By Trevis Gardner
Founder & Principle of Blockhouse Services Group
Leadership is often described as the secret sauce of success. As we look at businesses, churches, governments, organizations or practically any collection or assembly of people who are linked by a common purpose, we can see examples where strong leadership enabled success in circumstances where failure might have otherwise been expected.
Visionary, exemplary leaders have left their mark on history because they brought the personal ability to influence others to achieve great things. Sometimes these “great things” involved winning wars, rescuing national economies, or helping others overcome adversity and survive — perhaps even thrive — in the face of dire circumstances.
The study of the traits and qualities of leaders — how they influence, encourage or organize others — can be examined as a science, an art, or even as a series of coincidences that are recognized and leveraged for a favorable outcome.
My personal leadership abilities have been marinated, broiled, baked and roasted through formative influences from other leaders. I have learned from both their successes and their failures. I am now blessed to be able to look back, reflect, make observations, offer critiques and praise these experiences from what has been, for me, a leadership learning lab. I can see the patterns and nuances of leadership techniques and practices, and I enjoy pondering their impact and effectiveness in real-world scenarios. It is a pleasing and satisfying opportunity to share these lessons with others. I share these thoughts with a sense of responsibility — to be a positive influence on others, just as my mentors, teachers and leaders have influenced me.
A few of the most important points I’ve learned about leadership include:
- Systems, processes and assets are managed. People are led.
- It is a very rare individual who is both a highly competent or gifted leader and also an equally skilled manager or technical specialist. This combination is extremely uncommon — so rare, in fact, that I believe it runs contrary to human nature.
- If you must choose between a highly skilled leader with a proven track record and a highly skilled manager of equal but differing expertise, choose the leader. A truly gifted leader will be self-aware, equipped with the emotional intelligence required to listen to others, recognize their own shortcomings or gaps and then quickly take action to fill that void by seeking out or developing someone around them to fulfill that management need within the organization.
- Leaders are selfless. They naturally put the needs of their team and mission ahead of their own interests. This often comes at a personal cost. They may burn out or deplete their own energy, attention and well-being in service to others. Good leaders take care of others. Great leaders take care of others and themselves, ensuring they can continue to lead and serve into the future.
- Leaders view their responsibility to lead a team as a personal challenge. They measure their own success by the success of those they lead. They constantly look for opportunities to develop those around them through time, energy and influence. They see mentorship as one of their greatest responsibilities — and one of the most essential tools for making a team stronger, more capable and more resilient.
- Leaders create confidence in others. Yes, they develop their team’s technical skills and abilities, but the most important — and often overlooked — trait they foster is confidence. Confidence to overcome adversity. Confidence to outperform competitors. Confidence to lead others. Confidence to remain resilient when the unplanned occurs, when mistakes happen or when the seemingly impossible must be overcome. Perhaps the most valuable expression of confidence is the ability to learn equally from both successes and failures. It takes humility and discipline to learn from successes, but it takes confidence to learn from failures.
A technique for evaluating events, operations, campaigns or projects involving people, teams, organizations is “Trev’s Three Cs of Teamwork and Leadership.” These three concepts are succinct, identifiable and measurable in nearly any circumstance: Character, Capability and Communication. Those three concepts will be explored in greater detail in a future column.