Part 5: My leadership style

Working in the instructional design field, we lead every day. Whether it's leading learners to new skill sets through the courses we build or teams through a period of transition or a challenging project, our roles are leadership positions.

To me, that's the exciting part. I have a chance to break down problems into smaller chunks that allow my team to accomplish a task that's bigger than all of us. 

And we can do it. We're greater than the sum of our parts and I help by empowering individuals by learning about their strengths and leveraging those to create the best learning outcomes. Through that process, I can develop an even more capable team who can take on bigger challenges.

If you need someone to rule with an iron fist and approach problems aggressively with an us vs. them mindset, I am 100% not that person. Aggression and competition are certainly needed in certain situations. However not every problem is a nail and not every solution is a hammer. 

I have a strategic leadership philosophy. I lead with a strategic mindset and see how disparate parts interconnect. I want to learn more about the problem and the solution, and I believe that individuals can form a team that is greater than the sum of its parts. Most importantly, I care about the people on the team as individuals beyond just their abilities.

I take inspiration from the managers I had that motivated me to grow and change. They didn't throw me to the wolves and expect to work it out. They helped me through the changes and craft a strategy that would lead to success. I had to do the work, but they provided a guiding hand and believed in me.

With leading, I lean into my strengths. They compliment my style very well. Here are my top 5 from the Clifton Strengths assessment:

1. 1. Learner

   2. Intellection

   3. Input

   4. Ideation

   5. Responsibility

My top four are in the strategic thinking domain, which compliments my love of learning and strategic mindset. I'm able to gather input from a variety of people and create new ideas from that input. 

And then the last piece, responsibility. This one compliments my ability to care about people. I feel responsible for them and will act accordingly.

My strengths may not sound very people centric, but for me they are. I love learning about new people. I can break down and analyze problems by learning about the people behind them and what motivates them. Once I know that, I let my mind run through the information I have and dream up solutions and how those solutions make everyone's lives a little easier once we accomplish them.

My love of learning helps me connect with people, whether on my team or in a different department. My love of ideas helps me work with those people to dream up creative solutions that target the motivations of those I'm working with. 

My strategic mindset helps me craft a plan with those people so we can execute it.

And lastly, my feeling of responsibility helps me see projects through to the end and really care for those on my team.