WE MUST, through our actions as leaders, develop the people under us. There is the notion of servant leadership-leading through your teams, focusing on your team’s development in order to reach common goals.
This is a lesson I learnt the hard way. I was enthusiastic about an administrative assistant I had hired, she was phenomenal. She was in tune to the needs of the department, articulate, intelligent, passionate and a problem solver.
With all of these qualities, it should have come as no surprise to anyone that she was also ambitious and truth be told operated at a higher level than that of an administrative assistant. And I lost her. Yes I lost her. She fired me, as I say! There were other areas in my department in which she would have excelled, and because I wanted to have the best assistant ever, I did not see that those were opportunities and roles into which I could have developed her.
We must develop our people, we cannot manage people without coaching them, guiding them and giving them the opportunities to learn new skills and do work which they can be proud of. If you lead a team and you leave them in the same way you have found them, then you have failed as a leader.
I always joke and say besides: if you don’t have a successor you can’t take a holiday and you can’t be promoted!
I attended the Women of Power conference in Florida, which focused on leadership for women. For the first time, a male addressed that conference; he was the former embattled chief executive officer of MacDonald’s, Donald Thompson.
And he made a telling point: that as leaders we need not listen to our own press releases. Sometimes people around us are saying you are doing such a great job, that job is for you – only you can lead that team. You are the blue-eyed girl, de boss like you.
And we get caught up in all that hype forgetting that at the end of the day it’s a business, there are organisational goals to be met and new areas of business to be developed.
And in spite of how good you are where you are now, you just may not be that leader for that job. That is why it’s so critical to be self-aware and most important to never stop developing yourself.
You must stay on top of your technical skill, your leadership skills and your industry. You have to read, invest in your own development. Many of my seminars and courses are self-funded. I invest in me – continuously.
And finally, it is inconceivable for us to discuss leadership and not give full credence to the fact that the leadership paradigm for women and women of colour in the Caribbean is different. Let’s not hide from it – it is different.
There is an extra effort required of female leaders and that is a fact. There is an extra effort required too, because many of us are mothers, a key role which must be at the forefront of all that we do. And yet we still have many female leaders that we can draw inspiration from – who share experiences and advise and who guide us by their lives’ examples.
And so this bossy girl has had her say – given you my observations on leadership and making a difference, equip yourself with emotional intelligence, solve the issues, not complain, develop yourself and most importantly develop your people, develop your teams.
Tracey Knight-Lloyd is vice-president, customer experience at Sagicor General Insurance Inc. She made these remarks at a Business and Professional Women’s Club of Barbados event.
