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006: Unleash Your Inner Leader with 7 Game-Changing Steps
90 Plays1 year ago
Get ready to unleash your inner leader with Brenda Dogbey, the Career Slay Mama, as she shares her 7 game-changing steps to unlock your leadership potential. In this value-packed Career Slay Talks podcast episode, Brenda reveals how to overcome systemic barriers and build the skills needed to thrive in leadership roles. From entry-level to mid-level positions, Brenda's step-by-step guide will help you prepare for the pipeline that leads to leadership. Don't miss out on the chance to take control of your career and become the leader you were born to be. Are you ready to slay? Let's dive in!
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Transcript
Mentorship vs Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
The difference between a mentor and a sponsor is that a mentor is a volunteer who volunteers their time to really shepherd you, advise you, guide you in an informal way. A sponsor is a person of influence within your organization who can influence decisions.
00:00:19
Speaker
And so, sponsorship is different from mentorship in that a sponsor will put their weight behind your name. A lot of the time, in order for somebody to put their weight behind your name, they need to know you, at least be able to know that you will not embarrass them and that you're worth sponsoring.
Career Advancement Tips by Brenda Daub Bay
00:00:35
Speaker
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Korea Slay Talks podcast. I'm Brenda Daub Bay, also known as The Korea Slay Mama. And in this podcast, I share tips and tricks on how to take your career to the next level and the realness of the juggle. And I center Black and Indian voices and African diaspora voices. But of course, this podcast
00:00:58
Speaker
is open and welcome to everybody to listen to. Today I would like to really share with you how to get leadership ready.
Systemic Barriers in Leadership
00:01:10
Speaker
So a lot of the times a lot of folks, we talk a lot about there not being enough diversity at the leadership tables and how to get into those leadership positions.
00:01:22
Speaker
One of the things that is important to really address is the pipeline that leads to leadership. And a lot of the times for us as Black people, as people who are underrepresented, we're underrepresented not because we're not capable, not because we are not competent, but because we don't have the opportunities.
00:01:46
Speaker
And the things that prevent us from having those opportunities are often the systemic barriers. So whether that's not having the opportunities to hone in on the skills that you need to eventually become a leader or not having the opportunities to even see yourself as a leader.
00:02:05
Speaker
I've never had a Black boss, and I've never had a boss who looks like me in Canada. And the challenge with that is that you don't have the mentors. You're not seeing yourself being mirrored back to you, whereas your counterparts are constantly seeing
00:02:23
Speaker
examples of themselves in leadership. So it's quite easy for them to build that confidence and know that it is attainable. And so we have to do that extra or to work that much harder to really build on our leadership readiness so that when the time comes, we're not only able to step into leadership roles, but we'll also thrive in them.
Importance of Strategic Thinking
00:02:45
Speaker
So today I wanted to talk about seven things that you need to do to become leadership ready. And a lot of the times it's right from all the way from entry level to mid level. There's a lot of prep work that goes into getting leadership ready so that you can eventually step into management and executive roles. So the first thing I'm sharing is to think strategically.
00:03:12
Speaker
It's important for you to really hone in on your ability to think strategically. And strategic thinking is not juju. It's not nebulous, right? Like what strategic thinking is, is really being able to see the big picture. So not focus on the very minute details, not focusing on the very operational
00:03:37
Speaker
process oriented. When I say process oriented, I mean, how are we going to do what we're going to do? The strategic thinking is you thinking, what's the purpose? What's the goal? How does this help us achieve our priorities as an organization?
00:03:52
Speaker
as a corporation, as a team, as a division. And so it's focusing on the so what, right? Like there's the what, which is what you're doing. There's the why, which is why you're doing it. And then the so what, what's the implications? And strategic thinking is a skill you have to start to hone very early on in your career because that's what you're going to lean in on as a leader.
00:04:16
Speaker
And so how do you hone in on your strategic thinking skills? Part of that is seeking to understand the overall mission and the vision of the organization. And then what's the contribution of your team or yourself as an individual? So really understanding where you fit in that overall puzzle.
00:04:37
Speaker
And then what you're doing feeds to that bigger picture. Strategy is also about anticipating. So not always just waiting for something to happen, but it's putting the things in place where you're thinking about options. So if this happens, that will result. And if that happens, the other thing will result.
00:04:56
Speaker
Strategic thinking is something that there are courses that help you hone in on how you think strategically. It's often you thinking 360. So by what I mean by that is if you have something like an initiative or a project that you're working on that you're trying to push forward,
00:05:14
Speaker
Who are the key stakeholders around the table? How do we get them to support this idea or this mission or this project? And even if you're doing it on a really small project or team level, right? Like you've got an idea on how to start a new
00:05:31
Speaker
a new initiative within your team, right? So if we bring it to that really granular team level, strategic thinking is you saying, okay, well, Nancy's gonna be opposed to this. And so-and-so is not gonna really be for this because they have some hang ups. How am I gonna prepare the terrain so that when I present this idea, it is accepted? So maybe you have some sidebar conversations with Nancy before the meeting to say, hey, Nancy,
00:05:57
Speaker
I wanted to get your thoughts on this idea just to see what you think. And then you get buy-in from the other people so that by the time you're bringing the idea to the table, it's already been supported. So part of that building that skill is where that strategic thinking starts.
Corporate Functions and Accountability
00:06:14
Speaker
And it's a seed that you really need to continue to grow so that by the time you're getting into, I want to be a manager, I want to be a leader, I want to be an executive,
00:06:23
Speaker
you've honed that skill in. And it's something that should not be minimized. Second thing I'm going to say, and this, again, sounds really unsexy, but these are some of the key things that you need to master if you're going to really be able to step into leadership and not just step into it, but thrive in it. So the second thing is gain corporate knowledge.
00:06:48
Speaker
The thing about leadership is it's about managing. So it's about managing resources. It's about managing people. It's about managing money in terms of a budget. And it's about managing the strategic objectives of an organization. And in order to do that, you need to understand the corporate function. Now, these are things that often don't sound as exciting, but without an understanding of how the organization works,
00:07:15
Speaker
you cannot be an effective leader in terms of steering it in one way or another. So there are many ways, even early on in your career, that you can gain not just corporate knowledge, but build your skills and appreciation for the corporate element. So some of the ways that you can really hone in on these corporate skills are volunteering as part of a board of directors for, say, a non-governmental organization.
00:07:41
Speaker
that board of directors are going to oversee how this NGO works and how, you know, their resources and the people that they hire and then the money and then how all of that comes together. And these are things that you don't have to wait until yourself are in an executive role, but that you can build into your capacity.
00:08:02
Speaker
within your organization, getting some level of experience in the corporate function of the organization. And a lot of the times there will be either a finance branch of your organization. If it is government, for example, there's the responsibilities in terms of annual planning, annual reporting mechanisms for accountability.
00:08:24
Speaker
And the reason why this is important is that leadership is not just about strategic direction, but it's also about accountability. And you need to understand and build this skill. And so that can be done in a number of ways. I've given a couple of examples, but it can also be done through exposure. It can be done through courses, but tangible experience is invaluable because it will always help you propel
Growth through Mentorship, Networking, and Sponsorship
00:08:48
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forward.
00:08:48
Speaker
The third way to get leadership ready is to build strategic relationships. There's different kinds of relationships that you need to build in order to build your capacity as an employee, to build your capacity in an organization. So one of those is mentorship. And as I mentioned earlier, I've been often the only Black person in my job.
00:09:13
Speaker
or in my, you know, I've never really reported to a Black person. And so seeking those mentors has really been instrumental in me even articulating the issues that I'm facing. So if I'm at work and I'm facing leadership issues, there's always that extra layer as a woman, as a Black woman, as an immigrant woman.
00:09:33
Speaker
And being able to communicate that adequately to somebody who will just get it. So when I say I've been facing microaggressions without having to define microaggressions for the person, without having to say exactly what I've been going through. So you need to be able to build mentor and mentee relationships. You need to be able to network with different people in order to build and expand your network so that you can leverage your network.
00:09:59
Speaker
And the goal of networking isn't always, I need a job. In fact, if you only reach out to people when you need a job, you're not going to get a lot of traction. So the goal of networking is to expand your horizon, to get to know what opportunities exist, but also learn about organizations. And that's a really harmless way of building and expanding your network in a way that you will get traction.
00:10:26
Speaker
Networking is an important element of building strategic relationships. Having mentors is an important element. And the third bucket is sponsorship. So the difference between a mentor and a sponsor
00:10:41
Speaker
is that a mentor is a volunteer who volunteers their time to really shepherd you, advise you, guide you in an informal way. A sponsor is a person of influence within your organization who can influence decisions.
00:10:57
Speaker
And so sponsorship is different from mentorship in that a sponsor will put their weight behind your name. A lot of the time in order for somebody to put their weight behind your name, they need to know you at least be able to know that you will not embarrass them and that you're worth sponsoring. And so you need in order to
00:11:16
Speaker
grow in leadership. First and foremost, a lot of the roles at that executive leadership level are done and vetted up through sponsorship. Very few roles are filled purely out of merit and qualifications and a formal process. There is always an element of vouching for and speaking for and putting that, even advocating for, pushing for that candidate. So you really need to get
00:11:45
Speaker
comfortable with approaching influential people and building the relationships that allow them to sponsor you so that you can progress. And this is so key. I'm going to do a different podcast episode just on sponsorship. But the bottom line is that you really do need to build strategic relationships. And some of that is through networking, some of that is through mentorship, and some of that is through sponsorship.
00:12:08
Speaker
The fourth way for you to get leadership ready is to really develop your communication skills.
The Art of Effective Communication
00:12:16
Speaker
Leadership is all about communication. And as a leader, you're constantly communicating with upper management, you're communicating with your managers, you're communicating with your staff, and you really need to hone in on your communication skills because you need to be able, a lot of the time we often say is the amount of time to brief
00:12:38
Speaker
gets less and less. And I'll give an example from government because that's where I work, but it's quite applicable to other fields. So if you're briefing your supervisor, they want a lot of pages of information detailing exactly what you've been working on and why, et cetera.
00:12:55
Speaker
When that supervisor is briefing the manager, they might get maybe two to three pages where they get to summarize exactly what's going on, raise an issue or do a signal check. When that manager is briefing the director, they get less time. So they probably have a
00:13:11
Speaker
page for the briefing. It's going to be a maximum one page and you're going to share that information. If the director is briefing the director general, your work is one small piece of the puzzle and so you now get half a page or maybe even a few paragraphs.
00:13:29
Speaker
When that director general is briefing an assistant deputy minister, for example, or a senior official, that one paragraph now becomes three bullet points. And you need to be able to say what you're saying in three bullet points. And by the time it's getting to the deputy minister or upper management, it's a bullet. It's a sentence. And so you really need to hone in on how to communicate succinctly
00:13:53
Speaker
effectively and efficiently because time is often of the essence and the more you're able to hone in on that skill, the better you position yourself to be leadership ready. No leader wants to receive
00:14:08
Speaker
a 100-page document that they don't have time to read. They need that person who's going to be able to make it succinct to the point, what do I need to know about this item and what are the implications? What is it? What's the what? What's the why? What's the so what? Let's get to the bottom line. There's many ways to build the communication skills. You can do that through trial. The practice of briefing, the practice of informing is what's going to really hone that skill.
00:14:37
Speaker
they're also writing courses and again a part of one really key element in communication is who's your audience so you're going to communicate appropriately at the appropriate level so that you're not giving a deputy minister a 20-page document and then you're giving
00:14:59
Speaker
maybe somebody who needs more of the details, one bullet, right? So it's really going to be important for you to hone in on the message and then hone in on how to target your message for each specific audience. And then again, you need to know how to brief verbally as well as in writing. So
00:15:18
Speaker
that 30-second elevator speech, if you happen to walk into the elevator, I guess we're going back to work, so this example is applicable, but if you've got 30 seconds to breathe and the time that it takes to go from zero to 12th floor is all of the time that you have to give an update or to pitch your idea or to share what it is that you're working on, you need to be really succinct and really focus on the key elements that are relevant for that person in that context.
Readiness through Expertise and Knowledge
00:15:48
Speaker
Now, the fifth way to get leadership ready is that you need to really understand both the depth and the breadth of an organization. And what I mean by this is, so when we're talking about the depth, this is subject matter expertise. And what does that mean? This is how deeply and how well you know about a topic, a subject,
00:16:14
Speaker
an area of work. The value of this is that it makes you an expert. And being an expert makes your skill and your knowledge sought after, right? So as you're growing from that mid-level, it's important to think about where do I want to grow roots in? Where do I want to go deeper? How do I want to really build that knowledge where I can be counted on as a resource person to know everything about one particular thing?
00:16:43
Speaker
And there is value in specializing. And there's different ways that you can specialize, whether that's through your studies. So you could, again, study a very specific area of knowledge, whether it's policy, whether it's scientific knowledge, engineering, whatever. Even in the arts, really mastering international relations, being able to be called on as the expert. This is often a combination of training, competencies, and the amount of time that you spend in that area.
00:17:12
Speaker
In order to build depth, you do need to spend some time in that area of knowledge. And one way of doing that without having to stay in a role for five to 10 years is making lateral moves. And so moving at the same level, but in the same function in a different organization. And so that allows you to have the perspective of, I worked in this organization, I've done the same thing in another organization. So that's the depth.
00:17:37
Speaker
The breadth comes back to what I was talking about in terms of having corporate knowledge. And so being able to multitask, being able to see that 360 view, being able to handle multiple different priorities that are unrelated and not letting the balls drop is a key step to being leadership ready. Because again, you allow yourself to really understand
00:18:01
Speaker
what is it that is required of you. You really understand how to manage priorities and that's a key part of being a leader is being able to make the call and say I'd love to do that right now but it cannot be a priority in light of this and that or that I have limited resources so as much as I would like to do everything I have to keep
00:18:22
Speaker
pick and choose. And so being able to understand that depth, so subject matter expertise and that breadth, so being able to work horizontally and being able to collaborate with people in different areas, right? So you're not just in your area where you know everything about the one thing, but that you're actually being able to collaborate with people who are also working in other things and in other areas.
00:18:46
Speaker
It's really key in terms of really getting leadership ready because a lot of the times as a leader you'll draw on both. Sometimes you'll draw on how to appreciate the subject matter expertise but you also draw on that horizontality or that broader knowledge.
00:19:01
Speaker
The last couple of points that I have are around you yourself as a leader.
Aligning Leadership Style with Values
00:19:06
Speaker
So some of the sixth way of you getting leadership ready is to really lean in on your core values and get in tune with your leadership style. And this is something that you don't need to wait to become a leader to do. In order to really lean in on your core values, this is one of the things that has surprised me as much, that has surprised me about being a leader.
00:19:29
Speaker
is that I'm leaning in a lot on who I am and what are my core values. And some of those core values, I'll give you an example, is empathy. So knowing that in your leadership style, empathy is important and that you leverage empathy in how you manage people and how you work with people, et cetera, is something that is important. Collegiality.
00:19:54
Speaker
is something that I value. And so for my teams, I let them know upfront, we're not going to be having squabbles. We need to leave our vendettas at the door and we need to treat each other with respect and work from that place of mutuality and respect rather than being petty, but nitpicky and whatnot. And some of these core values will help you gravitate towards leaders who also embody those values. And this is where, again, as a leader, it's a lot more about
00:20:23
Speaker
who you are, what you bring to the table, and how that lines up with helping the organization meet its goals. But a big part of being a leader is also working with other leaders. And they're often, if you're not in tune with what your leadership style is, you will be clashing with leaders who lead very differently. Because again, there's no right or wrong. There's better versus worse. But a lot of the time,
00:20:48
Speaker
people lead in very militant ways, and that's just their core values, that's their style. And so if your leadership style does not align with them, then you cannot work effectively together. And it's important for you to recognize that. What are the circumstances where you thrive as a leader? If you're thriving more in that strategic thinking, big picture, helping the organization get clarity, build a vision, then you'll gravitate towards roles like that.
00:21:17
Speaker
Whereas if you thrive in logistics, getting every last detail organized and knowing every single step, having really great processes in place, then you'll gravitate to roles like that. If you love numbers, like if you want number crunching, and that's what juggles your juices, is numbers and understanding the full financial profile, making sure that an organization is financially sound and it's being run well,
00:21:42
Speaker
then you're going to gravitate toward that. So it's really important to know about your core values, as well as, you know, coming back to the previous point, your subject matter expertise, because those two will kind of feed into each other, what you know versus who you are. All of those come into your role as a leader, and you need to hone these skills in before you're even ready to take on those leadership
The Importance of Early Brand Building
00:22:04
Speaker
roles.
00:22:04
Speaker
And then last but not least, the seventh way for you to become leadership ready is to have a strong personal and professional brand. You need to know your value proposition. You need to know what it is that you bring to the table. When they bring, when you hire Brenda, this is what you're getting. You're getting, um, I get the job done.
00:22:27
Speaker
I work, I collaborate and collegiality is really important to me. I build strong working relationships with all of the people that I collaborate with. I lead with empathy.
00:22:41
Speaker
I bring excellence to what I do. So you need to know what are your three, what's your trifecta? What are the three things that you bring to the table in every single role that you bring? And you need to start building that brand because that brand is going to help you as you get leadership ready. So you can't wait as an analyst or in your entry slash mid-level where you just show up to work and do the bare minimum.
00:23:08
Speaker
And you're waiting that when you get that really exciting role that suddenly you're going to bring your full self. You need to start that early. You need to build that reputation of being dependable, being somebody that folks can rely on to really get the job done. And that's really important because that brand of being consistent
00:23:29
Speaker
that brand of bringing quality work, it will draw people towards you and it will help you leverage when you start to network, when you start to reach out to people, when you ask people to be a sponsor, no one's going to want to sponsor you. If your reputation is that you never ever get things on time, you always bail out at the last minute, you always take sick leave three days before
00:23:55
Speaker
um the deadline is due and i'm not saying don't take care of yourself don't get me wrong i think it's important to take good care of yourself however if your track record is that every single time there is something that's deliver there's a deliverable that you never deliver because you somehow are um and you're not dependable that's gonna follow you but conversely if you are that person who always um consistently
00:24:21
Speaker
delivers what is required, who goes over and above. That reputation is also going to follow you and make that a part of your personal brand. And as I said, once you get into leadership, your personal brand is what's going to set you apart from everybody else.
00:24:37
Speaker
and your core values and so the earlier you're able to think about what's my brand what's my identity what do i bring what's my secret sauce what do i bring to every single role that i play and what do i want to bring and are there gaps because it's in that pre-leadership season that you're going to prepare yourself for
00:24:58
Speaker
the full-on leadership role.
Connect with Brenda and the Podcast
00:25:00
Speaker
And you don't wake up one day and say, I'm now I'm a leader. A lot of it is a lot of investing along the way. Thank you so much for following this episode. Please connect with me on social media. So follow the podcast's Instagram page at KoreaSlayTalks. You can also follow me, the KoreaSlayMama, at KoreaSlayMama on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram, and let's slay career together.