The inaugural class of Brown Bag’s Empowerment U graduated today, and with that, we welcome a new class into our leadership development program.
As a member of the first class, over the past year I spent time diving into what it means to be empowered and what to do when given that opportunity. One of the lessons that has been most impactful for me has been the idea of leading from exactly where I am, in the seat in which I currently sit, and with the title I currently hold, long before I am officially promoted or given permission to lead.
After reading Clay Scroggins’ book How to Lead When You’re Not in Charge, four behaviors have echoed in my mind as I try to become the type of leader I would want to follow: choosing positivity, rejecting passivity, leading myself well and thinking critically. I believe everyone has the capability to influence themselves and those around them, even when they’ve not been given authority to do so. I believe that authority doesn’t make a good leader, but instead, a good leader may eventually be given authority. What matters is leveraging your influence to effect change and contribute to the overall well-being and growth of yourself, your colleagues and your organization.
To go along with the lessons I took away from this book and from this year in Empowerment U, here are four behaviors to consider adopting in order to start leveraging your influence.
Have you been in a situation where you could develop as a leader, even before you were given that role or title? I think this attitude has helped me tremendously as a rising leader in our agency, and I look forward to seeing how members of the 2018 Empowerment U class leverage their influence in the coming year!