Why Leadership Training Matters

You'll find leadership training in all ASAP resources—from webinars and courses to the PACE certification and our in-person events, EA Ignite (EAI) and the Administrative Professionals Conference (APC). But what learning gaps do you need to fill?

The ASAP team attended SHRM24, the world's largest HR conference, and spoke with experts about the skills admins need to stay on top of for their career development. One person we spoke with was Jon Lewis, Director of Development at Aspire Leadership.

Check out our conversation with Jon below and stay tuned for Season 4 of The Admin Edge podcast recorded at SHRM24!

What advice would you give to administrative professionals to start becoming more visible and strategic leaders in their organization?

Jon Lewis: A big part is making sure you're always adding new tools to your leadership toolbox. And as an administrator, making sure that your team has access to leadership training. 

Sometimes individuals say, "I want my team to be optimized. I want everyone to be firing on all cylinders," but everybody doesn't have access to leadership development. If you don't have that, there's no way they can get there.

Make sure that a strategy is in place with the pipeline you have; so when you need an individual to fill a position, they're ready to go. You have that sustainability plan where everybody has a universal language and a universal standard of what a good leader is.

What are some of the standard leadership qualities that could be applied across all industries and companies?

There are three main things I see that are pivotal.

The first is curiosity. A leader needs to seek to always make things better and ask the right questions, so they can take their team to the next level. They need to be asking questions about processes. They need to be asking "why." 

Humility is key to growing any type of leader. Saying, "I'm going to give my team credit when the credit comes towards me." Usually the leader is responsible for the win or the loss. But you have to give credit to your team for the wins. That's part of the job of leadership.

Also, empathy: Being able to put yourself in your team's shoes to see how decisions affect them. The questions should always be: "How is this decision going to impact them? How is it going to impact their families? How is it going to impact their daily life?" These are all things the leader should be focused on.

Some assume that empathy skills can't be taught, which is untrue. How do you help people improve their ability to empathize?

A good way to take your empathy to the next level is by being vulnerable yourself.

Usually people detach themselves from leaders because they don't see them as people. They see them as someone in an ivory tower that only comes down to reprimand. But everybody is human. So if you as a leader can share, "This was a time I failed," or "This was a time in which I needed growth in this area, and this is how I overcame that," you can empower others to be empathetic as well.

You can also see that your vulnerability leads to more vulnerability. You can have the opportunity to hear where others' weaknesses are or what they're insecure about, and see things from their perspective better, when you give a tidbit about yourself.

What other communication techniques do you find to be helpful?

Active listening. Most people listen so they can be ready to respond. You need to listen for the content the person is sharing in order to engage the person in conversation. It's giving and taking, not just a one-way street.

We're going to collaborate to come to a conclusion. We're going to collaborate to solve this problem. Good conversation is collaboration.

How would you recommend that an administrative professional approach conversations where they're asking for something they want from a senior leader?

I find people usually respond best when you ask them, "What would be your ideal circumstance?" Then when they chart the course and share what they have to say, you can have the opportunity to say, "This is my idea. Can we meet in the middle?" Then we have two ends and you can build a bridge, so you can get to where you need to go. Ultimately, that's collaboration.

In collaborative conversations where you need to meet in the middle, negotiation is often involved. What tips do you have to make a negotiation successful?

When I'm in the room with that individual, I write it down: the direction we're going to chart the course to, things that we want to have taken away, points of view, and ultimately bridge the gap. 

You have your side where you stand, your ideals and values and where you desire to go, and then you write down the other person's ideals and values and where they desire to go. What would be a win for them? And then literally you write in the middle of those things, how can we draw a path from one side to the other?

Sometimes it takes some time to get there, and that's what the meeting is for. You might not leave that meeting with a win-win solution, but you can leave it feeling like you accomplished something and understand that the truth was shared, because you never want people to leave without truth.

What are some common attributes and skills you see that universally help people get to the next level?

Confrontation skills are key because as you lead, you're going to have a lot of tough conversations. And that's the leader's job, to have those tough conversations. So being able to do that masterfully, that's key.

Being able to cast vision well, so that your team can chart the course with you. There's an old saying that, "If you're a leader and you're going somewhere and no one is following you, you're just taking a walk." So you need to be able to cast the vision and have the buy-in to go where you desire them to go. That's becoming a leader of influence.

Another one is risk taking. Some individuals try to play it safe; but if you play it safe, you'll never grow. There needs to be a certain level of calculated risk in every decision that you make monthly or weekly. That will take yourself to the next level and your team to the next level.

Ultimately, leadership at its core is replication. Many times, people can be a rockstar in their role, and that's a great thing. But when you become a leader of people, can you replicate who you are? Can you produce other you's throughout this company?

We're always replicating, whether for the good or for the bad, so make sure when you're in a leadership role, you're replicating well.

It comes back around to those three values: curiosity, humility, and empathy. That's what we want in leaders, and hopefully they can replicate that character so others know what good leadership is.

This transcript was edited for length and clarity.

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