On September 14, the PESA Emerging Leaders Committee hosted its bimonthly leadership forum with PESA Board Member Richard Alabaster, President – Surface Technologies, TechnipFMC. Leadership forums allow member company high performers to interact with industry executives through open dialogue structured around a targeted theme. In this forum, Alabaster shared his insights on becoming and being a leader.
Becoming a Leader
- Diagnose
- Ask questions – get the good and the bad
- Understand organization strengths, weakness and issues
- Synthesize into coherent situation analysis
- Strategize
- Work with team and/or stakeholder to develop a strong vision and strategy
- Use consultants sparingly
- Take the time and put in the effort. It is always worth it
- Organize
- All efforts back to fundamental principles
- Marshall resources and put the right people in the right roles to execute strategy
- Set clear expectations and accountability
Being a Leader
- Articulate and Motivate
- Communicate vision & strategy to the whole team, supervisor (s), and peers
- Get buy-in, drive motivation and execution
- Be passionate – get some charisma!
- Set the Example
- You will be called upon to arbitrate and decide. Always do so in line with the vision & strategy, don’t be arbitrary!
- Always explain citing the vision & strategy – don’t be perceived as arbitrary!
- Call stop on anything out of line with the vision & strategy (drive focus)
- Manage Risks
- Think (way) ahead
- Explicitly identify risks, head them off and/or have a back-up plan
- If something in your vision & strategy isn’t working, change it!
[gdlr_quote align=”center” ]”It is a leader’s responsibility to develop strong vision and strategy, and to make sure all efforts tie back to those fundamental principles,” Alabaster said.[/gdlr_quote]
