My Beliefs about Leading People
In 2002, I was an engineer assigned to a very busy station and my captain was leaving to take a new position. I didn’t know it at the time, but his replacement would turn out to have a big impact on my professional development. During one of his first shifts, the battalion chief came by the station to give the crew his expectations. We sat and listened attentively. When he appeared to be finished, the captain asked him, “Are you through?” After responding that he was, the captain then said, “Here are my expectations.” He then proceeded to tell the chief that he expected him to let him do his job as a captain and not to intervene unless he wasn’t. There never was a need to intervene, because the captain walked the talk of a …show more content…
Immediately I knew that this guy had my back. I believe that the best way to lead people is to model the behaviors that I wish to see from my employees. I do not ask people to do things that I would be unwilling to do myself. It is important that I am competent so that people have faith in my ability as a leader. Conversely, I realize that I don’t know everything. I routinely rely on the strengths and diversity that a group of people can bring to the task at hand. I do the things I say I will to the best of my ability. I understand that part of being a leader is the personal and professional development of the people that I lead. My time as a leader will not last forever and someone will take my place. The institutional knowledge that was given to me will be passed along to the next generation of leaders. As a leader, I realize that people are motivated by different things. The only way I can know what motivates my employees is to get to know them on a personal level and
In 2002, I was an engineer assigned to a very busy station and my captain was leaving to take a new position. I didn’t know it at the time, but his replacement would turn out to have a big impact on my professional development. During one of his first shifts, the battalion chief came by the station to give the crew his expectations. We sat and listened attentively. When he appeared to be finished, the captain asked him, “Are you through?” After responding that he was, the captain then said, “Here are my expectations.” He then proceeded to tell the chief that he expected him to let him do his job as a captain and not to intervene unless he wasn’t. There never was a need to intervene, because the captain walked the talk of a …show more content…
Immediately I knew that this guy had my back. I believe that the best way to lead people is to model the behaviors that I wish to see from my employees. I do not ask people to do things that I would be unwilling to do myself. It is important that I am competent so that people have faith in my ability as a leader. Conversely, I realize that I don’t know everything. I routinely rely on the strengths and diversity that a group of people can bring to the task at hand. I do the things I say I will to the best of my ability. I understand that part of being a leader is the personal and professional development of the people that I lead. My time as a leader will not last forever and someone will take my place. The institutional knowledge that was given to me will be passed along to the next generation of leaders. As a leader, I realize that people are motivated by different things. The only way I can know what motivates my employees is to get to know them on a personal level and