Heidi Saucier

Influential leaders

I would not be where I am today in my journey had it not been for influential leaders. Several individuals have contributed as mentors, partners, and encouragers. Through each relationship I have gained insights, new perspectives, and connections that have and continue to support the path I am on to achieve my goals.  

At the top of the list is Jennifer S. She started as a peer when I was a sales trainer, then became my leader. Knowing my potential, she pushed me to go beyond what I thought I was capable of. For myself and our team, she brought new insights on goals. One of these was encouraging us to identify a “word of the year” that connected to those goals. Some of my words included realign, cultivate, and strategic. These words reflected areas of growth and improvement I wanted to focus on for that particular year and really made a difference in how I identified key objectives. Jennifer also stretched me to be better, often candid and encouraging in her feedback. I recall one instance when she had to have a crucial conversation with me. She shared a personal example of dealing with something similar, and what she learned from the experience. She also assigned me projects that not only took me out of my comfort zone, but aided in skill development with instructional design, facilitation, and professional presence. She continues to be an encourager to me in the current path of my career journey.

Another leader that stands out is Patrece, one of my current mentors. We served on a board together and I was intrigued by some details she was sharing related to our budget. I reached out to her for insights on financial acumen, as it is one of my goals for career development. As we’ve built our mentoring relationship, the conversations have gone beyond financial topics and moved to identifying connections and learning from each other. We have found that we have some amazing commonalities that inspire each other in areas where we are looking for guidance. She also holds me accountable to my personal goals, which helps me stay committed to publishing my blog posts. Connecting with Patrece has reminded me that mentoring is a two-way relationship and both the mentor and the mentee can teach each other key topics and skills that benefit each other in the end.

These are two examples of amazing leaders that have helped in my personal and professional development over the years. I’m grateful to them and others. Who are some of your influential leaders? How have they made a difference in your life? I’d love to hear about it!

Heidi Saucier

Defining Leadership

What is leadership? How do we define it? If you do a Google search, you will find many definitions. I was recently asked to give my definition of leadership. To me, it is how you guide, influence, and support those entrusted to you. No matter the circumstances of how an individual comes under your leadership, you are given a critical responsibility to every person that is under your helm. It is important to self-assess your leadership on a regular basis to help you grow and improve. As part of that assessment, here are some questions you may want to ask yourself:

  • Are you pointing people in the right direction?
    • As a leader, people trust you to make the right decisions and give proper guidance to your team. Collaboration and empowering your team to be part of the decision-making process will also lead down a successful path. At the same time, you lead by example. Do your words and actions line up, or are you demonstrating behavior that could cause confusion or a negative perception?
  • Are you showing others how to be better people?
    • This is also part of leading by example. It can also include storytelling to share your experiences. When others hear of your successes and mistakes and what you have learned along the way, it could be the one thing they need to move forward in a decision. It could also make someone feel like they are not alone in the situation they are facing. When you do make a mistake, be honest with your team and discuss how it can be corrected. In some instances, it may become another opportunity of collaboration where your team members may have insights to bring the best solution forth.
  • Are you cheering people on to growth or are you giving orders based only on what you want accomplished?
    • There are leaders the encourage, and there are leaders that discourage. The leader that encourages their people to grow and find opportunities to learn new things makes a difference in their team and among their colleagues. The leader that discourages often experiences more turnover, decreased team morale, and resistance when attempting to bring forth change.

As you think about your leadership journey, I encourage you to ask yourself these questions. If you have not thought about your definition of leadership, take some time to reflect on that as well. Please share your definitions in the comments!

Heidi Saucier

The story behind the research

In the middle of 2020 and 2021, I started considering what I wanted to do next. When I earned my master’s degree in 2016, I thought my college education journey was complete. Now, I was thinking about the possibility of researching something that interested me. At my current company, one of the very first things I was tasked with was to identify how we could offer training classes remotely to the salespeople throughout the state of Michigan. I investigated the technological options, which included WebEx and equipment such as Smart Boards to determine if they would allow easy access and engagement during training classes. In those early days, resources were limited to make this work. About five years later, before my son was born, our company started offering a flexible work arrangement that allowed some employees to work from home a select number of days during the week. I participated in this option, enjoying the balance between time in the office and time at home. Fast forward a few years, and much of the workforce was quickly transitioned to five days a week at home to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

In the workplace, employees need organizational support to be successful. This is how a company demonstrates their commitment to growing and supporting the development needs of their workforce (Saucier, 2024). It can come from the organization, one’s leader, or their coworkers. Navigating through this situation with my coworkers, employees, and friends all over the country, I thought about how we still needed to have this in place and how it was even more important because of losing that physical presence and connection that most perceived as being key to their development needs being met. As I talked to friends about my interest, some suggested that the data I was looking for was being created as we spoke. Feeling inspired, I began to explore universities to find a program that would align with my newfound goal. I discovered that Central Michigan University offered a 100% virtual program to earn a Doctor of Educational Technology degree. Once I went through the application and interview process that led to being accepted into the program, I embarked on an almost three-year adventure of research, learning, and connecting with amazing professionals around the country. On May 3, 2024 (which also happened to be my 48th birthday), I graduated from CMU and officially became “Dr. Sauce.”

What did I discover on this journey? That will be the subject of the next few blog posts as I share the classes I took, the projects that led to some unique opportunities, and how resilience played a key part in my path to the finish line.

References

Saucier, 2024. Exploring perceptions of organizational support for onboarding and development of remote workers. [Unpublished manuscript].