Sandra stood up one more time and pat came the reply… this time louder than before, she was correct as always. “Oh Sandra… Oh Sandra, not again”, I groaned to myself. The trainer in me could not allow this to happen.
Sandra was a participant in a customer service training session. She was a very intelligent and extremely confident lady. She handled even the most complicated questions with ease. Her enthusiasm was initially infectious; however, as the day progressed it became burdensome to the others. As the facilitator, I set some firm limits but she paid no heed to them.
As the leader of her team was she displaying good leadership traits?
“The real leader has no need to lead – he is content to point the way.” – Henry Miller
Half way through the session I was forced to give her some very direct and open feedback. She was not allowing any one to learn and in the process not learning herself. Her behavior was disrupting the session and demoralizing the others.
I also spent time with her alone and sensitized the need for her to change her attitude and behavior. Although she broke down once, she took all the feedback very bravely.
“Truly great leaders spend as much time collecting and acting upon feedback as they do providing it.” – Alexander Lucia.
She started allowing others to speak and gradually started giving more understanding and gaining respect. By personal example she proved her love for her team by acting upon the feedback. She implemented the suggestions given to her as feedback… And so was born a Leader who understood Leadership as pointing the way.