Front-Line Leadership

CHAPTER 5Leading by Example

If you want to build and effectively lead a high‐performing team, there need to be high levels of trust. Although we all pretty much know that, I've found that it's one thing to know what good leadership looks like but it's a completely different thing to actually put into action. We often think of leadership as a sublime experience akin to leading soldiers up the proverbial hill in battle with bullets whizzing by, but in all actuality it's the consistent application of the small things, such as being empathetic, being a good listener, meeting the needs of others, maintaining commitments, and so on, that establishes our leadership credibility. Please don't get me wrong; I've served with and met some of the most courageous people in the world who actually charged up hills with bullets whizzing by, but most of them will tell you it does not take a grandiose gesture like that to be a good leader.

The number one way to start building trust with others is to lead by example. When we lead by example, this creates alignment between our words and our actions and it demonstrates to others exactly what our expectations are. Imagine you lead a small team and you have a weekly team meeting but every week, like clockwork, you're 10 minutes late. Yet when one of your colleagues is running late to meet with you or misses a deadline, you get upset. You might be thinking to yourself, it's just 10 minutes to a lousy team meeting, but what kind of message does that ...