We love taking photos, lots of them. Everyone with a good camera believes their photos are great and quite different from the next person. Photography is not for the “elite professionals” any more. Anyone believes their photos will definitely sell, or at least may be used by someone in some way. But this is usually where the process ends. Photos get left in a folder on a computer and hardly anything else happens with them. Cloud or Computer space is cheap of course.
Taking a photo is one thing; doing something with the photos is quite another matter. Cataloging takes time, post-production on say Photoshop takes time and choosing the best ones for a slide show takes effort. So maybe just send one or two on email to family or friends, or post on Facebook or Instagram is the next best thing.
Similarly, becoming a Supervisor or Manager is one thing. Doing something to become a Leader is something quite different. It is easy to just get on with the job, potentially making the same mistakes over and over again. Often not even realizing what it really takes to become an inspiration to your employees. Those first years as a young supervisor will lay the foundation for future Leadership behaviors.
Inspirational Leaders spend a lot of time developing their Leadership skills. High quality Leaders do not just become such, there is a lot of effort required. I think Managers and Supervisors will experience rapid growth if they actively engage in the following 3 key self-development actions:
- Fast-track your experience – Often it is not necessary to make mistakes others made. Learn from them. People love to talk about how they fixed their own mistakes and why you don’t need to make them as well
- Mentorship – Decide who your role models are. Get yourself a Mentor. It is one of the most valuable investments you will ever make in your career
- Actively seek Feedback – Regular introspection is a key quality of inspirational Leaders. You do not get to do much introspection if you don’t ask how you are doing – what is going well and what can I do better.
As a Leader – what did you do to improve yourself?