An Effective Leader in My Past

In thinking over my years at Dominion, I began to think about my own experiences and those leaders that I have followed. Was there a leader that exemplified many of the traits associated with progressive and effective leadership? Were there leaders that stood out in my memory as extraordinary who I would gladly follow into any potential challenge?

While I’ve followed many leaders in my day, it was actually difficult to think of leaders that I admired. I could think of one leader that stood out in my memory though. I began to wonder what was so special about this leader that she stood above all the rest.

As I reflected, I did begin to see many of the traits that leadership books espouse. While she had many great traits, I will reflect on three specific traits that stood out.

First, this leader knew how to empower her people. She knew how to give assignments, provide the needed resources and support, and let her people get the job done. In this role, I worked as an Human Resources Specialist with my specific roles including the creation and maintenance of employee policies. This leader had a special way of assigning tasks while providing personal support and encouragement as you completed the tasks. You knew as a subordinate that she wanted you to succeed.

In that role at the time, my customers were generalists in field human resources groups providing services to business units. As I’ve learned from my leadership readings (Regaining Public Trust from The Leader of the Future 2, Ken Blanchard and Dennis Carey, p. 160), I benefited from her leadership abilities by allowing me to be direct my energies to my customers rather than trying to cater to a leadership hierarchy. In fact, one of her strongest traits was dealing with upper leadership while letting her employees focus on getting the job done.

Second, this leader had a high level of integrity. She stood behind what she said and you could depend on her word. In a number of cases, it would have been easier for her to waver on her word and just get by but she did not. While one might expect integrity to be a must for effective leadership, the public has seen an increasing lack of integrity from leaders from political to economic fronts. What once was a foundation for leadership behavior has become a trait hard to find among the leaders of today. Even Peter Drucker included integrity as one of the primary prerequisites for establishing a high level of performance (Peter Drucker on Executive Leadership and Effectiveness from The Leader of the Future 2, Joseph A. Maciariello, p. 5). This leader exhibited integrity in all she did.

Third, this leader knew how to instill confidence in her people. When I worked for this leader, the company was going through a very difficult period. Dominion had just merged with Consolidated Natural Gas (CNG) and the company was downsizing and severing employees. The mood was very somber at the time and employees were insecure about their futures.

This leader had a way of helping her employees through this difficult time. Her ability to build a level of confidence in her employees was based on providing needed support and encouragement. Her ability to instill this confidence is very similar to traits of successful cosmopolitan leaders who are able to instill a level of confidence within their workers and in the organization as a whole (How Cosmopolitan Leaders Inspire Confidence-A Profile of the Future from The Leader of the Future 2, Rosabeth M. Kanter, p. 65). She had a way of letting you know that she had confidence in your ability and if help was needed, she would provide assistance to help you through.

My experiences with Dominion leaders have been positive. Many of these leaders have provided guidance and direction without being overly autocratic. Without a doubt though, the leader referred to in this blog entry has exceptional abilities. My desire is to see leaders of this type to succeed and spread their talents to others within the company. May her success live on.