“But Roxanne…”
Hardly a day goes by that I don’t get an email that includes those two words. It’s usually followed by something like this: “I’d like to energize my workplace, I’d like to make a difference, but I just don’t have the power. I’m not the CEO, I’m just a [insert position here].”
Leadership is not a position—it’s a way of being. You aren’t assigned to leadership, you SEIZE it. It’s about being powerful regardless of your position.
We’ve all known people like this—people who find ways to make a huge difference despite their place on the organizational chart. There’s the bus driver who greets each rider like a head of state, the hardware store employee who doesn’t just tell you where the wing nuts are but walks you TO them. (I know, I know, you thought all the wing nuts were in Congress. Try to focus here.)
I once knew a receptionist—I’ll call her Trish—who singlehandedly turned a company around. From her first day in that chair, she was always doing something better than it had ever been done. Whatever she didn’t know she learned. Within weeks she was blowing back the hair of callers and visitors with her zest for life.
And how did those customers respond? They started to buy more. They sent their friends. Why wouldn’t they?
She expertly fielded incoming calls and attended to visitors to the lobby—which, by the way, sported fresh flowers each Monday. And whose idea was that? Yep, hers. It wasn’t in her job description, but it was within her POWER.
As soon as she caught on to how orders were routed, placed, and handled, she saw redundancies that could be eliminated. She stepped in—diplomatically, of course, always diplomatically—and helped fix it. The overall workload was cut in half because of the more efficient system she had helped create. Good thing, too, because orders continued to increase.
A month into the job, she picked up on three employees with bad attitudes. Out of her own desire to make things better, she talked to each one separately. She empathized with their point of view, offered some ideas for making things better, then persuaded them to bring their whole hearts into the workplace.
She also let them know that their behavior had an impact on her. And because she had developed high personal capital with everyone in the office, they listened. They cared. They didn’t want to negatively impact Trish. So they changed.
One day, a big deal came in the door, and she handled the greeting so well that the prospect made a large purchase and raved to all her friends about how well she had been taken care of. Soon they were experiencing the same thing, and telling THEIR friends.
When Trish realized there was no follow-up plan for new customers, she helped devise and implement a plan for keeping track of calls and for sending gifts to the clients. Again, customers raved and sent their friends. Who sent their friends.
Can you feel the power?
Within a few years, she was running the place. That would never have been possible if she had limited herself to her “job description.” Instead, she made the decision to MATTER, to make herself of profound service to customers and colleagues alike. She accomplished massive results without a position of authority by recognizing opportunities and taking action without being controlling or heavy-handed. And when she found her own power, she brought others along with her.
How can you be more like Trish?