you spend your time on, over the next two or three weeks. Plan your day, then, overwrite the calendar throughout the day with what you are actually doing. You’ll probably find a disconnect between how you are spending time and what you want to do or think you should be doing, according to the organizational chart and your position descriptions.

Hold a follow-up meeting and discuss what you’ve learned. You might update your organizational chart, to try out new arrangements, and be open to more changes as you grow. As you share your findings from the calendar exercise, consider reframing the challenges as potential projects. Assemble a master list of projects. For instance:

Challenge: Too many callbacks.

Project: Pick a few frequent callback topics and create procedures, and training, to prevent them.

Challenge: Spending all day on sales calls.

Project: Identify someone else at the company who may be willing and able to do sales. Adopt a sales training program.

Then what? Tune in next month for Leadership Exercise No. 2.

Ellen Rohr is an author and business consultant offering profit-building tips, trending business blogs and online workshops at EllenRohr.com. Her books include “Where Did the Money Go?” and “The Bare Bones Weekend Biz Plan.” She can be reached at ellen@ellenrohr.com.

[[In-content Ad]]

Comments

No comments on this story |
Please log in to add your comment
Editors' Pick
From the Ground Up: Republic Intermediate School

The Republic School District is on track to open its Intermediate School for fifth- and sixth-grade students for the 2025-26 academic year.

Most Read
Update cookies preferences