What Makes You a Good Leader?

By Jessica Menapace

On Sunday our Senior Manager of Training and Development, John Kusinski, sends out "Leadership Reflections" to everyone on the leadership team of our organization.  I get bogged down with the hustle and bustle of call center management, but I do my best to read them. When I do read them, I find myself in deep thought about my growth and development, and it empowers and reenergizes me for the week.

This week, I didn't read it until Wednesday, and when I read it ,I wish I would not have waited.  This week we had an opportunity to get career and leadership advice from our CEO. The topic was "If Only I Knew Then What I Know Now". I was intrigued and excited to hear the wisdom and lessons that our CEO had learned from his career.

As I began to read, the very first subject caught my attention, and I haven't stopped thinking about it since. Tip #1 was "Know What You Want First". You can't lead others if you don't know how to lead yourself. Force yourself to think about what being a leader really means, and how you should behave to be a good one.  This statement made me dig deep and try to identify the type of leader I am.

When I thought what being a good leader really means, I couldn't find an answer that satisfied the question. I dug deeper and asked myself some deeper questions. 

What type of leader are you?

What are the key characteristics of your leadership abilities?

Why do you want to be a leader?

I didn't choose to be a leader. Being a leader chose me. I enjoy seeing people succeed. I love seeing people have the "ah ha" moment when they finally get it. I want to know what my employees goals are, and provide guidance and tools to help them reach them. I set the example, and push my people to do better at creating a better work and home life. I genuinely care about the well being of my employees, and work every day to show that to them. I'm committed to my employees, so they become committed to me, and support the vision I have for my department.

When you ask yourself the above questions, what answers do you come up with? Are the things you do as a leader getting you commitment, or compliance to the processes you are putting in place? If you are getting short term results, you may want to reconsider the leadership style you are using.

Are you a leader or are you a manager? 

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While managing an outbound call center I pride myself in effectively managing 3 team leads and approximately 80 outbound representatives. I work to meet and maintain staffing needs, revenue goals, budget and program hours for the outbound department, with effective coaching, mentoring, leadership, and problem solving skills.

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