Page 8 - Voices.June.2016final

VIEWPOINT
Leadership Lessons
by Michelle Alba-Lim, DTM - District Director
On July 1, I will collaboration.
be “Immediate Past
District Director.” It has been three years since
I started my journey in district leadership. First,
Lieutenant Governor Marketing (now called Club
Growth Director). Then, Lieutenant Governor
Education and Training (now Program Quality
Director). Finally, the first District Director
(formerly called District Governor). For months,
I would get tongue-twisted with the new titles.
Ironically, now I find myself referring to someone
who served years ago as a “director” rather than
a “governor.” We are such an adaptive species!
A key factor in adaptation is the ability to
learn from past experience. These past three
years have certainly been a treasure trove of
learning opportunities. I would be remiss if I
did not share some of the lessons I’ve learned
during my leadership journey:
1. Aim for big, hairy, audacious goals. As
WCPS Ryan Avery puts it, “Aim BIG!” Or as PDG
Cathey Armillas says, “Set ridiculously lofty goals
and go for them. No matter what, you’ll be much
farther than if you hadn’t even tried.” This year,
we aimed to achieve President’s Distinguished
District. Whether we achieve this goal or not, we
are certainly doing our best, right down to the
last day of this term.
2. It usually takes much more time, effort,
and resources to achieve a goal than initially
anticipated. Build buffers into your plans. The
more important or critical the plan, the larger
the buffer should be. This was (and is) a humbling
experience for me. I had several plans that I had
intended to implement these past three years and
unfortunately, not all of them have materialized.
One example was creating a simple, low-tech,
easy-to-understand “D7 Rewards Program.” I had
the vision for how I wanted it to be, but lacked
the technical skills to execute it
3. It’s okay to say “I don’t know.” Admitting
that you’re not omniscient opens the door for
others to share what they know, and invites
8 Volume 2 Issue 12 - JUNE 2016
4. Don’t be afraid to admit you made a
mistake or committed a faux pas. If I had a dollar
for each time I put my foot into my mouth these
past three years, I would have quite a stash. No
one is perfect. Trying to pin blame on someone
else is not effective leadership. A great leader
whose name eludes me right now said “Great
leaders take responsibility when something goes
wrong, and gives credit to their team when things
go well.” I’ve learned that sincere apologies allow
people to reset, and move on.
5. Treat people with LOVE. When you lead
from the heart, people will see your authenticity
and open up to you. For more on this, join me
at my TLI session “Leading with Heart.”
6. Do things for the right reason(s). First
Vice-President Balraj helped me to realize that
there were times during these past three years
when I lost sight of WHY we were doing some-
thing, and became too focused on the WHAT
and HOW. As Simon Sinek puts it so succinctly,
we need to start with WHY.
7. HAVE FUN! When you lose the spirit of
fun, any task becomes arduous and painstaking.
Please share your own leadership lesson with
me at michelle@wlfcentre.com.
A leader is best when
people barely know he
exists, when his work is
done, his aim fulfilled,
they will say: we did it
ourselves.
Lao Tzu