Expectations and Leadership

Although I've enjoyed every panel we've had during Women in Leadership immensely, I have to admit that this week's ladies were my favorite. All of the women seemed extremely comfortable with each other and laughed through the whole thing, which made the atmosphere in the room even more comfortable.
The women on the panel tended to punctuate their speeches about their lives as leaders with pearls of wisdom that especially stuck with me.

One such helpful nugget was "Teach others to fish." At first, I was completely nonplussed by such a strange analogy. However, it made sense as soon as Jean Halpin, director of operations for Ohio Health, explained it. In other words, fishing for someone will get the job done efficiently and quickly, since you are already experienced at it. However, you will always have to go back and continue to fish for that same person, because they still don't know how. Once taught how to fish, one can fish on his or her own, saving time and effort in t

he long run. Obviously, this applies to much more than fishing. In business, it is often helpful to teach others necessary skills, so that one can spend time doing more productive work.

Much of the information presented addressed time management, a challenge for most people and especially leaders, who have so many responsibilities. One tip that I found helpful, was Ms. Halpin's advice to "Only touch it once." When I get an email about something, I sometimes skim it and move on. When I hear about an event, I don't always write it down. As a result, later, I'm scrambling to figure out the details about a certain event or group. By putting these types of events all in a planner as soon as they reach me, I can put them down and move on to different things. By only touching it once, I don't have to go back and scroll through my email, re-reading the same things, or trying to understand the requirements for an assignment a second time.

Another tip that spoke to me was the admonition to get help when it is needed. This is often a struggle for me because my personality has the unfortunate combination of independence, extreme pride, and stubbornness which makes asking for help challenging. As a result, I sometimes struggle through things and the results aren't as good as they might have been, had I reached out and gotten help. I'm working on making sure that I do get help when I need it from now on.

I have never been more impressed with a group of women than I was on Wednesday night when Tammy Myers, Susan Merryman, Jean Reynolds, and Jean Halpin presented. Far from intimidated, I left the session inspired and excited about the knowledge I had gained. I hope that the panels in the future prove to be comparable to this one.