Being A Leader

Being in charge can be hard, you get all this new workload put on to your plate and it can be overwhelming at times, but there is a reason you got this new promotion. Have you found yourself relating to your team, implementing proper communication between branches? Well if these fit you probably have the traits to be a leader.

The way things work in walmart a supervisor (or new manager) is first required to take a test. This test is a multiple choice “What would you do in this instance” kind of test and is relatively easy with some common sense. What really matters though is the interview process to get the promotion. The assistant managers bring the prospective supervisor into the office and interview them on why they should have this position. After that part of things is done the assistants meet as a group and discuss which person would fit the job. I personally have not went through this process due to me heading back to school, but many of my coworkers have been through it. So even in a smaller role like a supervisor there are qualities that are needed to get a newer job.

Glasow said, “A good leader takes little more than his share of the blame and little less than his share of the credit.” Accountability takes a lot of the traits needed to be an effective leader at work. This and delegation are big attributes for a company like Walmart due to all the minute tasks that need to be done. The only downside of that is that when the supervisor is power hungry they thrust every job on their workers while taking it as easy as possible. This leads to workers not having motivation or even ignoring their boss. My most recent supervisor was like this and it showed after time. Coworkers would ignore him and treat him like he wasn’t there because everybody was veterans of the job they were doing and didn’t need delegation to get the job done. So in some instances those good qualities can become a knife in the back of others which leads to a downside in work productivity.

Leadership does not belong to those at the top of the organizational hierarchy, nor does it only apply to people who have what we would commonly consider the qualities of a leader (an outgoing personality, for example).(Krakoff) I really respond to this saying because even though I was never a supervisor, some days I had to act like it. These moments were scarce due to our rotation of 2 supervisors but some days it just happened. Since I was the most experienced member of the crew I was the first person the management asked to complete tasks that the supervisor would normally do. (Spare a few things that required different keys that I did not have.) Moments like these though were manageable because the stress levels were different when the toxic supervisors were gone. I could direct with a more casual attitude and people would follow so long as I didn’t treat them like they didn’t know what they were doing.

It can be easy to forget, but “leader” does not mean “person with a management-level job” or “entrepreneur;” it simply means one who leads.(Huntington) Being a leader outside of work is as important as it is in the office. Displaying you have these traits everywhere can just reaffirm and reinforce the things you are already good at. Lead a youth group, volunteer your time somewhere. These things can show the community how willing you are to lead something, how involved you want to be in the community. So be a leader outside and inside the workplace, display you have the determination to lead and act on your choices!