I wasn't always comfortable talking in front of a few people, let alone large groups, and forget about teaching something to someone in that same format. I started small. At the time, I was very engaged in teaching CPR classes to a variety of fellow medical providers. I would teach the same cookie-cutter CPR class that everyone took, and mostly there were more people asleep than paying attention. They knew the material, but their job required them to take the same class every two years. I mean, what new thing was I going to teach them? I went back to the drawing board with the way I was going to present CPR to these people and the regular public. I needed to add a little bit of what I refer to as Pfav flair, and added a little bit of the science that is never included in the standard canned CPR class.
To this day, I have people who have taken CPR classes eight and ten times over come to me and tell me that was the most enjoyable and entertaining CPR class they have ever had. I teach now for a lot of big companies and corporations and have done public speaking and taught many other types of classes all over the country. I could make CPR instruction a full-time job if I wanted, but I would honestly miss everything else that I am involved with. I studied the leader who inspired me and went back and re-designed an entire new program that I deliver and it was successful.
Take a few minutes out of your day to find the leaders who inspire you. Study them, watch them, listen to them, and take the good qualities from them and add them into what makes you up as a leader. I still search out the leaders who inspire me. If they have written a book, I read it. If they are on YouTube, I watch them. Everyone has something to teach someone, whether they realize it directly or indirectly. Maybe the leader who inspires you the most is one of your parents. Maybe it is a current leader who you work for, or maybe it is someone who works on the floor above you. Whoever that person is, if you want to get better as a leader, you must study other leaders, for the good and the bad. It will go a long way in helping you truly develop yourself to be the very best leader you can be.
Challenge 8 (Study Leadership)
How do you study leadership when there is so much of it out there? I mean, everyone has written a book or loves to share those inspirational leadership quotes that you find on social media. They are even written on generic posters that are probably hanging on your office walls right now – you know, the one of the Blue Angels flying in formation and it says TEAMWORK right across the bottom with some kind of fluffy motivating words under it. Leadership is all of those things. I have a library of leadership books I have read over the years, and I also have an entire photo gallery of screenshots of those leadership quotes you see on social media. It's too easy not to screenshot something you like on your phone when you see it on Facebook or Twitter. So how do you study those things? Surely, leadership has to be more than a quote, right?
I feel as though leadership is a belief. I get it that leadership is also an art, or a state of mind and a behavior, but for me it's a belief. It's a belief that I can inspire people to do great things or become better at something. It's a belief that when things are hard, they can turn to me. It's a belief that I may not always have the right answer, but I will get them one. It's a belief that above all else, I will be there for them when they need someone. So yes, those fluffy leadership quotes you see online matter. Screenshot those things, save them, and look at them often. Take those words to heart and figure out how those words apply to you as a leader. You may save nine out of ten of them, and chances are you are only saving the ones that you're already good at, but I want you to look at the tenth one. That's the one that doesn't apply to you yet. You don't need some kind of written validation that you are always good at what you do, so stop saving the ones that you already know. You need to find the one that you're not good at yet and figure out how to become good at it.
Better yet, start writing your own motivational quotes that apply to your weaknesses and use that as your script to get better as a leader. You will find true meaning and purpose when you can share one of your own leadership quotes with someone and they can look to you and validate it based on your leadership style and behavior.
Several years ago, I had a struggling leadership team. Nothing I was doing was working to motivate them or light the fire within them. It was a small team, only six individuals total. The dynamic was off, their chemistry was wrong, and I was starting to feel like a failure as a leader. I came up with an idea and I pitched it to my boss. I told him we were going to assemble the entire management team together on a Saturday for a team building exercise. He agreed and thought it would be beneficial to the team. I also told him I needed to spend about three hundred dollars to make it happen. He laughed and just said, "Okay, whatever you need to do." I called it Chocolate Therapy. I went to the local supermarket on the morning of the exercise and spent every penny of that three hundred. I bought every flavor of ice cream they had – cones, jimmies, sprinkles, candy, and all of the liquid toppings I could find. For good measure, I picked up some off the wall items like fruit, nuts, marshmallows, and food coloring. I set up all the items on the conference room table and had it hidden under a bed sheet. I welcomed everyone to the team-building exercise. They all sat there with their arms folded and pouty looks on their faces, and I could tell they were bothered to be here on a Saturday. I told them they would be broken up into two teams. Their goal was to use the contents that were on the table to develop a new breakthrough dessert and pitch it to the Board of Directors in hopes of getting a sale. It was Taste Kitchen meets Shark Tank. They would have to experiment with the ingredients, photograph the final product, taste test it, and come up with a marketing pitch. They had two hours to accomplish this exercise.
The scowls on their faces quickly turned to smiles and laughter soon filled the room when I removed the bed sheet and they saw what was underneath it. I sat in the back of the room with the other board members and just watched. What we witnessed was amazing. For the first time, everyone was working together as a team. It was one of my proudest moments watching them spoon feed different flavor and topping combinations to each other. The names they came up with for the desserts were pretty funny also. They all did an amazing job with their marketing plans and sales pitches. In the end, we voted to buy both desserts. Once we all cleaned up the room, I reminded everyone that their EMS jobs were safe, and they wouldn't have to get into a new career of sales and marketing. They all understood the concept of the exercise and why it was necessary to do this. A short time later, we would all go on to receive our first National Ambulance Accreditation. While we don't do chocolate therapy anymore, this was the beginning idea for hosting an annual leadership summit for my leadership team. If you are having trouble with your leadership team and you are stuck on what to do, study leadership when you can and where you can. Come up with new ideas or a new angle on a problem-solving exercise. It will truly make a difference in their performance.
Challenge 9 (Brainstorming)
This might be my favorite leadership exercise to do. I love brainstorming and I love to do it with groups and I love to do it alone. For me, I use a variety of tools when I brainstorm. I am a huge fan of an app called Evernote and another one called Trello. They allow me to easily organize projects, thoughts, and ideas. It is very beneficial to get ideas out of your mind and onto paper, or in this case, a computer or phone screen. Whatever medium you use, when you see it, you hold yourself accountable to that thought or idea. You won't forget it.
A piece of paper or computer screen with my brainstorming ideas might look something like this. I start with a general idea or thought, and I write it at the top of the page. Then I write the most bizarre