Lessons on leadership
Chief Danny Smyth
Barbara Bowes is a familiar face and consultant in the world of HR services including Business Leadership Development. She is also a thoughtful contributor to the careers section of the Winnipeg Free Press Saturday Edition. Many have broadened their knowledge and awareness about workplace issues through her published columns.
The WPS employed HR services through Barbara when she referred HR Specialist Tory McNally to facilitate a series of employee working groups to address several workplace concerns that were identified through an employee survey in 2020.
This year the Public Order Emergency Commission has garnered a lot of attention (and a lot of criticism) of law enforcement officials involved in the protest events earlier this year—particularly the events in Ottawa.
Recently, I asked Barbara for her perspective as an HR consultant, and as an outsider with no involvement in these events. Not surprisingly, she forwarded a thoughtful article that combined her observations of the commission hearings with leadership skills that are critical to building relationships and trust.
Barbara Bowes, President of Legacy Bowes Group
Even if you are not a news junkie, you can’t help but learn something about the deliberations occurring at the Emergencies Act Inquiry. The inquiry is looking into the federal government's invocation of the Emergencies Act to bring the "Freedom Convoy" protests to an end. Everyone participating in the inquiry has their own story, but to an outsider like me, there seems to be a lot of blaming and confusion among the various service leaders that have been in attendance. There has also been a suggestion that some service members sympathetic to the movement struggled to adhere to their professional mandate. In my mind, this whole scenario is all about personal leadership.
The word leadership to me doesn’t just refer to the actions of the head of an organization and/or the head of a department. It is not about someone’s drive for command and control or power maneuvering, and it is not about winning or losing.
To me, leadership is all about an individual’s personal responsibility to build trust with their colleagues and their team. It’s all about working towards effective problem-solving, collaboration and strong interpersonal relationships. So, how can you as an individual begin to develop those critical leadership skills? The following guidelines will help you to develop some of the skills needed to succeed no matter what your role in an organization is.
Understand yourself – if you want to show leadership, then it is important to understand and be sensitive to your own personal emotions. Know what causes anger and/or joy and know how to control your emotions in challenging situations. Understand what motivates you. Focus on factors such as the need for belonging, the need to gain technical expertise and/or wanting to manage people. It could include a desire to help and/or a desire for work-life balance. Think about what motivates your colleagues and use this knowledge to appeal to their motivators to help build better relationships.
Win through action – keep in mind that your daily actions serve to reflect what people see as your character. If you want people to see you as a leader, then be a leader. People need to see you as trustworthy, honest and with integrity. They need to see that you are the same in private as you are in public. People need to see you as focused on your work goals and objectives.
Build strong relationships – while work is often seen as a “dog eat dog” world, influential and successful individuals avoid building relationships by using people solely for their own benefit. People don’t like being used as a means to an end. If this is your style, you’ll soon notice that your relationships collapse and are not long-lasting. Work toward relationships that are genuine and build relationships at all levels of your organization.
Be an Inspirational role model – in my view, those individuals who lead by example are seen as motivators who inspire others. These individuals will not only be personally successful, but they will help others be successful. They have vision and conviction and their inspirational style results in an energizing organizational culture.
Communicate, communicate – leadership is all about being able to genuinely talk to anyone at all levels of the organization. This means never being condescending when you speak and always treating others with respect. Leadership is about taking the risk to initiate conversations with a focus on developing healthy interpersonal relationships throughout one’s entire personal network. Be willing to share your personal and professional values and help colleagues understand what makes you tick.
Be an influencer – influencing is both an art and a science and requires an individual to be a good listener and to have the ability to make people feel good about themselves through praise, compliments and general acknowledgement. When people like and can relate to your ideals, they can be influenced. While simplicity suggests this might have more to do with charm and charisma, I sincerely believe that influence can be learned as a skill.
Apply a positive attitude – one of the key personal leadership skills to focus on is the ability to be continually optimistic. An optimistic person avoids negative thinking and is able to quickly turn challenges around through constructive problem-solving. As well, someone with a positive attitude attracts others who are positive and optimistic. Together, they look at the world from the point of “what can be” rather than what is wrong. A positive attitude is a state of mind that every leader needs to have.
Be in the know – individual leadership is one thing, but organizational leadership requires a more advanced skill. This means taking responsibility for understanding the “whole” of your organization. Know the political, environmental, technological, social and financial factors that impact your organization. Use this knowledge to make a strong contribution to your organization.
See what others see – personal leadership means being able to look in the mirror and see what others see. In other words, make an extra effort to know and understand the various stakeholders in your organization and identify their needs, prejudices and values. This is essentially “market intelligence” which will help you to build corporate value that has meaning to senior leaders.
Be a problem solver – apply a problem-solving framework to everything you do. Train yourself to clearly identify a problem. Next, determine the impact on your organization and brainstorm some potential solutions. Be confident in making a recommendation and provide your rationale. Be prepared to present a full discussion paper that includes solutions. This framework will help you to speak with confidence, anticipate any questions, and provide potential answers.
Be approachable – Individuals with leadership skills let colleagues know they can reach out to them to discuss personal and/or professional concerns. Be friendly and encourage conversation and sharing. Show empathy when there are emotional responses to issues. Refer others to resources when needed. Know that trust is easier to develop when people like each other.
Develop good judgement – judgment and intuitive skills are the mental tools that will help you to both understand the facts but also be able to read between the lines. These leadership skills help individuals make effective decisions in critical situations or dilemmas. They include the ability to evaluate and prioritize various factors, make a weighted decision, form a conclusion, and create action steps. Up to recently, intuition was discounted as a skill, but today this skill is seen as the ability for leaders to just “know” and then anticipate and project into the future.
Take responsibility – people that play the “blame game” and fail to take responsibility to lose the respect of their colleagues and society as a whole. Someone that takes responsibility for their actions is someone that will be seen as accountable. Acknowledge when things are within your control and take action within the level of your responsibility. Acknowledge when you are contributing to a challenge and/or a conflict.
Stand up for ethics – understanding the principles of right and wrong is one thing but applying them is another. Ethical leadership involves discipline, professionalism, reliability, commitment, passion and dedication to making effective judgments at work. Every organization has a set of ethics, takes care to uphold these standards and does not compromise.
I am sure there will be several lessons and recommendations arising from the current emergencies act inquiry. Some leaders will be tainted by their actions while others will be admired. However, know that from a personal perspective, the only person you can control is yourself and that means applying some and/or all of the skill-building leadership suggestions found in this article and then adhering to your professional mandate.
Barbara J. Bowes, FCPHR, M.Ed, B.Ed is president of Bowes Leadership Group. She is also the author of eight books, a professional speaker, an executive coach and a workshop leader. She can be reached at barb@bowesleadership.com