Before we discuss what a Learning Leader looks like, let me tell you a bit about her story. I met Jennifer as she was seeking ways to advance her career, meet personal goals, and be happier. You see, she was adjusting to the competing demands of relatively new roles as:
A professional woman within a more traditional corporate structure
A team leader who manages people and projects
A wife
A mother
Jennifer is happily married with a beautiful two-year-old daughter. She is actively involved with her family and a large network of friends. Some would call her an amazing social connector and networker. It was this newest role of mother that prompted her search for a corporate position with steady hours and paycheck.
Jennifer is a professional with a law degree and a corporate job she loves and spends an hour commuting to each day. She supervises a team of professional and administrative staff and has a boss who leans on her for support of his personal problems.
The support she is expected to provide for her boss is not an aspect of her job she loves, especially since he does not seem to value her professional expertise or her keen sense of how to work with people. Jennifer often wonders if her female identity or youth impacts his perception. Luckily, his boss does recognize her potential and looks for ways to support her continued stay with the organization.
The Embodiment of a Team Player
Jennifer is generous in sharing both her legal expertise and her knowledge of people in ways that make her boss “look good;” however, she is convinced that he has little respect for what she brings to the table. I would say that Jennifer was a great new leader who worked to create a vision for her team. She set a direction, engaged, and empowered her team members while also working on more personal goals.
I quickly discovered Jennifer is a warm, empathic woman who genuinely cares about others and takes seriously her commitment to make the world a better place. She is conscientious about meeting her responsibilities and lavish with praise and accolades of team members who collaborate to achieve success. She struggles with those who sabotage that team success in pursuit of self-aggrandizement.
This backdrop sets the stage for the additional stress associated with the current pandemic.
What I have come to realize about Jennifer is that she is the exact type of leader I would want to have in a crisis. She epitomizes what a Learning Leader is, which is exactly what we need. A Learning Leader is one who is curious about many things, who admits they are learning as they go, and who isn’t afraid to take a risk. Learning Leaders make decisions based on available information and change course as new data emerges. Learning Leaders are always looking forward.
When a Learning Leader Faces a Pandemic
When Jennifer earned her company was going remote in early March, she offered temporary employment to her daughter’s childcare worker “just in case the daycare might close” amid COVID fears. She had already stocked up on hand sanitizer and gloves and now had in-home childcare— tremendously easing the burden of working from home. She enjoyed the extra hours in her day gained by not commuting to her job and had time to eat breakfast and lunch with her daughter. There were even hours left in the day for a walk while checking in with team members individually to see how they were coping.
Jennifer encouraged her team to accomplish their work on whatever daily schedule would help them balance their job with home responsibilities. For those most isolated, she had snack baskets delivered or a bouquet of flowers to welcome spring. Despite being an obvious millennial, she was vocal in challenging the company’s policy of announcing their review of return to work every two weeks. She wanted them to understand the strain that this caused working parents who would need to figure out childcare with two weeks’ notice. She also voiced her outrage when an employee from another department was being forced to publicly account for her time when she needed to access a food bank.
While most of us make diet and exercise resolutions for the new year, Jennifer has far surpassed her own expectations with both. She has not only lost weight with a healthier diet but also has convinced her parents to follow suit. That daily walk has given way to a more formal workout schedule with a personal trainer thanks to no commuting time.
As you can imagine, a great networker has had to change the methods of connecting during a pandemic, but Jennifer has recognized the difference between acquaintances and real friendships. She has decided to put her energy into the latter and has found a way to explain her new approach to others without alienating anyone.
In summary, Jennifer is a courageous leader who is calm, consistent, open to new learning, and mindful of her shortcomings. She is empathic, treats others with respect, and seeks authentic relationships both at work and in her personal life. She is both realistic and optimistic and her enthusiasm is contagious. She is the epitome of a Learning Leader.
To dig deeper into your company dynamics and identify or develop more Learning Leaders, contact Dr. Delligatti today.