Mentoring Important for Jr and Sr Leaders

Leadership is about having a vision focused on the possibilities of the future.
And one way leaders can shape the future is through mentoring the next generation. Mentoring is a critical aspect of leader development.
Mentoring is an activity that mutually benefits junior and senior leaders because the mentoring relationship creates a safe learning environment through feedback.
Junior leaders benefit from the time and attention of more senior leaders as they glean wisdom from another person’s experiences without having to live through the same events. While at the same time senior leaders benefit by sharing their philosophies on leadership and listening to different perspectives on leadership issues from those they mentor.
Mentoring relationships can take on many forms. They do not always have to be formal, long term relationships. In fact great mentoring often occurs in rather informal settings.
But the best mentoring is guided. Guided mentoring provides an outline or theme, which facilitates discussion and encourages both parties to focus their attention to a defined topic. This method certainly is not meant to limit, rather like farming it helps to “loosen and prep the soil” of discussion, resulting in an enriched discussion and deepened development.

H.A.L.T.

A few years ago I bought my first motorcycle but before riding it decided to take a basic riders course. This course taught fundamentals and principles essential to the development of good riding skills. The instructor taught that riding a motorcycle is much more involved that driving a car, and provided a simple memory aid to help us evaluate our riding capabilities in order to be safe riders. The mnemonic was H.A.L.T. and we were taught to skip riding if any of the following conditions true:
H- Hungry
A- Angry
L- Late
T- Tired
The reason these four conditions are bad is because they are personal distractions.
Well, just like bike riding, leadership is more involved than simply being part of an organization. So I suggest that as leaders we need to “halt” and consider conditions or distractions that may impair our judgment as leaders. By doing so it is possible to avoid simple pitfalls that can be leadership disasters.

Influencing Others

As a leader one is constantly influencing others, the real question becomes “Am I really influencing others the way I think I am or the way I want?” And before that question can be answered it is important to understand one of the strongest ways we influence one another; which is through our words. Our communication with others consists of words, actions, meaning, tone, and sentiment. Our words are an extension of whom we are inside and help share what we think and feel. The problem is that other people must rely on their personal interpretation of our outward expression, which is based upon their internal values and since each person is different, we each come to individual conclusions.
So to be an effective leader we need to be perceptive to the reactions of others as we interact so we can modify our communication and hopefully come to the same meaning. Often times this is called emotional intelligence, the ability to not only understand how people generally react but being able to understand how each individual reacts and then adjust accordingly. Leaders that influence well, communicate well because they care.

Leadership is Learning

Too often I hear the complaint that current leaders lack this or lack that. And it is probably true, leaders are not perfect. Each of us comes up short somewhere or in something. These external criticisms are easily discounted in comparison to the personal criticisms we tend to provide ourselves. As leaders it is important that we overcome the irrational idea that because we are leading we are infallible. Or that there is a perfect solution to each situation faced and if it is not found the results will be catastrophic. The reality is that there are key principles of leadership that when applied regardless of the situation or our experience produce improved results. Good leadership is when the leader has learned key principles and applies them, such as innovation, inspiration and initiative. Each new circumstance is a different learning opportunity, and leadership is developed by learning how to apply the principles appropriately. So mistakes will be made and that is OK, keep trying and learn.

Passion not Position

Leadership is about passion not position. Leadership is derived by influencing others and others cannot be influenced by you if your own personal belief as a leader is so weak that it does not even motivate yourself. In considering many effective leaders the one thing they share is the personal conviction of their “cause” whether business, war, religion or politics. When people support a leader they commit to the ideal espoused by the leader’s vision. Their commitment is based on their belief in the future, not on who the leader is or their position.

Speak with Confidence

Leadership requires a certain level of competence, in order for others to have confidence in their leader. One of the quickest ways followers can loose confidence in their leaders is based on their ability to communicate. And most of the factors contributing to the listener’s confidence come from subtle cues such as eye contact, voice, body movement, pace, and articulation. Through preparation everyone can minimize distracters and improve their delivery.

Here are a few simple effective tips to improving a verbal presentation, whether to an individual or group.
- Preparation: rehearse, consider important questions the listener needs answered why, what and who, plan your time
- Introduction: catch the audience’s attention with the “why”
- Presentation: provide sufficient information in the body to fully cover the topic
- Conclusion: end with a action challenge, reminding them of the material and what they need to do

A leader on and off the “field”

Good leadership is inspirational and good leaders need to be involved in order to inspire. A recent experience I had really brought home to me the importance of leader participation in activities outside of the normal organization’s activity. Leaders need to be there, rather than maintaining a distant persona, who can’t relate with the general populace of the group due to their leadership status. Instead leaders need to jump in and participate with the group in activities outside of the daily routine.
The example I saw was a flag football game between departments, on the sideline and on the field leaders from every level were out participating. It was fun, fast and flawed and the camaraderie developed was incredible. It seemed everyone was involved at some level whether playing, coaching or commenting from the sideline.