Youth Leadership

Do you have any doubts about today’s young people?  If you go by the press and our elected officials, America is doomed for failure.  The education system is failing, our “morals” have gone to hell, most folks (including the government) cannot manage their finances, and all young people want a handout.

Well, I am proud to say, there is hope.  Recently I have involved myself with the Wisconsin Youth Leadership Academy (WYLA) that was started by the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.  They had a vision to help youth (between ages of about 14 – 17) discover their own leadership style, and at the same time, develop strong ethics and values.  They held a leadership camp for these young people in June 2011 that began moving their leadership journey to a new level.

Well, I am proud to say, there is hope.  Recently I have involved myself with the Wisconsin Youth Leadership Academy (WYLA) that was started by the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.  They had a vision to help youth (between ages of about 14 – 17) discover their own leadership style, and at the same time, develop strong ethics and values.  They held a leadership camp for these young people in June 2011 that began moving their leadership journeys forward.

I am a master coach in the WYLA program and I have been assigned four great individuals to work with over the next year.  I provide one-on-one coaching and group coaching with the focus on leadership.  Each one of these individuals I am working with are already doing great things in their communities and making a difference.  These individuals do not want a handout, they want to make the world a better place and are willing to work hard to accomplish this.  I look forward to learning a great deal over the next year from these future leaders. 

If these four young individuals are representing the leaders of tomorrow, then I am very happy.  Each one of them already has a leadership mission!  How many of you can say that you had a leadership mission when you were in high school?  

I would take any one of these four great individuals and replace many of the “so called” leaders that I see today………including many of those in Washington D.C.

Check out the WYLA website

http://www.uwosh.edu/llce/conted/wisconsin-youth-leadership-academy 

and their Facebook page 

http://www.facebook.com/WisconsinYouthLeadershipAcademy

to learn more.

Management to Leadership

I just came across Are Scorecards and Metrics Killing Employee Engagement? by Adrian C. Ott of the Harvard Business Review.

The article gives a good idea of management mentality in America in these times.  Management seems to be more preoccupied with covering their behinds and creating small spaces for team members, so liability is lessened.

Whatever happened to having team members think for themselves?  Trusting that the team members you have on board know right from wrong?  Fun and flexibility in the work place?

Team members are scared these days to make mistakes and think for themselves, because management have created rigid policies and procedures to follow no matter what.  If a policy or procedure is broken or bypassed because it made sense in that particular situation, then the team member is usually punished.........punished for using their brain and making a decision that would have been right for the situation so that the customer, company, and employee all win.

Policies and procedures are needed to provide guidelines to team members, however, one size does not fit all.  Companies need to focus on building team members skills and trusting they will do the right thing. When management expects the best from their team members and genuinely want them to succeed, team members gladly step up and deliver.

This is the time when Management turns into Leadership.

STANDING BEHIND YOUR LEADERSHIP

When you think of the word “leadership”, a few different definitions come to mind and people will describe it in many different ways.  BUT, have you ever thought of leadership as:

• Stepping Back
• Transparent
• Behind the scenes
• Delegation

If not, step back and take a different look at leadership. 

From my experience, leadership is providing the vision, goals, responsibilities, and accountability to your team.  When the leader communicates a clear vision with stated measurable goals and distributes responsibilities to their team members, the rest is a piece of cake.  The leader’s main responsibility is to assist the team with keeping the stated vision and goals in line as well as ensuring the team has the best tools to get the job done.  In a nutshell, leadership is the supporting role of the team.

Many in leadership positions make their job very difficult by withholding information and placing a low priority on growing their team (i.e. education).  Withholding information and providing limited growth opportunities provides these “leaders” with a feeling of power and importance.   How can this be true?  Because their team members have to continuously ask them for information and direction.  These “leaders” are in high demand thanks to the dependent team members, so they are perceived as a very valuable entity within the organization. 

So, what does this “leadership” behavior really impact?  Team performance deteriorates, productivity decreases, frustration builds, and team members look out for themselves rather than the team as a whole.  This behavior also feeds the self-esteem and confidence that the “leader” lacks, and ……

Nobody Wins!

Setting the clear expectations and supporting the team is what real leadership is all about.  When team members are empowered and rewarded, leaders are pushed ahead of the pack and become more powerful.  Under supportive leadership, team members grow, share knowledge, maximize performance, and accomplish more than they ever dreamed possible.  The result of happy teams are happy clients, happy leaders, great working environments, maximized profits, and …..

Everybody Wins!

If you think the team will leave you behind after empowering them, I challenge you to just try it.  I promise you will have followers for life.