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Leadership: Developed, Not Born
The key is developing skills, following mentors and praise.
by Sherri Morgan, Director of Marketing and Communications, Bank of North Georgia
July 11, 2008
I
don't believe leaders are born with a set of skills or attributes indicating that they
are destined to be leaders.
On the contrary, I believe that leaders are created through experiences gained, skills
developed and mentors followed.
I've been extremely lucky that I have worked for a number of key leaders during my career
and they have taught me more than I could learn through any business book or seminar. Very simply,
here are some of the things I've learned during the past 23 years:
Provide encouragement to
your employees.
Encourage your employees to learn more and "stretch" beyond their comfort zone. Give them
challenging work, and let them take ownership of assignments. Let them experience what it's like to
fill in for you at meetings, own a project and see it through, and meet with senior management.
When I was first starting my career, I was a little introverted and my boss could see that
she needed to stretch my abilities to get more comfortable working in the community relations
department. She would have me attend the senior management meetings and give a report on what we
were doing in our communities, and it forced me to get comfortable speaking in front of groups and
gain more confidence in myself. It also let me know that she believed in me and felt I had the
ability to grow.
Care about your employees.
Check in and be "present" with your employees. Take the time to get to know them outside of
their job, ask about their families and take an interest in their personal lives. Ask them how they
are doing and not just in relationship to their work.
Encourage a positive work environment. Celebrate their birthdays, their achievements and
successes at work and at home, order lunch in for everyone or take them out to lunch occasionally
for no reason. Show them that you care!
Recognize good work!
One thing I have learned is always taking the time to thank an employee for good work! No
matter how big or small the task, this is the key to building relationships with the employees on
your team. They need to know that they make a difference, are valued and contribute to the bottom
line.
Genuine and consistent recognition is the one reason an employee will not leave his or her
job. It's the easiest thing in the world to do as a leader and actually contributes to a productive
and happy work environment more than we can measure.
It's very hard to find good employees, so when you find them you need to nurture those
relationships to retain them. One way is to recognize them for their efforts in a timely and
sincere manner.
Give credit to others.
Some leaders think if they don't take credit for all the work they own, that management may
think they are not needed or aren't performing up to standard.
I believe it's the opposite. It's extremely important to let those who work for you shine
for the work they do. Lift them up and share their best practices. This serves to recognize their
hard work and helps the company as a whole. Good leaders are quick to get the best players on their
team and let them run with the ball. By doing this, it builds morale and members of your team feel
like they have a coach they can trust who empowers them to do their best.
Pay attention to the tough times.
There will always be peaks and valleys in our professional and personal lives. When times
are tough because of overwhelming workloads, balancing busy careers and personal lives or
experiencing an unexpected crisis or loss, good leaders need to step in, assess the situation and
be prepared to act.
Sometimes offering an employee the chance to talk about the situation helps because you are
there to listen and offer advice. It may be that you need to address the job and its workload or a
parent is feeling guilty about missing a son's baseball game. Let them go home early to see the
game. Or, offer the ability to have some time off when an unexpected hardship has occurred.
I think it's important to remember that a leader will always be judged and remembered for
how he or she deals with these difficult times in someone's life. Be there for others during tough
times! It will come back to you tenfold. Employees remember those who made a difference in their
lives. Don't overlook these tough times to step up to the plate.
As a leader, you have the ability to emulate the inspiring people who have mentored you
through the years. Carry on the tradition by serving as a positive role model and dynamic leader to
coach those working for you.
Sherri Morgan was recently presented with the James H. Blanchard Leadership Award in honor of the vision and leadership example set by Jim Blanchard, past chairman of Synovus, the Columbus, Georgia-based diversified financial services company.
