INS IDE SCOOP
ARE YOU GROWING YOUR LEADERSHIP TEAM?
BY LINDA ANDTERY TENNANT Contributing Writers
Who makes up your leadership team?
Were many of them promoted from within? Have they fully transitioned into the lead- ership role? Many people are promoted to leadership
positions without the proper training or some times without any training. This is risky. Some will figure it out and succeed, though usually taking longer and at a much greater cost than necessary. Others strug- gle and sometimes are lost both as a pro- ductive worker and a potentially great lead- er. Even leaders who do okay may never fully transition without learning effective leadership skills. This has tremendous impact on attracting and retaining employ- ees. Good employees expect good leader- ship; without it, they may be tempted to move on. A leader needs skills in three overall
areas: technical, process (strategic think- ing) and human skills. Without formal leadership development, leaders tend to rely on their technical skills and end up doing their people’s job instead of their own. Though every leader has his or her unique
style, it is beneficial to get all the leaders on board with foundational leadership skills, speaking the same language and supporting a consistent organizational culture. Think you can’t afford to develop leaders
because you have a small company? Actually, it is even more important since you have more limited resources. Every sin- gle person in a small company must oper- ate at the highest productivity level. A good leader will make this happen. Otherwise, you are wasting money every day from lost productivity and missed opportunities.
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Do You See Any of These Symptoms in Your Leadership Team?
Not Exercising Authority Effectively:
The manager isn’t holding some or all team members accountable. The manager works around an employee who isn’t doing his or her job. Perhaps the manager is being too hard on employees and abusing the power of the position rather than coaching and inspiring. Poor Time Management and Productivity: The manager puts out fires constantly rather than identifying the cause and developing longer term solutions and processes. The manager works long hours and doesn’t think he can take a vaca- tion. The manager thinks he is too busy to provide employee coaching. Not Developing the Potential of the Team: Lots of time is spent answering questions because the manager is the only one who knows the procedures; nothing is in writing. The manager micromanages employees instead of developing them. The department doesn’t work as well when the leader is away. Lack of Delegation: You hear the manag- er say, “It’s faster to do it myself than teach someone else”. This might be true the first time, but if we don’t take the time to teach, we will always be doing the task rather than doing the real job of leadership which is getting results through others. Missing Motivation: You hear the manag- er says, “No one cares as much as I do.” or hear employees being told, “We need to do
this because top management wants it done.” Good leaders take personal respon- sibility and tap into the individual employ- ee’s motivation. Ineffective Problem Solving and Decision Making: The manager makes decisions and solves problems his or her people could solve.
Create the Right Environment for Leadership Growth
Create a leadership development plan for
yourself and each employee, but don’t waste training dollars. You can’t just send someone to a one day seminar most of the time. Take these steps to create a climate of real leadership behavior change: • Prior to the training, agree upon what specific behaviors and results should be different after the training.
• Agree upon how the changes will be measured.
• Spread the training over a period of weeks to increase retention and application.
• Allow multiple exposures to the information through reading and listening.
• Schedule weekly meetings where the trainee and his or her manager measure progress and discuss specific application of the ideas. Cultivate leadership skills in yourself
and in your team. Create the right climate for individual and organizational growth. Grow your own leaders! The first step is awareness. Take a free leadership self- assessment
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Linda and Tery Tennant own Attainment, Inc., a franchise of Leadership Management International. Linda and Tery are active members of the Arizona Trucking Association. Read more articles at
www.attainmentinc.com.
UTAH TRUCKING ~ Issue 5, 2013 17
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