Guest Article: Teach or Stop Leading by Jay Kuhns, SPHR

"No one learns as much about a subject as one who is forced to teach it."
- Peter Drucker

Expectations
The leadership lens I use to see the world often tricks me. I am accustomed to talking about leadership behavior, leadership style, leadership savvy, and perhaps most important of all...leadership presence.

I expect myself, and other leaders (including new ones), to perform at a high level. Candidly, that's not entirely fair. But then again...it's not about being fair. Leadership is about doing the hard work...making the difficult decisions...and being both strong enough and humble enough to deliver your words with confidence.

Opportunity
When we see new leaders struggling to establish their executive presence what do we do? Are we quick to criticize to justify our own shortcomings?

When we see early careerists trying to contribute and they fail mightily what do we do? Are we quick to admonish and embarrass to justify our own authority and power?

When we see an experienced leader who has clearly lost touch with how the world works what do we do? Are we quick to write them off as old school and no longer valuable despite their years of experience?

We have an opportunity to teach them. We need to demonstrate what it means to be effective today. We need to use questions to help them understand without sounding arrogant. 

We need to know what we're talking about before we teach them.

How About You
When do you intervene to support a colleague? Is it to provide constructive criticism; or, is it something more? Think about a time when one of your role models supported you. It was powerful wasn't it?

I'd love to hear from you.

No Excuses.

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Article source:Jay Kuhns, SPHR - Teach or Stop Leading»

Check out more of Jay Kuhns' work at No Excuses HR