Leadership — 16 years of lessons

I recently celebrated my 16th anniversary with my company. In that time I have had the opportunity to work a myriad of positions, have traveled to places I had only dreamed of and have had the fortune to meet so many amazing people. My life, as a matter of course, has changed immensely as I have, in essence, grown up with this company. I thought that this, being a birthday of sorts, was a great place to think about everything I’ve had the opportunity to learn.

The picture below represents my life so far. Each box is a week of my life with the blue boxes representing those weeks at Sutherland. If you were to see the remaining unfilled blocks, you’d see that there are more filled in than are left to be filled. I count this as time well spent. In this span, I can narrow down four key lessons I have learned. From failure of course; but also from success.

A good employee, (insert leader if you’d like), takes time, commitment, focus, patience faith, persistence, and the acceptance of personal responsibility.

“there is no such thing as a bad employee only hiring mistakes or those with whom we have not spent enough time.”

I believe I’ve learned this most from my current position and from my current leadership team both in Human Resources and Delivery.

So then, what are the traits that make a good employee, a good leader?

• Honesty-Congruency between what they say and what they do. “If you are not honest they won’t trust you, if they don’t trust you they won’t follow you, if they won’t follow you, you can’t lead them”
• Integrity-Integrate what you say with what you do. “Do the right thing even if it is not in your best interest” “Honesty and integrity are our currency; it is all we ever have.” “Managers with integrity do the right thing all the time. Consistency and congruency in words and actions is the key to leading with integrity.”
• Confidence-One must display unwavering belief in accomplishing the group goals, in your belief in the group, in what you’re doing and in your passion for the way you’re doing it. Leaders, as opposed to an employee, no longer have the luxury of self doubt. We must be in lock step every moment.
• Commitment to the group and the goal- In discussing the goal, the leader must never equivocate, slipping into statements that allow the group to be second best. “The rate of the pack is determined by the pace of it’s leader”
• Interpersonal Respect-No matter who you are dealing with, your peers, your managers, your direct supervisors, your direct reports, your competition-treat everyone with absolute respect. “Showing respect is the only way to earn respect.”
• Professionalism-One must exhibit professionalism at all times. When pushing people, any sign of weakness or lack of professionalism gives them the ability to justify failure.
• Focus- Great leaders have the all inspiring ability to stay focused on the goal. The laser and the light bulb use the same amount of energy, but the laser is focused on one spot and can cut steal.
• Willingness to genuinely invest in other people’s success-It is important to help and know people’s personal and professional goal. The universal Law of reciprocation-When you help others, they will by nature help you.

We must understand the hierarchy of achievement — Confidence builds Confidence

Accept responsibility and get others to follow suit

1. Lead by example
2. Create a no excuses policy-higher responsibility
3. Remove judgment
4. Look for opportunities to show cause and effect
5. Champion mistakes and lessons learned-Every Day Win or Learn

• The four questions leaders should make their people ask

1. What is the challenge
2. What are the possible solutions
3. Which do you recommend
4. Do you need to see me

Remember the law of attraction- you will get what you focus on-Like attracts Like

Look for opportunities to build confidence

• You may have the opportunity to to reform a person’s self-esteem level
• Understand that a person’s self-image is directly related to their achievement level-this is why we must celebrate the trivial successes everyday
• It’s easy to identify people with a comfort zone problem as they will exhibit the following traits

1. Reluctance to try new things
2. Prone to make excuses and place blame
3. Fear change
4. Low activity level in areas of critical success
5. Will not take initiatives
6. Reluctance to follow through and follow up
7. Not open to learning
8. High turnover

• Three questions to build into every conversation

1. What did I do right
2. What did I do wrong
3. What will I do differently next time

• We should only speak to the person we want someone to become not the person you see in front of you

Goal Setting Makes all the difference remember:

• Thought is an immature belief, when told often enough it becomes a belief
• We all talk to ourselves all day everyday-what is that voice telling you
• What does a peak performer do and think about, can you recreate any of these activities
• All external actions start as thoughts
• Learn to understand and control self talk
• Learn to properly use affirmations-Anything you repeat to yourself

1. Focus Affirmations-Revolve around a goal that you wish to accomplish
2. Rewire Affirmations-Revolve around taking actions necessary to accomplish that goal. (rewire affirmations are the legs to the focus affirmations)

• Be strategic, exact, write them out, make them your own, be creative, be repetitive, involve all your senses,
• Write out the goals using practicing using present tense

Francis Bacon “Reading maketh a man fulleth, conference a ready man, but writing and exact man.”

• What should you be affirming?

1. Team Goals (results)
2. The significant activities (HPA)
3. The proper attitudes (Thoughts and Beliefs)

• Long Term Goals are directional and should be set by leadership

1. Action Steps are required-Monthly, quarterly, and bi annual goals-what do we need to do to get there
2. Contingency planning-what do we do if xyz happens
3. Specific tangible measurable with deadlines
4. Ability to breakdown goals into component parts
5. Must examine every possible obstacle and develop a strategy for overcoming it
6. Must have an assigned owner

If an employee doesn’t know what to focus on they will pick what they like to do or what they are good at and stick to that.

Final Thoughts

• In any position in any company as much as in life, we’re all salespeople. When I was first hired at Sutherland, I didn’t think I could last or do the job. The same has been true for every position I’ve held, no matter how big or how small. I realize now that the biggest sale you make is the sale you make to yourself first
• Throughout the years I’ve had the opportunity to launch new initiatives across the globe. I still deal with not being sure what the outcome of some of my projects is going to be. Looking around at the top talent in my organization I realize that the top people spend more than 75% of their time outside of their comfort zone
• One of the things that has made the biggest difference in my life has been having open, honest and transparent conversations about our culture and how to make it better.
• I see very clearly that the difference makers in my career have been the people that looked for ways to build people up everyday
• As I look back on current and past colleagues, those who made a difference and kept learning and growing have gone on to do amazing things in their communities. The adage “You are either green and growing or ripe and rotting” is absolutely true
• And finally as a leader, (regardless of title) You must define what your people focus on or someone else will.

https://charles-thompson.medium.com/membership