Peer to Peer Magazine

76 PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF ILTA | WINTER 2016 As we enter and rise through the ranks of our organizations, we face the opportunities and challenges afforded by two separate yet interlaced aspects of employment: professional development, bettering ourselves and accomplishing goals, and leadership, the responsibility of finding ways to best serve those whom we manage and help them accomplish their goals. To explore these topics, we asked three of your ILTA peers to share their experiences, advice and tips in the accompanying podcasts. The following article is based on their responses. The Ins and Outs of Professional Development and Leadership ASK THE EXPERT The Ins and Outs of Professional Development and Leadership LISTEN TO EACH PERSON'S INTERVIEW: iltanet.org/recordings What does a great leader do or not do? Chuck: A great leader develops and communicates an excellent strategic vision. If you stay focused on that vision, other people will see it, and that allows you to build a consensus. Once people believe in your vision, they can help you achieve it. Give your team the general parameters, and then empower them to succeed. Good leaders also help the team celebrate victories, remove road blocks and set expectations within the organization. Brian: I've always viewed good leadership as finding the best way to serve the people you're in charge of. It's the number one responsibility. Serving people can take a lot of different forms, including fighting for them, challenging them and having difficult conversations with them. Sometimes it might mean, as Jim Collins, who wrote one of my favorite books "Good to Great," likes to say, "You have to make sure they're on the right seat on your bus." Meaning, people should do the things best matched with their skills and abilities. Good leadership is largely about being excellent at finding ways to serve your people and help them accomplish their goals. Is there a pivotal moment in your career when you knew you'd turned a corner from "staffer" to "leader"? Chuck: "I knew I had gone from staff member to leader when I presented to the firm's board of directors. I saw the importance of what I was doing and how it could affect other people's careers. I learned to appreciate the importance of doing the right thing, working hard at geing to the right answer and then trying to properly execute on that. Brian: I started out as a consultant and then became a programmer for a bank. They had no IT department, and the opportunity came to lead that effort. That transition came prey easily, but my perspective changed when I had to hire my first employee. Being responsible for someone else changes how you deal with both your career and the choices you make, and how you conduct yourself. I had a mentor early in my life who told me a leader can

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