Growing leaders for tomorrow
I felt as though I was at home when reading Leadersmithing by Eve Poole[1]. The concepts in the book easily relate to the profession I have been practicing for the last 24 years. The concepts, language, and exercises were familiar. We use variations of many of the exercises in our leadership in-service training classes.
In the first chapter, Poole asked a poignant question. “What do I know now that I wish I knew 10 years ago?”[2] I have been puzzling with this all week. But it raised another question for me. What could I be doing better today? Asking this will help me hone my skills so I can continue to grow.
When new employees join our organization, they complete an onboarding program that takes ninety days. Onboarding includes site specific training, online training, an orientation meeting, and weekly meetings with a navigator, a seasoned staff person not in their report line, who serves as a mentor. The area that takes center stage is character as outlined in our core values of honesty, accountability, dignity, community building, growth-constantly learning, and sustainability. To successfully live these core values takes character. We don’t expect perfection, but we want honesty. In our orientation meeting, we go over those major items, sharing that the consequences for making a mistake and correcting it are much less than hiding it and getting caught. It is in the small things when people choose to make difficult choices over easy ones, time after time, which builds into the character. Poole likens it to the two of hearts apprentice piece of character. [3]
Character is more than simply adhering to rules out of fear of consequences. Character is about who we are. As Poole says, character is about being rather than doing. When Poole mentioned princes slaying dragons and that people may not be conquering external threats as much as mastering themselves[4] I thought of the Hero’s Journey where the hero conquers something dangerous then returns forever changed[5]. Both are about people being transformed by their struggles to overcome difficulties. I do believe character can grow and people can change. I like Habit 7 in Stephen Covey’s[6] book that is a cornerstone for many effective habits and the critical incidents from Poole. Covey recommends that the nurturing of self: body, mind, spirit, and emotions will help with every other tool or skill we develop. This is because it keeps the person in balance in their life. Both Covey and Poole agree that balance that allows for times to re-energize is important for overall growth and productivity.[7]
So, what do I wish I knew 10 years ago that I know today? Some of the things that surfaced for me fit nicely into Poole’s list of Critical incidents.[8] Others did not.
- I know that things will change, and that change is important for growth. Currently, I am in a sweet spot professionally, but if I have learned anything, I know it can change in a minute. Poole #3: Coping with increasing change.
- I have learned that the CEO does not have a peer at work. I have many meaningful relationships with people who work for me, but there are times when I need to be the person holding the Ace of Spades and have difficult conversations with people.[9] It might not be about a request the person is making as Poole used in her example, but perhaps a performance issue. Whatever it is, the technique Poole suggests works. These conversations still are not pleasant, but they are important for the growth of the employee or the work.
- I know that even the most difficult situations will eventually resolve. These are the kinds of issues that build character. However, in 2017 several people we served passed away due to disease progression related to their disability. Not only were we caring for a lot of people, our staff and clients were grieving. I was grieving. Looking back, I should have gotten outside help to process grief. Poole #15: Knowing when to seek help and advice.[10]
So much of what Eve Poole wrote about, I have been living. There have been so many lessons. Some have been mastered and there is definite muscle memory. Most of the Spades group comes naturally now. I still do not like having difficult conversations but have learned that if I lay the groundwork with regular times for one-on-one meetings with my direct reports, there are fewer difficult conversations needed and when they are, the other person is not blindsided.
Finally, what could I be doing better today? In late November we opened a thrift store to help promote sustainability and give our clients real work experience. This is an exciting venture yet very scary. I need to continue to support the store manager, but I also have to trust that his retail experience will be a good guide. I need to be careful not to micromanage him.
Concepts and techniques in Leadersmithing will be particularly useful for my NPO topic of Executive Leadership Transition. For the last five years I have been preparing my team to do my job. Sounds strange but important. It is exciting to watch them grow in their board interactions related to their service center and present reports at board meetings. I don’t know the person who will ultimately replace me when the time comes, but there are members of my team that will be capable of stepping in, whether as an interim or full replacement. The satisfying piece for me is that those individuals will have skills that they can take with them wherever their career path leads. Whether it is where we all work now or some new place that will give them new places to flex their leadership muscles, it is what mentoring others into leadership means to me.
[1] Eve Poole, Leadersmithing, Revealing the Trade Secrets of Leadership (London: Bloomsbury Publishing,2017)
[2] Poole, 10
[3] Poole, 174-176
[4] Poole, 49
[5] Joseph Campbell, The Hero With A Thousand Faces 3rd ed. (Novato: New World Library, 2008),14-15
[6] Covey 341-345
[7] Poole, 100
[8] Poole, 10-32
[9] Poole, 126
[10] Poole, 29
About the Author
Diane Tuttle
8 responses to “Growing leaders for tomorrow”
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Diane,
Thanks for the little portal into the work you do and the leader that you are. Remind me again what work it is that you do?
As my post about being a firefighter is fresh on my mind, when you said that all problems eventually resolve I thought about the saying we used to have, “If the fire gets away from us it will at least stop at the Pacific Ocean.”
As you look through this deck of cards, what is one thing that you are currently working on right now?
Hi Adam, I work for an organization called Angelwood. We care for children, adults and families living with developmental disabilities. We have group homes, a career development day program (supported employment), behavior services, summer day camp, respite servcies. Thanks for asking.
For what I am working on now, I would have to say the 7 of hearts. The thrift store that we just opened is a different venture than our other services with lots of risk. I think I need to shift my approach with the store manager. I want to review how I have been working with him, push or pull but also have I given him all the tools needed to be successful.
Diane, I love that you have been preparing your staff to take over your job! I have found this to be a rare and missing quality of good leadership.
I am wondering what your staff would say are the top “cards” you model in working with them?
Hi Kari, The thing I hope my staff who know me best say is my strong suit isn’t on Poole’s list exactly. I hope that they would know that I am living my life and work the way I do to honor God. In doing that, I hope I live it out in my character. When decisions need to be made, how I process the options with them speaks loudly to character, especially because, often. the easy answer isn’t the best one.
Hi Diane! Thank you for this. Your transparency made me reflect on my leadership journey, even to the point of grief. You gave me the idea that if faced with a similar uphill season again, I will take Poole’s advice and seek outside help. Along the lines of Kari, can you tell me, conversely, what part of Poole’s writing lines up with your strong suits?
Hi Daren, I am glad it may be useful to you. Your question is hard. Not because I can’t find one thing that is important but because so many on Poole’s list are worthy of effort. We need to thank, not just contributors but also our staff, we need to listen to them and give them feedback. I think the word that really sums up my thoughts is transparency. Poole mentioned it on p. 175. I like that no matter who looks at what a leader is doing, the leader does not have to hide if being transparent. Wanting transparency to permeate everything does not mean everyone knows everything or every action is perfect, of course. It does mean that if something ends up on the “front page of the paper”, when they existed, I wouldn’t need to be embarassed. So, again I go back to character. However, being able to work through most of the Spades is also very important.
Diane, you set a wonderful example of a good leader. I know in a previous post you discussed the impact of the pandemic on Angelwood. What pre-existing templates do you feel you used most during this challenging season and what new templates did you and your team build?
Hi Elysse, Thanks for the question. I am not sure if this hits on what you are asking but one thing I did after the pandemic was to lean into a “CEO Confidential” group that our local Nonprofit Center has monthly. It is a good place to sit with peers and discuss issues that most people don’t know until they sit in the seat. While it doesn’t involve our staff directly, how I care for me determines if I can meet the needs when they arise.
On the middle management level, we have become much more consistent with monthly leadership meetings. The senior program director is responsible for them but has instituted a process where the three department heads lead part of the meeting. This shares the responsibility but also builds on their leadership skills.