Leadership and Ongoing Education at Single Source

If you had to pick one factor that most affects your company’s success, what would it be? Something that is crucial to get right. A major long-term investment for your firm. Our answer... is people.

Here at Single Source, we care a lot… about technology, client relationships, innovation, growth, and much more. However, we recognize that everything starts with the individuals on our team, and we’ve noticed that our clients tend to share our focus on people. Talent is the foundation for highly effective businesses, and developing it is vital regardless of company size, industry, or location. "At the end of the day, what really matters to us are people," said our President, Cory Rhodes. "At Single Source, we care about developing effective leaders, providing ongoing education, and fostering a great internal culture. We think those are some of the best long-term investments a company can make."

As part of our employee development efforts, several Single Source leaders from a variety of functions attended a team seminar earlier this month called “How to Excel at Managing and Supervising People.” This theme resonated strongly with our core values. Held in downtown Indianapolis, the two-day session delved into several topics that are very important to us, including:

The Importance of Good Management

• Characteristics of strong leaders include delegating effectively, giving directions rather than orders, and conveying the big picture. The most effective managers are able to lead by example and empower others to make decisions.
• By employing the Socratic method of countering employees' questions with questions, leaders can inspire creative solutions.

Effective Collaboration between a Variety of Employees

• A wide array of generations and personality types come together in the workforce. At any given company, there may be Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials working together on a single project. Even Generation Z may have a presence as interns! It is important to understand the unique traits of these generations. However, managers should be careful to avoid making broad generalizations. It is quite possible that a Millennial has adopted the traits of their Baby Boomer parents, or that someone is just one of many exceptions to a usual characterization.
• Learning about personality types, and how they perform together, was an especially valuable part of the conference. We discussed four main types: the task-driven Focuser, the people-driven Relater, the creative-thinking Integrator, and the planning and organizing Operator.
• We also have found Myers-Briggs personality tests to be helpful in figuring out how different individuals can best work together here at Single Source. Each personality type responds best to a unique style of management.

Creating Strategies for Problem Solving

• For many people, “mind-mapping” a solution can be a helpful way to think through something. It involves writing down all of your ideas and then linking them together into an actionable plan.
• Managing priorities also can alleviate a lot of stress. We sometimes use the Four Quadrants method of structuring priorities, which separates tasks into four categories: Important & Urgent, Important but not Urgent, Urgent but not Important, and Not Important & Not Urgent.

Our team found the “How to Excel at Managing and Supervising People" seminar very valuable and a great reminder of helpful management strategies. Between the lessons from this session, as well as future learning opportunities, the sky is the limit at Single Source!