Stepping into Leadership
If you look at quotes about leadership in its most basic form, it starts with a vision to lead to success. Here is a question what does success mean? Success is elusive, right, success for me right now is that I woke up this morning and made it to work on time. Before alarm clocks became readily available “knocker-uppers” was a profession where people knocked on doors to wake people up so they could get to work on time. But that really isn’t leadership success in the way we think about it today. When we think of leaders, we think of high brass military officials or large corporation CEOs. For the most part, those people did not just wake up and step into those positions, they had to start somewhere…
Leadership seems most obvious in the work environment. There is a natural hierarchy or order to things. Jason, a fast-food employee starts out as a crew member, then he gets promoted to shift manager, then department manager, and so forth until he gets to the pinnacle position of restaurant manager, overseeing all aspects of restaurant operations. When did Jason start being a leader? It is a trick question! Jason started being a leader before he ever took the position.
Thinking about the family construct, parents are the leaders. One day the kids grow up and create their own lives. Everyone is in control of how they choose to see the world and what they want to make a priority in their lives. Circling back to Jason, he decided to get a job as crew member and do his best, putting in extra effort, supporting his shift manager, so that he could one day step into that role. Jason had a goal and vision for his future. Unbeknownst to Jason, he influenced others around him to keep a positive attitude. That does not mean his peers did not pick-on him and call him the supervisor’s pet and try to bring him down to their level. They did all of that, but, those hurdles did not stop Jason from keeping a positive attitude and making meaningful contributions. Jason chose to stay focused and lead himself to the next step.
Leadership starts with you. You must step into leadership by leading yourself. You need to create a vision for yourself about your values and characteristics. Generally, that’s how leadership starts, people notice that you excel in something, so they follow your advice and guidance even if you do not have a leadership title. Supervisors will generally appoint team or project leaders because they are confident that they can trust those individuals to get the job done. Leaders are driven by their values which guide their behaviors and actions.
