LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS

This is my last leadership blog post* as I come to what I’ve been calling my “graduation” instead of retirement the end of this month.  After a 44-year career that was more than I could have hoped for, it seems like a good time to make my closing argument for how to be a great leader.

It comes at a challenging time for me to write about leadership as the world itself feels like it is shifting. Heightened political emotions must be navigated in everyday conversations. What we expect in leader role modeling is up for grabs. Most of us are reckoning with immense uncertainty and anxiety about the future, but as my wise boss reminded me recently, “Leaders don’t get to just sit out a crisis.”  Ok. So here are some parting thoughts on leading that have mattered most to me the last 4.5 decades.

1. Decide on your phrase to be remembered for. “Be courageous” was Ed Ravine’s phrase. He was my boss in the 1980’s when I was struggling with a very bold, aggressive employee who was older and more experienced than me, had applied for my job but was not selected, and then was hired as my assistant. Ed listened to my struggles but let me own the follow-up actions. His advice as I left our discussions was always, “Go be courageous.” What phrase can you make ring for over 30 years in someone’s head?
2. Care. “If you don’t care about people get out of management,” Marcus Buckingham. Another resonant chord, people can sense whether or not you actually do care about them. Do a little soul searching and only accept a leadership title if you are truly willing to care about the growth of others. What is your way of showing that you care?
3. Walk your talk. If you say something is important to you, make sure it is something you are demonstrating yourself. There is nothing more deflating to your team than variations of, “We all need to be sure we are here on time and ready to go when the first patient arrives,” and then being late yourself. Where do you have room to improve the match between your words and actions? This doesn’t mean you have to be perfect…
4. Own up when you screw up. We all do, many times. People can handle the truth. Saying, “I missed the mark, I own it, and I’m making it right,” brings people to your side, as long as you actually do make it right. Blaming, covering up, and image-control actions just make people not trust you. What are you afraid of losing if you admit you were wrong, and is that really at risk? 
5. Be honest. Seems obvious. You may be thinking you can skip this section. But do you hold back tough feedback because of discomfort? Do you say yes when you know you should say no? Do you tell the truth but so bluntly that people feel like they’ve been smacked with a ball bat over even the smallest thing, and then blame them for taking your response personally? Where do you need work on balancing honesty with compassion?
6. Manage your ego. Confidence comes from meeting challenges and succeeding over time, growing from mistakes, and lots of practice and experience. It is a solid thing that can be shoved hard at times but not knocked down. Ego is fragile. The “high” lasts only as long as the most recent success and is threatened when others do well. One practice for keeping ego in check is to highlight the successes of others that otherwise trick your ego into thinking you are being threatened. How could you build in a habit to look for others’ wins and support them, open doors for them, shine a light on their value? To that end,
7. Keep learning. *These blogs will continue! Corrie Searles will be taking over and she, along with all the others I’ve had the privilege to mentor, are part of my story too. Believe in the next generation of leaders. We need their success as much as they do and it is in our interest that they do well. Own your identity as a mentor, where the definition is that learning is a two-way street, not a top-down approach. Who are you missing that has something to teach you because you have thought of mentoring as one-way learning?
8. Identify your own guideposts. This final blog would not be complete without my two favorite go-to reminders on how to conduct myself daily:
   1. “Every day do one thing you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt
   2. The Four Agreements, “Do your best. Don’t take things personally. Be impeccable with your word. Don’t make assumptions.” don Miguel Ruiz.
9. Be the person that other people want to work with. We tend to think about whether or not we want to work with others but flip that on its head. It’s the little things in our every day actions, words, body language that make the big difference. Every. Day. What have you done today that makes other people not want to call in sick tomorrow?
10. Manage your emotions. That doesn’t mean don’t have them. In life we get frustrated, angry, irritable. We go through grief, divorce, illness and death of our loved ones and even our coworkers. Find your “off-stage” person with whom you can take turns supporting each other at these times. A “best friend at work” is a life saver over the course of a career. I know this for a fact. Who is this for you, and who can you be there for in this way?

It’s harder than I thought it would be to write, and then to end this piece. But as I review what I’ve written, I know I’ve written most of it before in some other context. A little repetition in this case probably means I’ve said what I need to say. All except thank you for reading and inspiring me. I am humbly grateful to you, reader.

Ever onward…

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

	In Jo Anne's role as Organizational and Workforce Development Senior Manager at the Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative (RWHC) her aim is to offer to leaders straightforward tools and inspire the courage to use them.
	Lead the Way in Five Minutes A Day: Sparking High Performance in Yourself and Your Team, by Jo Anne Preston is currently available for purchase.