The tale of the self-leading follower
My name is Glenn Francis, and I've been a leader in one way or another since my early teens. I'm now in my 40's and a successful business person, but it's very interesting that many of the leadership techniques that make me successful today were foreshadowed by my experiences as a teen. Face it ... if you can get a group of teenagers to follow your lead, you can get anyone to.
Take, for instance, my first "organization". I had the privilege to be a part of a youth organization known as the Royal Canadian Air Cadets - specifically 562 Cabot Squadron - when I was younger. While I was a member of this group, we were consistently ranked as the best or second best in Canada (we missed "best" one of four years). I can claim some small credit for this accomplishment, having quickly risen through the ranks to become the highest ranking teen - Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) - but in hindsight, once we had the groundwork laid, anyone with a bit of skill in organization and keeping people from getting sidetracked would have achieved the same results. Why?
These teens were self-leading. They were highly self-motivated and and very conscious of the quality of their work. They understood what had to be done and did it. They understood their responsibilities and the impact their work had on their teams and the other people around them.
The interesting thing? They didn't all start out this way. So how did I and my team take a group of young people with different backgrounds, interests and motivations and create a dream team? How did I develop and apply the things I learned from this experience to my own corporate teams and those of my clients?
More importantly, how can you do it? How can you take the group of individuals who make up your team and create a team of "self-leaders" who work well beyond expectations and deliver for you and your company? Join me to discover the answer.