Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Future Leaders Are Not Just Managers


I like managers and employees who ask questions. There is nothing better than working with staff who are curious about why things are done the way they are done. Ask any Manager what they want in new staff and it is some sort of leadership characteristic or behavior. It is always a good sign when you, as the leader, suggest something and instead of complaining why, the staff actually want to learn and test your idea. Your leadership comes into play to guide the team, or individual managers, without stopping their eagerness to know why or how.

Looking at how to build future leaders, it is important to ask for innovative ideas. This benefits both the work place and the product. Make sure the relevant managers understand the leader's needs and have open communication with all people involved. This atmosphere leads to better team performance.

So how does a leader encourage staff to ask why and how? Let’s be clear it’s our job as leaders to encourage everyone to regularly ask these questions about everything regarding our product and our workplace.

The questions and the explorations, as well as the discoveries are all fascinating. Of course, what we as organizational leaders have our sights set on, is realizing changes that promote positive outcomes. These positive changes come from the hard work of channeling ideas and concepts into actions.

What leaders have to be careful of is managers who don’t like change and could harm the program by not leading! The excuse is always we have no time. Time is an asset that has to be managed for best results. I often tell my team take these words from my piece of paper, or the white board, and turn them into action.

The marketing team should invest time, effort, and budget on thinking through how it can innovate using process change, structure, data, technology, social media and other tactics in upcoming projects. Should marketing fail then the leader has to find and train a new possible leader with a reward incentive program amongst other "please join us offers…". You have to go out and look for leaders based on what they have done before. Generally you find the best leaders are leading motivated teams in delivering new innovative products, or inventing ideas for the future.

Curiosity is the future with experimentation, and these ideas are what you want in the future leader.