Nicole Monturo is an accomplished executive and leadership expert.

Tag: develop leaders

nicole monturo kindergarten

Leadership Lessons You Learned in Kindergarten

Becoming a leader of any form takes practice, patience, skill, insight, and time. It’s not something that happens overnight. While it does take a lot of specialization to become an effectual leader, a lot of the fundamental ideals and principles taught are not new concepts; many of us have been receiving little lessons in leadership from the time we were old enough to go to school. Although we were not being told explicitly that what we were learning were leadership based, these more or less ‘common sense’ lessons we’re taught at a young age lay the groundwork for some important leadership ideologies. While we may not have become experts at the time, here are a few of the leadership lessons that you learn as early as kindergarten.

  • When you mess up, you say sorry.

When a child makes a mess or breaks something that belongs to someone else, they’re taught to own up to their failure and say that they’re sorry. When it comes to being a leader, by this point you’ve likely realized that human beings, yourself included, aren’t perfect. Unfortunately, there’s no leadership tip that tells you how to be perfect, so the best that you can do is take ownership of your errors and apologize for any resulting problems.

  • Sharing is caring

One thing that effective leaders know is the importance of helping others, and this simple human kindness is one we’re taught as children. Leaders must demonstrate sharing in several different ways. First, most leaders are looked to as sources of knowledge or information. To effectively lead those looking to you for guidance, you need to share the wisdom and lessons you’ve learned with them. The second type of sharing is more external: as a leader when someone on your team does a particularly good job or finally overcomes a hurdle, it’s your job to share in their excitement, share their good news with the rest of the team, and have them share particular insights about what made them successful. Your job as a leader is to call forth the best in your team and help them actualize their potential. This includes encouraging them during moments when they excell.

  • Slow and steady

Much like the classic fable taught to children about the tortoise and the hare, in life most things cannot be rushed. Children are taught the importance of hard, consistent work over rushing through tasks, and this lesson carries importance through life. Good things take time, and if you try to rush them, your work at the end won’t be your best. When planning a project that will require input and assistance from multiple people, take the time to make sure that everyone fully understands his or her responsibilities. While some people will be chomping at the bit to get started, it’s more important to make sure everyone is up to speed than to get a speedy start.

nicole monturo leadership

How to Develop Leadership Within Your Company

If you manage employees, you probably noticed an innate blaze, that spark of leadership jump to life in at least a few of them. You’ve seen who takes charge when presented with an unfamiliar situation, and who successfully improvises when existing guidelines are too ambiguous to fully apply. You’ve witnessed your people show skill in visualizing goals and developing comprehensive strategies, and you know they have no trouble examining ideas from every relevant angle.

I’ve written before on important leadership lessons managers might take to heart if they want to see their business bloom. One essential tactic all managers would do well to master is how to multiply in number; how to create more of their kind. Good managers have a responsibility to guide great employees into the experience and techniques needed to succeed in a leadership position.

Facilitating your workers’ journey from greenhorn to leader can be daunting; it requires a level of willingness and mutual trust that takes time to develop. Helping employees come into their potential is far from impossible, however, and this list of three major strategies to keep in mind when developing your team from hard workers to capable leaders is sure to ease the learning process for all involved.

Foster employees’ networking skills 

  • Leaders have to be comfortable speaking and sharing ideas with strangers on a regular basis. Offering opportunities for networking within your own company allows for development of that effortless finesse for communication all great leaders possess, and bringing employees along to networking events will build them a formidable list of industry contacts.

Keep a steady flow of feedback

  • Employees will never learn to identify and correct missteps if they are never told when they are misstepping. Criticism is never easy, especially when it has to come from you, but it is essential. And if your leaders-in-training have what it takes, they will realize the value in having a forum where concerns from both parties can be voiced and addressed.

Don’t Hold Hands 

  • We don’t grow from being constantly shielded. In the thick of struggle is where the capable evolve and succeed, and failure is just another opportunity to discover what went wrong. The fundamentals of growth hold just as true in a professional setting as anywhere else. Do your employees a favor, and tear off those training wheels.

Build employees’ ownership mentality 

  • Any amount of leadership training will mean nothing if a trainee doesn’t feel individually powerful enough to act like a leader. Allowing prospective leaders to handle decisions and giving them a bit more authority over business affairs demonstrates your faith in them, and reinforces their faith in you as a mentor.

What this all boils down to is rather simple: just be considerate of your employees’ positions. Think of how it was for you, when you were mastering the managerial ropes; think of what your teacher(s) did well, and how they could’ve improved. Believe in yourself: you have the knowledge and the experience needed to foster great leaders, now all you need is time.

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén