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A “Fresh Out”
Prior to my initial work experience, I learned core values from my grandfather (Paw Paw) and my father. By word and deed, they lived a life of:
- Integrity: Do what you say
- Excellence: Do your best
- Improvement: Get better over time
Both were public servants with the Corpus Christi Army Depot. From them, I also learned the importance of balancing work, family, and church responsibilities. So, when I started working at NASA, these values helped me establish a reputation as a hard-working high-performer in the organization. I attribute much of that to my upbringing…and I recognize that I had a head start in preparation for the workplace. Here’s a picture of the 3 of us celebrating Father’s Day 2014:
Individual Contributor
After 5 years on the job, I helped our organization recruit new HR professionals. I recall conversations with our senior leadership, where they explained the qualities we sought in our hires…and why we should remain highly selective. In one particular instance, we had a strong need to fill a position. There were many qualified candidates. One had more experience for our immediate need. Our senior management seemed reluctant about the candidate because they weren’t sure about the candidate’s long-term potential. I argued that it was our responsibility to grow our people. They ultimately relented to my recommendation. Five years later, I understood that while our immediate need was met, there were issues with the individual’s longer-term potential. Reflecting on that experience, I learned that as a leader, you must maintain high standards when adding members to your team—and value long-term potential over any short-term gain.
It was also around this time that I heard the advice, “Get a Mentor.” That was invaluable to my development. To learn more about my mentors, check out my blog post showcasing my “Mount Rushmore of Mentors”.
Group Lead
When I first stepped in to a Lead role (a supervisory-preparation role in our organization), where I was responsible for 3 HR Specialists, I was excited. Finally, it was my turn to set a vision and motivate my team. I already had a bunch of ideas about how we could move forward as a HR team. In fact, my Master’s in HR Management final presentation focused on “How to Achieve Strategic Partnership as a HR Representative.” I took some time to craft a well thought-out vision. Imagine my surprise and disappointment when my team members didn’t share my excitement! They explained that they didn’t want to be handed a vision…they wanted a part in creating it. While that was a tough lesson at the time, I’m glad I learned that early in my career. I’ve seen very senior managers, who still haven’t learned that lesson…
Front-Line Supervisor
As a Supervisor, I have a lot of ideas for team members. In fact, before my kids were old enough to do it, I mowed the yard…and that was my time to consider strategies, initiatives, and future plans. Through feedback from the team, I learned that I needed to better observe their stress levels…and avoid “more-on” behavior, where I continue to pile more and more work on the team.
I also learned that it’s important for leaders to bring their uniqueness to the role. For me—a leader with small children—I once used a Clifford (yes, the Big Red Dog) puzzle to capture each team member’s goal for the year…and showed how each goal contributed to the overall picture. Interestingly, I saw one team member’s puzzle piece at her desk nearly 10 years later…
It’s also important to be true to yourself. I was once encouraged to “be loud.” Well, that’s just not me. Thankfully, I read Tony Dungy’s book entitled Quiet Strength and recognized that I could be myself and still be effective as a leader.
Supervisor of Supervisors (Deputy Director of HR)
No matter how much leadership experience you have, it’s critical to continue to receive feedback from your team members. When I was promoted to Deputy Director of HR, or a supervisor of supervisors, I thought one of my strengths was (and I even wrote this in my development discussion notes for my supervisor) “providing clear goals, roles, and responsibilities.” Then, I received feedback when attending a leadership class that I needed to “Communicate more often and more clearly (and)… We need some clarification of roles and responsibilities among offices.” Later, I took Covey’s Speed of Trust training. My lowest scoring item on the Trust Quotient was “Assumes that expectations are clear when they’re not.” My team members said, “Make sure the other person understands your expectations.” Clearly, I had a blind spot…and I wouldn’t have known it without their honest feedback!
Most recently, my team provided me with some helpful feedback, as I returned to HR from a brief developmental assignment as a Front-Line Leader in Engineering. I recently wrote them a note…a few excerpts are below —
Here were some of the things I heard and what I did with them:
- “Socialize mental work more often in group settings—not just one-on-ones” – This was especially helpful to hear, as I saw some managers in Engineering work a lot through one-on-ones, and the team was surprised by decisions that were made without group discussions. I know that’s my leadership tendency, so it was a good reminder to observe the same behavior and the impact it had on the team.
- “At times, the type of and manner that Brady provides feedback can be a little too direct or harsh”… Through reflections on my experiences and your feedback, I recognized I need to balance the clarity of messages with the reaction of people…and consider the best ways for people to receive feedback. Earlier this week, I took our 2-Day Performance Enhancing Feedback class, which reiterated this message for me and provided some additional tools that will be helpful for future conversations.
- Some were “fearful that e-mail will explode with new projects & new ideas” upon my return. I definitely heard that and understood that perspective…and it’s clear that our workload is very heavy right now without me exhibiting “More On” behavior!
- “I would like better explanations, and reasons for why some decisions are made, especially as they relate to my promotion potential here at JSC”… To be honest, I’m not sure how much improvement I’ve made with respect to this particular concern over the past year. However, we intend for this to be a big focus of our upcoming retreat, where we define more clear criteria for the leadership team to help all of us in our development conversations with HR team members.
So…how does my 20-year journey of Double-Loop Learning help you? At a minimum, I hope you recognize the value in tracking your own professional development. From my own experience, I’ve found it very helpful to track progress and see improvement over time… Or–if you’re not already doing so–maybe you’ll be encouraged to seek feedback from others about how you can improve as a leader.
Leader, may you continue to learn & improve as you shoot for the stars!