Supercharging Leadership 

By Ashley Kuhn

Supercharge 

su·​per·​charge | \ ˈsü-pər-ˌchärj  \

supercharged; supercharging; supercharges

Definition of supercharge

transitive verb

1: to charge greatly or excessively (as with vigor or tension)

2: to supply a charge to the intake of (an engine) at a pressure higher than that of the surrounding atmosphere

3: full of energy, emotion, tension, etc.  

Every day, leaders will face challenges. Leadership – authentic leadership based on honesty, authenticity, and meaningful relationships – takes guts. The kind of leadership that inspires others, serves others, and points them toward a greater purpose and vision is hard work. But, every challenge is an opportunity. It’s a chance to learn about yourself, improve skills and strengthen the emotional intelligence that’s crucial to effective leadership. 

Developing leadership is of critical importance at Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company (SFBLIC). The Corporate Training department at SFBLIC and external consultant, Olivia Martin of LivMore Inc., created a leadership development program that focuses on middle-level management to develop powerful solutions, and grows leaders to manage a changing workforce. This program was introduced as “E3- Supercharging Leadership: Engage. Empower. Excel.”

The Supercharging Leadership program was developed as a series of training sessions based on four particular topics: Leading with Purpose, Boss to Coach, The Accountable Leader, and Challenging Conversations. The program’s goal is to equip Southern Farm Bureau Life’s leaders to effectively lead themselves and others to reach personal and professional goals while building an engaged community. 

There are five fundamental principles of focus throughout the program, including:

Leading Change: The ability to bring about strategic change, both within and outside the organization, to meet organizational goals. Includes the ability to establish a corporate vision and to implement it in a continuously changing environment. 

Leading People: The ability to lead people toward meeting the organization’s vision, mission, and goals. Includes the ability to provide an inclusive workplace that fosters the development of others, facilitates cooperation and teamwork, and supports constructive resolution of conflicts. 

Results Driven: The ability to meet organizational goals and customer expectations. Includes the ability to make decisions that produce high-quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks. 

Business Acumen: The ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically. 

Building Coalitions: The ability to build coalitions internally and with external organizations to achieve common goals¹. 

Through this program, leadership was encouraged to practice skills that were introduced in training. At the end of each session, leaders were given a “green sheet,” representing “go and take action” based on what was discovered and learned. In addition, two weeks after the initial session on each topic, a “huddle” was scheduled. These huddles were created to allow leadership to gather together to openly share the outcome of their challenge and the impact of the strategies adopted. Leaders also shared similar experiences and offered encouragement to one another in a safe environment. At SFBLIC, we believe that open mindsets are significant to the talent development process; for example, managers should provide more frequent feedback on development, initiate development conversations earlier, and continue throughout an employee’s journey. Challenging conversations must be had throughout the organization for change to occur and for employees and leadership to develop healthy and respectful work relationships. 

To help leaders grow and thrive within our organization, we cannot miss a beat when it comes to the employee experience. That means taking action to address the skills gap and supercharging the leadership pipeline. Doing so helps improve employee engagement, diversify leadership, improve business continuity, aid in critical skills retention and enhance management’s visibility to the talent pipeline. All of which will help ensure that we are developing next-level leadership. 

The leadership team at SFBLIC continues to be a work in progress to become great leaders who make true and lasting commitments to developing themselves and others.

¹Reference: Office of Personnel Management (OPM) OPM.gov