During the height of the COVID pandemic lockdowns, Leon wrote a series of articles to reflect his personal thoughts on leadership. Those articles are adjusted and compiled here to support those aiming to benefit from mentorship for their own leadership and professional journeys.
Leon Botham is the President and Principal Engineer of NewFields and has built a long and successful career in Saskatchewan and beyond. With more than 30 years of experience, Leon has worked primarily in the mining industry, having previously held senior positions at respected firms including Golder, McElhanney, and Clifton. Widely viewed as a leading Canadian expert in mine waste management, he uses his expertise to ensure the safe and efficient planning and execution of projects.
Deeply trusted by his colleagues and clients, Leon has an exceptional network of relationships, thanks in large part to his approachable and caring nature. He is known to be generous with his time, advice, and support, and has served as a mentor to many industry professionals.
Understanding Yourself
I find it hard to believe that I have spent 30 years now, working in the consulting engineering industry. Engineers aren’t generally known for being social animals, but rather the stereotype is that we are very analytical, tend to be awkward and at times anti-social. A lot of that may come from the traditional training that we received in university, where there were generally very few classes in the arts or humanities. But our profession, and the consulting industry in particular, usually requires us to be part of a team, engaging with disciplines and other professions including scientists, accountants, lawyers, social scientists and others.
So, it becomes important to understand your interactions with others and how what you do and say, including your body language and tone of voice, can impact others. You may think that you are having a good conversation with someone, but the message being received is totally the opposite, and this can be even worse when you aren’t in the same room as the person. Your natural tendencies that most people don’t really understand or recognize play a big role in how you interact with others.
Personality profiles such as Meyers Briggs, HBDI, DISC have helped me to understand how and why I react a certain way in a given situation – my habits, my tendencies and how I may be perceived by others. By understanding my own personality type, I now understand my natural tendencies and how I may come across in a conversation. As an example, I tend to come up with an idea and I will tell those working with me, “here is my idea, now go do it”, generally forgetting that they may not have the background or experience to get it done. I struggle, but I know that I have to spend more time explaining the idea, and how we should go about solving it.
Understanding Your Team
At some point in our lives, we have all been part of a team. Whether it be a high school sport, a class project, or in your working life. And it is almost guaranteed that there will be a wide range of personalities on those teams. There will be the person who is thought of as the natural leader because of their outgoing, gregarious nature, and there will be the quiet, shy individual who hates to be put on the spot, the driving personality who just wants to get started, and the individual who wants to think about what is the best way to proceed. It is this variety of people and personalities that supports effective teams.
The danger is thinking that any one individual is the leader just because of their personality. Every member of the team can lead in their own way. The outgoing individual may be able to articulate an idea but may have difficulty quickly coming up with any suggestion how to execute right away. The shy, quiet person may not like speaking in front of a group but can express themselves when speaking one on one.
Like understanding your own personality, understanding the personalities of the team helps you bring out the best of the team and it’s members. Do the team members work better in a group setting where they can bounce ideas off each other? Or, do they work better on their own and then bringing their contributions back to the group? Understanding that not all people function the same way helps a leader to move the team forward.
In the consulting environment, we often focus on the technical abilities of an individual when hiring. We need certain technical skills on our team in order to complete our projects, and as a leader you need to know that you have those skills or that you can find them. But how the various parts of the team work together is the key to success.
Understanding Your Impact on Your Team
Like a lot of people who were put into management or leadership roles in consulting firms, there was no training on what I needed to do. I had a good understanding of the business, the finances, the clients, project management and I thought I understood the people part of the business too. I did okay while I was manager of a group within an office with support around me, but it became clear that I didn’t really understand my impact when I was put in charge of an office. I may have said all the right things, but the way I said it: the tone of voice, the body language, the inattention to peoples’ reactions, were the things I didn’t get. My office in general did well, but I sometimes wonder how much better it could have done if I had understood how a simple thing like walking into the office with a scowl on my face impacted those around me.
My natural tendency is to wear my emotions on my sleeve. If I was happy, those around me could easily figure it out. And they could just as easily figure out, just from the look on my face, when they should stay away from me. Even though I tried to maintain an open-door policy, my mood was easily read by those working with me, and they, with a few exceptions, would stay away when it looked like I was in a bad mood.
Thankfully, I have come to learn how to control my emotions, and to not be quite as obvious when things aren’t going as well as I would like. It is mentally exhausting to show the good side when you know things aren’t great personally or professionally. But as a leader, it is important to support the team morale. At the same time, leaders are expected to make tough decisions and be ready to answer to the team for those decisions.
Leading by Doing
Over my career, I have had the opportunity to hold various roles in consulting organizations, from project engineer to project manager, business group manager to business development lead for a national practice sector, and finally executive management. The organizations have ranged in size from under 250 staff in a family-owned business to more than 7,500 in a multi-national employee-owned company.
Regardless of the position or the company, I have tried to be consistent with the way I act and the way I treat people. I am only human, so I know I haven’t always been successful in accomplishing that. But the reactions I have received from my teams when making career choices (or having them imposed on me), makes me think I have done something right. The biggest compliment I have ever received is when I have been joined in a new adventure by someone who was part of a previous one.
Whether it is continuous learning or the project at hand, I have always thought that I need to participate to provide a sense of leadership. I don’t necessarily tell people what to do or how to do it, but I try to participate where I can and let others lead. I also want to demonstrate that there is no task that is too trivial, whether it be helping to compile a report, making a fresh pot of coffee, or picking up trash off the floor. As a leader, I shouldn’t ask my team to do anything that I am not willing to do.
A leader also has to be able to make the tough decisions. The hardest thing I have ever had to do was to let someone go from their job. It is a task that is sometimes required because there isn’t enough work to keep people busy, but the harder choices come when everyone is busy, but an individual just doesn’t fit. The team knows that there is a mis-match, but they still ask why: “Why is this person gone?” And then start questioning: “Am I next?” As a leader, you have to demonstrate that you are able to make the tough decisions for the better of the team, maintain the privacy of the individual involved, and then demonstrate empathy with the remaining team members who are now worried about their future.
My leadership journey isn’t over. I know I still have a lot to learn about myself and about those that I work with. My biggest professional accomplishment is to hear from those that I have worked with over the years that I have influenced their life and that they have gone on to bigger and better things. And to know that multiple people have had enough belief in me to accept the challenge of working with me in multiple roles.
Some Closing Thoughts:
You can impact people just by your presence:
I have worked in multiple offices from 5 to 200 people. Each time I have made a move, I have had people who did not work directly with me, tell me how much they appreciated the fact that I was there providing guidance. Although they did not necessarily receive the direction and guidance themselves, they felt that they learned just by being there;
Timing is everything:
When a decision has been made, especially when it comes to employees, it should be executed as you never know when decisions by others will have an unexpected negative impact on morale. Delays in tough decisions will always be worse than doing it in a timely manner;
The little things really matter:
I was once told by a young engineer that he was impressed that I searched him out in an out-of-the-way corner of the office to talk. He recognized that he could talk to anyone within the organization, but was surprised that I would take the time to find him for a chat;
And most importantly, Leaders are Human:
Our teams don’t expect us to be perfect, but they do expect us to do our best. We all make mistakes, but the best way to get team members to admit their mistakes and to fix them, is to show as a leader, that you are not infallible.
