Every leader’s journey is unique, shaped by personal experiences, challenges and the lessons learned along the way.
Cox is a place where people build lifelong careers — and many choose to move into leadership positions. During a recent visit to Hampton Roads, VA, I met with several employees who’ve done just that. What became clear through these conversations with them is that no one becomes a great leader overnight. Leadership is a skill that requires dedication and a willingness to learn and grow.
Here, these leaders share some of the formative experiences and the advice that helped them get to where they are today.
1) Look for leadership steppingstones.
Early in his tech career, George Kipp made the conscious decision to pivot into project management to begin gaining leadership experience on the job.
“My thought process was that if I could get good at business leadership, then learning the personnel part of it would be easier because I would already be able to manage one aspect of leadership,” he explained.
2) It takes time to acclimate to a new leadership role — and that’s OK!
Rosa Wiese, a retail market manager at Cox, worked with her mentor for several years to land a leadership role she wanted. But that’s when her learning journey really began.
Suddenly becoming someone’s boss can be a tricky transition, Rosa realized. Her new boss at the time advised her to account for a couple of years as an adjustment period for the team to mesh well under her leadership.
“It only strengthened me as a leader,” she said. “It taught me more patience and helped me recognize that not everybody thinks the same way. And I shouldn’t take it personally, I just need to evolve with them. Now we’re in a good place, where everybody understands everybody.”
George had a similar experience with his first role in leadership.
“I definitely had growing pains while learning to work through the different situations that come up with leading people,” he said. “But they were good opportunities to help me grow.”
3) You’ll approach conversations differently as a boss.
Glenn Starcher first joined Cox in retail sales and worked his way into a store manager role; he’s now a sales manager at Cox Business. During his transition into leadership, he remembers one of his former bosses coaching him on how to adjust his communication style.
“I’m very blunt. I just say like it is; you never question where I stand,” he explained. “And she taught me to sidebar some conversations.”
4) Honest talk can build psychological safety.
One of the biggest challenges Rosa faced when she took on a leadership role was becoming her former boss’ boss.
“That was the hardest thing for me to do in this role because I have a lot of respect for this guy, and I didn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable in any way,” she said.
After consulting with her mentors, she had an open conversation with that former boss to clear the air and begin building new working relationship.
“I asked him, ‘How would you like me to proceed with managing you? I don’t want to overstep my bounds, but I am your leader now, not your rep anymore,’” she said. “And he was very candid.”
5) Delegate and help others see the bigger picture.
George admits he had the hardest time learning how to delegate to others rather than coming up with the solutions himself.
“I would try to do all the work myself because I had the way I wanted to see it,” he said. “That was something I had to work very hard on with having that trust with the team.”
In his leadership trainings at Cox, he learned that he needed to ease up on how things get done exactly as long as they are getting done to keep the team moving forward. George also drew inspiration from a former colleague who showed him the way a leader can help influence a team by connecting the dots and helping others see the bigger picture.
“That was something I needed to work on,” he said. “I’ve tried my best to take what he did and say, ‘Think of it this way and then come back to me,’ instead of me trying to give you the solution each time.”
When Rosa stepped into a leadership role, she also had to adjust her mindset from doing the work herself to helping others to excel.
“I learned that I'm not supposed to know everything,” Rosa said. “I’m supposed to understand my team’s talent and use their talent to drive impact and support each other that way.”
6) Make time for your own growth as well as your team’s.
When he was a store manager, Glenn was focused on championing his team and helping them move up in their careers.
“I’m very big about pushing other people and shining a light on someone else, because that’s how you get people moved up,” he said. “About 14 of the leaders in Hampton Roads came from my store at some point in time.”
Then one of his leaders pointed out that he needed to make those same moves to continue growing his own career. She encouraged him to seek out mentors and start making connections with people across other parts of the business.
“My past leader was like, ‘Hey, you need to spend time on yourself and move forward,” he said.
7) Remember your responsibility toward your team.
For George, it’s important to never lose sight of the people he’s actually serving: his own team.
“I don’t often introduce myself by my title; it’s not who I am,” he said. “I don’t have people that work for me; I have people I work with.”
Being a good leader is about helping people be successful, helping them grow and removing obstacles out of their way, he said.
“I work for them,” he said. “It’s about the legacy I can leave them so they can look back and say, ‘I enjoyed working with him for that time.’”
