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Is the leadership you’re providing others making a difference and, in turn, are they making a difference in those they lead?
I refer to this as scalable leadership.
One of my first bosses was Phil Groff. I was 16 years old and he was the manager of the McDonald’s where I worked in Lacey, Washington. To this day the leadership he demonstrated is still making an impact on me.
Phil, along with assistant manager, Buck Buchanan, showed me the power of positive communication and how to help others achieve things they didn’t think were possible. These two did it not only by what they said, but also by what they did.
They showed it not just when things were going well, but especially when things weren’t going well.
Phil took a chance on me early in my career at McDonald’s and promoted me to swing manager. As a 16-year-old, I was clueless, but both Phil and Buck saw in me something they could mold and develop.
I can still remember Phil explaining to me how to ask people to do things and how to deal with customer issues. One of the biggest things was how he used even failures as training moments.
One night when I was tasked with closing the store, I failed to lock a door. The next day Phil quietly pulled me aside and told me what I had failed to do. His comments were not in your face or belittling. No, his comments were strictly positive and yet firm.
He would deal with failure by first saying how he knew you were capable of doing it right and then go on to explain the issue. Sixteen years old and I was learning quality leadership first hand.
The things I learned from Phil and Buck went far beyond anything I learned in a text book, and that’s why I say they demonstrated “scalable leadership.”
How are you impacting and leading those around you?
Are people learning from the way they see you leading?
Are people applying your leadership techniques?
Is your leadership scalable? If it’s not, I’d say what you’re doing is not leading, but merely managing.
Does the world need more managers? No, we have far too many. What we need are more leaders demonstrating daily, scalable leadership.
Copyright 2016, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.
