Surround yourself with talent to succeed

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sgt. George Stewart
  • 615th Contingency Operations Support Group chief enlisted manager
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Good leadership is a skill that is attractive to employers and employees alike. Who wants to work for or hire a bad leader? I think the answer is no one. So, how do we become good leaders?

A good leader is someone who surrounds themselves with other leaders. A good leader finds the best people and then develops them into the best leaders they can be. Why? Because the people closest to a leader determine the level of success or failure of that leader. In other words, as a leader, those closest to you can "make or break" you.

Also, potential leaders help carry your other loads. In fact, the more people you lead, the more leaders you need to help you in your leadership. Potential leaders serve as a good sounding board who have a leadership mindset so they think like you and therefore see your problems as their own.

In addition, leaders who mentor potential leaders multiply their effectiveness. Developed leaders expand and enhance the success and future of any organization. Therefore, if you develop new leaders, you directly contribute to this goal.

You may think developing potential leaders could threaten your leadership. But true leaders know how to inspire and create new leaders. True leaders have faith in other people's leadership abilities and help them develop these skills. True leaders are not threatened by people with great potential. John C. Maxwell, author and public speaker, defines a leader's success as "the maximum utilization of the abilities of those under him or her."

Leadership is not a secret only highly educated or elite people can acquire; it is there for anyone to learn, grow and nurture. It's a lifelong process we continue to expand on and grow. Finding the right road map is not a formidable task but a decidable one.

The first step is to set and establish goals. This is easy for us in the Air Force. Most of our goals are already established. We know what time we are supposed to be at work, what to wear, how many aircraft are going to fly or how many enlisted performance reports to write this week. Each Air Force specialty code has numerous requirements we must meet, operating instructions we must follow and, for the most part, goals that were established throughout the years.

The second step often gets overlooked, which can contribute to a leader who is not very successful. You need to look for and "catch" your Airmen doing something right. Tell your Airmen up front you will tell them how they're doing and when you see them doing good things, tell them immediately. Tell them how you feel about them doing things right. Let them know how important it is to your unit's success and encourage them to do more of the same.

The third step is another critical step in the leadership process. When you see your Airmen doing something wrong, you must let them know immediately. Be specific and make the necessary changes. Remind them how much the unit values them and that you personally think highly of them, but not their performance in that situation. When the reprimand is completed, it's over.

Sounds too easy to be true, right? If you look at each of the steps, the Air Force has adopted this sound leadership concept already. Initial feedback sessions establish and confirm our goals. Midterm feedback should tell people realistically where they stand. Finally, the EPR validates and documents the Airman's performance.

This is basic food for thought in developing a good leader. Leadership is a lifelong learning experience. I challenge you to continue enhancing your leadership skills by reading books on leadership, listening to lecturers, accomplishing your professional military education and pursuing higher education. Lastly, developing good leadership is like a great investment; it continues to pay as it matures.