Monday, October 19, 2020

Who are emerging leaders and are they easy to spot?

 Who are emerging leaders and are they easy to spot?

You could say I have been around a bit in leadership circles and roles, mostly in higher education, particularly community colleges and universities with community college roles and missions. Consequently, I have seen, helped, and mentored my share of people who I would classify as emerging leaders. 

For the past decade or more, a few questions have bounced around: “Who are emerging leaders? And how can we help them propel themselves forward?” I will answer only the first question and save the second question for another essay.

First, who are emerging leaders and are they easy to spot? In many ways they are. Some of them are already serving in leadership positions, some rounding off their edges, yet they possess a sense of vigilance and a willingness to learn and to grow. I have chosen just seven attributes or characteristics to help us recognize these emerging leaders:

They are influencers.

Now, some of emerging leaders may know they are influencers in a formal way, but many more are influencers in an informal way. This means that they do not try to impress. It just happens naturally by the way they say things or do things. They show up, full blown, ready to go every single day. They are consistent and persistent in all that they do, and they rise to the top by natural transition by creating, participating in, and seeking opportunities for themselves to grow and develop.

They are contributors.

They are ones you see asking good questions, questions that stimulate growth or show that they have done their homework before they ask the question. They are powerfully patience in their contributions throughout the organization. They do not force themselves on others or talk over other people to get their point across. They know when to contribute appropriately and strategically, and their contributions move the company and the conversation along in a positive way.

They are smart and exude a bit of savvy about what is happening.

These days it seems that everyone exhibits “smartness” or “intelligence” in a variety of areas. While some people exhibit these qualities, it does not mean that they know what to do with their smartness and intelligence. To me, emerging leaders exude a judiciousness about how they incorporate their smartness and intelligence in their normal, everyday actions. Gratuitous exhibition does not become them. Rather, these emerging leaders show it through ingenuity and conversation and the actual doing what needs to be done.

They are excited about coming to work and staying engaged.

Too many people are lethargic about coming to work and staying engaged in what we are trying to accomplish. Emerging leaders stay excited and motivated about the doings of the organization. They may not be the perennial show horse who comes to work all prim and proper although they may look good because they focus on what needs to be done instead of how they look. They possess a sense of energy all day long, perhaps even being the light that that shines on everyone as they are engaged in doing real work.


They are willing to go beyond the daily mundane.

Emerging leaders seek opportunities to show what they can do. There are those in our lives—past and present—who always ask for extra credit. While I am not one to give extra credit, I do believe if you can do the work, then just do it. The emerging leaders who go beyond the daily mundane do it because they have chosen to excel and want to become better, not necessarily because of the credit or accolades they may receive. They possess an internal guide that propels them forward in all that they do. They look forward to going beyond what is being asked of them. Their work ethic is impeccable.

They work in teams and often emerge as leaders of those teams.

Emerging leaders like to work in teams and implicitly understand the various roles in a team. They do not dominate the conversation or try to persuade everyone to come to their side. It is a natural progression as they rise to the occasion. By choice, the people in their groups tend to look to them because they trust them. Their groups tend to coalesce and become one, and their projects have positive trappings and show great thought, creativity, and resourcefulness.

They leave a trail of good and positivity behind them.

There are those so called leaders who advance but leave behind a wake of negativity and workplace debris—people whom they stepped on and over, projects that others did but they took credit for, and a sense of “we-are-glad-he/she-is gone-from-this-organization.” Exceptional emerging leaders leave their last position in better shape than the found it. People moan their departure because of what they have done and how they treated others. Emerging leaders understand culture and try with all their might and mind to leave behind a culture that wishes them well and welcomes them back anytime. When emerging leaders do this and they move from one successful position to another, they can always call back, ask for help, and never be turned down or away. They gain allies wherever they go, and they never forget where they came from.

Now, there are many, many more qualities that may define an emerging leader, but these are the ones that have impressed me over the past several years. I have watched these types of leaders transition nicely from just pools of people to upper leadership in organizations because of their persistence and personality to do what needs to be done. While not one attribute completely defines emerging leaders, a combination of many create and propel emerging leaders to the top of leadership circles. 

Darrel L. Hammon, Ph.D.


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