Leadership

  My daddy was a manager, and assistant manager, of truck stops for most of his work life. I grew up in a house that saw him wrestle with staffing, corporate drama, personalities run amok and rolling change at night. He always made it look easy. He was a very likable fella at work. People respected him and he liked what he did for a living. He was good at it. I wish that I’d asked him what he had wanted to be when he was a young boy, what his “dream job” would’ve been. I wonder if he wanted to do something else with his life. I know he grew up poor, and in a big family, so being financially secure was always on his mind. Practicality aside, I wonder what he would’ve done, workwise, if he’d been given the opportunity. My money is on racing. He raced stock and “C” cars on dirt tracks back in the sixties and early seventies, so I know he loved it. I should’ve asked him when I had a chance.

  I fell into “middle management” rather by default. Maybe more like “my-fault”. If you don’t have a plan, and you manage to mess around long enough, you’ll eventually be left with some jobs that others won’t take. I did. Not this one, but a floor tech job that was low pay, no benefits and very, very “ground floor”. It so happened that the supervisor of that department was destined to change jobs soon, the next two supervisors didn’t work out, or left for other jobs, and the office was soon to be vacant. I had less than a year on the floor tech job and they offered me the spot. Maybe my work ethic was showing, or maybe they’d just ran out of candidates, but I entered the Beige Collared world of “Working Supervisors” in an Environmental Services Department (read “housekeeping”). It eventually opened a whole new world to me. I’ve learned to love it, much like I think my dad did with managing truck stops. I feel like I’ve followed in his footsteps in a way. I’ll never be able to fill his shoes, but I think I know a little more about him because of it.

  The things I’ve learned about leading a crew are very basic. Most of it came from my dad, and mom, over the years. I just realized that leading a staff isn’t any different than any other kind of leadership, be it a family or a team. Here are my simple guidelines for being a good leader:

  1. Be honest and expect it in return. If I can’t tell someone the whole story, I won’t lie to them. Nobody appreciates being lied to.

  2. Talk to people the way you want to be talked to. It doesn’t really matter what you’re asking someone to do: ask them. People need lead, not “bossed”. It takes only a minute to be polite, and it will always pay off. Even when I’m being critical, I try to be nice. I tell everyone that “as long as you don’t raise your voice, curse, or call people names, you can say pretty much what you think, and how you feel to me” I believe in that. A conversation is always better than an argument.

  3. Be competent. Know how to do your job, and their job. Work beside people, don’t drive them. You don’t have to be able to do their job better than them, you just have to make sure to make their job easier to do and help them when they need it. When you don’t know something, admit it. Don’t pretend you know everything just because you’re a leader. When you don’t know an answer, fess up. Then go learn how to find the answer, or solution. If you don’t know what you’re doing, or won’t learn, your people will know. Don’t be that guy. He’s not a leader.

  That’s pretty much my handbook on leadership. There’s nothing earth shattering in those guidelines, but they’re pretty solid. I think my dad would’ve agreed with them. He should. I learned them by watching him. Thanks, dad.