Leadership Caffeine by Art PettyI regularly use the label “Senior Contributor” (SC) to reference a state of management maturity that tends to exist somewhere between upper mid-level management or senior knowledge worker and the executive layer. While the hierarchical comparison may be imperfect, it’s an easy way for people to understand my intent with the phrase.

The SC is a professional (manager or individual contributor) on the brink of executive qualifications and someone that has displayed effective formal and informal leadership skills, value-creating critical and strategic thinking abilities, credible executive presence and a strong operating and quality orientation.

The SC is an individual that whether by design or accident has consistently been challenged to deal with complex and ambiguous business situations and has proven capable of rallying efforts, forming high performance teams, and facilitating results that create value for customers, improve operations and thump competitors.

This is one super contributor!

Sound like a mythical super-hero that was graced with unique powers beyond those of us mere mortals, and that dons his/her mask and cape to fight bad business in the dark of night?  While you’ve got to be sharp to be a SC, you most definitely don’t need to be from a planet with a red sun or to have encountered a radioactive spider to lay claim to your own mask and cape. However, you do have to deliberately focus on developing and honing your skills to gain membership into this league of outstanding professionals.

Senior Contributors are Made, Not Born:

I’ve yet to meet an SC that wasn’t personally and professionally driven to learn, grow, overcome weaknesses, develop talents and place himself/herself in challenging situations as part of the development process.  While some people have natural gifts that lend themselves to certain situations, membership in this league is open to anyone willing to put the effort forth.  However, not everyone has the Intestinal Fortitude (IF) to succeed.

7 Suggestions for Developing as a Senior Contributor:

1. Look in the mirror and recognize that this battle to develop and excel is all up to you. Your firm doesn’t owe you this and cannot train you on it, and you certainly won’t achieve the level of SC through seniority and marking time.

2. Face your fears. Given my description of the SC above, almost everyone will have to face and overcome some areas of discomfort.  Typically, the development of advanced communication and presentation skills (and the confidence behind the skills) is the most frightening area for people to face.  Ironically, these may be the easiest to learn, practice and refine.  Others like critical and strategic thinking capabilities require a conscious effort to rewire long-standing ways of thinking and acting.  Easy to describe, but truly difficult to achieve.

3. Learn to adjust your altitude. SCs are capable of scaling heights from the big picture of market and industry forces and changing customer attitudes and perceptions to the nuances of process and operating improvements.  As part of the “rewiring” or better yet, new wiring, emerging SCs must focus on connecting tasks to strategies and market forces and vice-versa.  Take some mental Dramamine, because the altitude adjustments will be fast and furious.

4. Quit looking for silver bullets. There is no training course that once completed will bestow upon you the certificate of Senior Contributor.  There are many, many, many resources, experiences and opportunities to gain insights and hone skills, but there is no silver bullet, so quit looking for it.

5. Great managers and mentors are priceless. A good manager and/or a good mentor can help you along the way.  A manager that is committed to supporting the development of her people understands how important it is to challenge and coach team members.  A mentor offers the perspective and context of experience and can serve as a valuable navigator.  For those of you that lack one or both (a good manager and a mentor), the bad manager can serve as inspiration.  I long ago developed a mental list of “things never to do,” when it was my day to lead.

6. Use your time wisely.  Read, read and then read some more.  From Harvard Business Review to Fast Company to historical biographies, you cannot spend enough time soaking up the teachings of successful people and people that have experienced and persevered through remarkable hardship.  Make certain that most of your reading takes place away from the business bookshelf and tends towards history, biography and even literature.

7. Adopt a personal quality improvement program.  Just as Franklin and Jefferson diligently recorded their decisions and their daily progress and activities, find a way to begin recording your own actions. Set goals, monitor and measure progress and strive to improve.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

As a senior executive, you want high performers and SCs driving my organization.  What are you doing to foster an environment of constant learning and continuous challenge to support the emergence of SCs?

As an aspiring professional, responsible for forging your own brand in a complex world over a career that will easily span 50 years in many cases, what are you doing to step it up?  Turn off the television, back away from the urgent unimportant, learn to overcome your own natural resistance, and get on with the good and hard work of developing yourself!