Training Industry Quarterly - Summer 2012 - (Page 21)
Building Your Leadership Click the link above to hear a podcast recording of this TIQ article To posiTively impacT oThers, you have To be willing To keep learning and growing yourself B y ere’s a bit of good news if you’re in a leadership role — no one expects you to be perfect. The plain truth is there are no perfect leaders — all of us have the opportunity to get better as leaders; we all have areas where we can be more effective. In your case, you certainly have the potential to improve — to become even better at creating strategy, communicating, setting goals, giving feedback or whatever it is that you choose to work on. But here’s the thing — you have to work at it. You have to want to get better if you’re going to become a more effective leader. Why is this important? There are several reasons of course, but perhaps the most important is your obligation as a people manager. As a leader, you S t e v e A r n e S o n working for you, and whether they’re willing to follow you. If you want to be a really productive leader, you have to bring a consistently positive (and effective) brand to work every day. Good leaders do this; great leaders do it too, but they also never stop working to improve their brand. Fortunately, it is possible to get a little better each day as a leader. If you’re willing to put in the time, you really can learn, practice and apply new skills on a consistent basis. And given today’s pace of change, you can’t wait for the organization to bring leadership training to you; you have to be willing to work on your own game. You can’t rely solely on your boss for coaching and mentoring; you need to take charge of your 21 H have an opportunity to help your people grow and develop so they can take their skills and contribution to another level. But to positively impact others, you have to be willing to keep learning and growing yourself. You have to model working on your own development. Your Leadership Brand As a leader, you have a reputation throughout your organization. I call it your leadership brand. Your leadership brand is how others experience your leadership — what it’s like to work for or with you. You don’t really own this brand either — they do. It has everything to do with the confidence they have in you, how they feel about Training Industry Quarterly, Summer 2012 / A Training Industry, Inc. ezine / www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ
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