Note from Art: this is a reminder to senior leaders to encourage and provide informal leadership opportunities to team members, and a wake-up call for those hoping to one day be the afore-mentioned senior leaders.
The time to start leading is now, long before anyone has bestowed the title of leader on you.
Much like the famous trio of Scarecrow, Lion and Tin Woodman of Oz-fame, they didn’t really need the Wizard to bestow a brain, courage or a heart, and you don’t need someone to anoint you as a leader before you can start learning and practicing.
The great news is that today’s organizations are filled with opportunities for you to easily and informally develop both your leadership and your followership skills.
Increasingly, the nature of work is project-driven, and it’s a safe bet that much of your time will be spent juggling the demands of multiple project teams simultaneously. It’s also a safe bet that somewhere in those various projects are wonderful opportunities to step-up and help lead problem-solving, trouble-shooting or improvement initiatives. Choose tasks that seem challenging and will push you to stretch your skills.
Closer to home, your own manager is likely juggling multiple balls while spinning a fair number of plates. I can assure you that he or she would love to share some of the fun with a team member. Sit down and talk with your manager. Share your interest in trying leadership on for size and indicate that you relish the opportunity to gain experience in this area while helping to solve problems.
If the workplace doesn’t seem conducive to stretching your leadership wings, there are ample opportunities in your community in the schools, in churches and in volunteer roles at one of the many non-profits in your area. Volunteer to lead a fund-raiser or event, and you’ll get a great taste of the challenges and rewards of leading.
Six Ideas for Developing as a Leader Without the Title:
- Opportunities are all around you…be creative and find challenges that push you outside of your comfort zone.
- Work on becoming a great follower. Great followership is an outstanding training ground for developing as an effective leader.
- Don’t get caught up in the so-called trappings of leadership. Believe me, there is nothing glamorous about the role. It’s hard work with little instantaneous gratification. On the other hand, the long-term psychic rewards are priceless.
- Study the habits and approaches of leaders that you admire and strive to apply those lessons in your activities.
- Ask for feedback on your performance and listen to it.
- Seek out an informal mentor to bounce issues and ideas off of during your leadership experiments. This might be your manager, a peer or someone else that you admire in your organization. Share your lessons learned…and offer your ideas to solving problems. Mentors are not there to solve your problems or even give specific directions…but a good one will nudge you in the right direction if he/she sees that you are truly striving to solve the problem on your own.
The Bottom-Line for Now
By pursuing informal leadership experiences, you will learn whether you truly enjoy the role or are much happier as a valued individual contributor. This is great insight to develop and one that will pay dividends in the form of proper future career decisions.
You don’t need a title to start leading. You do need to screw up some courage and seek out and grab one of the many informal challenges that surround you. You’ll be glad that you did.
Art,
Excellent points on the steps to take to hone your leadership skills before actually stepping into the leadership role. Taking on informal leadership roles is the only way to know if you are comfortable in the leadership position. In addition, because leaders need to come up with creative solutions to problems (and creativity is best when practiced) experience in creative roles is valuable to becoming a good leader in the future. My personal belief is that when you are coming up with creative ideas, you are practicing the decision making process and setting a vision. These are the two most important parts of being a leader.
Finding a mentor is also valuable, especially in my situation of changing career paths. I had an array of options to take in the healthcare field, and my mentor helped guide my decision making by making me examine in what field of healtcare I would get the most enjoyment and fulfillment. That process crystallized my decision immediately.
Great advice Art. I think practicing informal leadership is a great win-win situation for your organization and yourself. I have to keep reminding myself to be vigilant for the opportunities to lead informally.
Great post Art. This concept is drastically underutilized in organizations. Often organizations promote an individual with fantastic technical, or even management ability, but no leadership experience. While not ideal, this scenario can result in a win if those that are promoted are given the resources to climb the leadership learning curve quickly. However, the ideal scenario is one that marries technical, management and leadership skills into a promotion ready package. I always encourage my coaching clients (and myself) to take the initiative to seek out these opportunities, as there are always ample options! You put it best by saying, its time to “screw up the courage.”
Great article Art. I think that people need to be reminded to go above and beyond what is “required” of them in whatever it may be in order to prepare themselves for what they would like to achieve in the future. I think that your advice is right on when you talk about becoming a leader before you are one, because it allows you to stand out when the time comes for a position to be filled. If you are already a “leader”, then the transition would be seamless and the pieces would fit together perfectly. However, I think it is also important to remember that while leading before you are a leader, it is important to respect the current “leaders” in order to not seem as cocky, disrespectful, or insubordinate. It is important to observe and participate as a great follower in order to learn from mistakes and successes when you become a true leader.
Thanks for the great article.
Stellar post, Art. Under “seek out opportunities” I would add “look for task forces and temporary assignments where you can be the leader. Look outside the company to community work, too.”
Under “take notes,” I would add “identify some role models. One of them can be the leader you want to be. Ask, ‘How would the leader I want to be handle this?'”
And let me add my voice to Garrick’s above. Most companies today promote people based on their performance as something other than being a boss. If more of them listened to you and me, they’d make sure people had opportunities to try out leadership and demonstrate their abilities and they’d promote to boss work based on the potential to do a good job. There would also be promotions for technical experts, so being a boss wasn’t the only way up.
[…] From Management Excellence: Don’t Wait for the Title to Start Leading “The time to start leading is now, long before anyone has bestowed the title of leader on you. Much like the famous trio of Scarecrow, Lion and Tin Woodman of Oz-fame, they didn’t really need the Wizard to bestow a brain, courage or a heart, and you don’t need someone to anoint you as a leader before you can start learning and practicing.” […]
[…] From Management Excellence: Don’t Wait for the Title to Start Leading “The time to start leading is now, long before anyone has bestowed the title of leader on you. Much like the famous trio of Scarecrow, Lion and Tin Woodman of Oz-fame, they didn’t really need the Wizard to bestow a brain, courage or a heart, and you don’t need someone to anoint you as a leader before you can start learning and practicing.” […]