It's Going To Be Okay

"It's hard to lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse." Adlai Stevenson

My new position at work has me in a supervisory role. I am a good leader. I work harder than anyone. No task is beneath me, and I never ask anyone on my team to do something I am not willing to do myself. I quickly admit when I screw up, and I laugh at myself when I do something laughable. I have no problem giving people direction, but don't find joy in bossiness. I think I am pretty good at evaluating people's strengths and weaknesses and managing accordingly. So while I think I am a good leader, it is not something I aspire to. What I really enjoy about leadership is the power to affect positive change. So it's a means to an end, making good things happen. It's not an end in and of itself.

We have basically two groups of people who comprise my team. Those who worked with me before I was promoted, and those who have come on board since then. It seems the two groups view me a little differently and interact with me a little differently. The new group seems to follow my leadership because it's their job to do so. I am who I am. They seem to respect my position, but haven't gotten to know me well enough yet to respect me, the person. Maybe they think I was given the position.

The old group, the ones who worked on the same level with me for a year, seem to follow me because they really want to. They respect my new position, but more importantly they seem to respect who I am as a person. That means a lot to me. Maybe they believe I earned the position.

Either way, all these people depend on me to lead the way with calm confidence. When my general manager promoted me, she said one of the nicest things anyone has ever said me. "You're the kind of person, that when you show up, everyone just knows it's going to be okay."

And perhaps when she said that, she was also defining a good leader.

Susan