When I speak with new lieutenants, they often ask me what their first battalion commander, the CEO, will expect from them. The answer is to LEARN YOUR JOB! That question caused me to rewrite my book to be what I wanted to give my children. I’m not advertising my book, but my book is a roadmap to the answer.
As a leader, learning your job takes on several dimensions. You can face this in several ways, including top-down or inside-out. Whether you are a Marine, an executive, or a project manager, the first step is to assess your role in the organization and your key responsibilities. The first two roles are leader and manager. Your first and most important role as a leader is training and caring for your people. As a manager, you are responsible for knowing your business and ensuring mission accomplishment. Now you can’t cleanly separate leader and manager, but leaders inspire their people to transcend to something greater than self. Managers ensure the efficient and practical application of resources to accomplish an objective. Both require an investment of time and energy to master. In the military, we invest a lot of training and education in leadership and occupational expertise. Unfortunately, in the private sector, we often promote people into leadership positions as rewards for their technical expertise without leadership training.
I like to start at my desk with all the governing policies, procedures, and techniques. Then I work outward and upward, finding the experts in every related area, asking for their expert insight and experience. This approach is applicable in both leadership and management development. However, leadership requires starting with our inner character and coaching from master leaders. Furthermore, as a leader, essential to your competence is knowing and living your core values and developing your strategic plan to become a leader.
So, this week assess your roles, write your core values, and start your plan to become a leader by identifying one action you can take to improve your performance in each role.
If I can help, set up a call at the link https://connallyconsulting.com/contact
Remember, “all things are possible through prayer and heavy deadlifts.”™
