Effective leadership is more than just managing a team; it is creating an environment where communication is key to growth and all individuals are provided the opportunity to have personal accountability for the projects they are assigned. Managers manage projects; leaders lead people. I’ve been blessed to have had the experience of working with great trainers and great leaders, from my days of teaching in public schools and training adults in educational technology in college through my career as a senior graphic designer and then working with some innovators within the corporate environment.
The skills and experience I have learned from these individuals have shaped my beliefs on what makes a successful team a success; a positive and strong work ethic – doing what you promise to do in the time you promise to do it within; a never-stop-learning philosophy of continuing education for myself and those I worked with or teams I’ve lead; open lines of communication for all departments and ask how your experience and knowledge can assist other business units; lead by example and model the behaviors and quality of work you expect your team to live up to; and be fair, professional, and respectful to all fellow teammates, no matter their position, and live up to the standards set forth by the company’s policies.
Investing in the development and training of the team, be it a handful of people or several thousand, is key to the success of any company; a company’s success lies in the successful practices of its employees. In order to make them as successful as possible, we need to provide each and every one of them with personalized, on-time training that meets their needs and allows them to grow within the company, and we need to provide them continuing and modern training following sound instructional design practices so that the company – through its employees – can compete effectively in the global marketplace.