How I Developed my Leadership Skills

To be honest, if you asked me what leadership development was one month ago, I’m sure I wouldn’t have been able to answer you.

I evolved in a really hierarchic leadership environment in the French kitchen. In this type of business, you have a boss, a second, a second of the second and so on. Everybody has to stay in their place and believe me it’s better to be on top of the pyramid. No place for initiative or new things if you are not in a high post. You just need to do what you have to do without any reflection and without a good relationship. That sounds like a robot society, not a society with people who interact with each other.

When I came to Wilderness Trails I discovered an enterprise without this hierarchy in leadership, everybody knows what they have to do, everybody was on their own and all worked very well! I was so impressed, and I admit a bit lost.

I had the opportunity to see people teaching each other with patience and application and due to this finding, I started to be more confident and more inspired. The goal of this process is to be understood and to understand the other to be sure that your message is well transmitted.

With my personal growth in the kitchen, I began to take more and more responsibility and had more than I could do all on my own. So, what can I do? Delegate, of course! Which meant I needed to interact with other people, not just with myself. I had the chance to work with an amazing team who were always available to get the job done, and that’s where I started my leadership development.

Being a leader is not about giving orders, it’s really much more.

When you want to be a good leader you have to be sure that the people go where you want and be sure that they learn and improve themselves at the same time. It’s also a lot about being the example and inspiring your team. So, I learned how to deal with a lot of different people and characters, be more professional, human and understanding.

At the beginning it wasn’t so simple. But as soon as I saw the personal development of others growing and when they tell me that they learned something from me, my behaviour started to change, and I started to be more confident.

Something that made a huge difference in my leadership evolution was when I understood that I have to trust the people. Trust is the stick of every relationship and it’s the key to a well-established exchange. As soon as I put my trust in my team, they trust more on me, they feel recognized and respected, and they did a really good job. It’s a virtuous circle.

Now my priorities when I go to work is not just work, it’s improve myself and others, inspiring and leading them in the highest level that I can.

The discovery and the practice of my leadership development at Wilderness Trails has changed for sure my vision of what a team can be and has to be, and I will continue to improve these skills in my future as an entrepreneur.

By
Melvin M., France