By: Karla Johnson, MS, CCC-SLP, CLC, TSHA Leadership Academy Chair
Do you aspire to lead? Are you looking for ways to grow your leadership skills?
Who is a leader? You.
When should I lead? Now.
Where can I grow my leadership skills? Through the Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Association (TSHA)!
How? Read below.
I am a proud alumnus of the TSHA Leadership Academy (TLA) and would like to share with you that TSHA wants you. We’re here to grow your leadership skills whether you are new to a leadership role or you have been leading for years in some capacity. There is always room to grow your skill sets, gain more insight on leadership, and develop yourself into the leader you desire to be. Growth never stops, so we want to grow alongside you.
After completing my time with TLA, it propelled me to move into more leadership positions in my workplace as well as within TSHA. Leadership in my workplace looked like supervising SLP Assistants and graduate student interns, mentoring Clinical Fellows and helping them obtain their full certifications, becoming a team lead for our speech team, and then being promoted to supervisor of our speech team. These may be similar to opportunities for you to lead in your job.
Leadership in TSHA may look like volunteering on a committee, volunteering at a TSHA Convention, presenting at a TSHA Convention by answering the Call for Papers, becoming chair of a TSHA committee, or even one day becoming a TSHA Vice President or President.
The path of leadership I walked may be different from your path, but both of our paths are impactful. Leaders are at different levels in their journey. Leaders are needed in every setting.
How can you grow as a leader? Read books on leadership development. Some books you may find beneficial are Dare to Lead by Brene Brown, Atomic Habits by James Clear, Leaders Eat Last and Start With Why by Simon Sinek, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, Radical Candor by Kim Scott, Leadership 101, Developing the Leader Within You 2.0, and The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth by John C. Maxwell, and Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, and Ron McMillan. This is not an exhaustive list by any means. There are many more books you can read or listen to in order to help develop your leadership skills and grow as a leader. You also can take leadership courses or connect with current and past TSHA leaders to seek out their mentorship. If your workplace offers leadership opportunities, apply for those opportunities.
TSHA is a dynamic organization that thrives on the ideas of new leaders joining forces with current and past leaders to exchange and share ideas. Growing individually helps our association and fields grow. Growing our organization helps us pour into future leaders to grow them as well.