You applied for the leadership role, sailed through the vetting process, aced the interview, and accepted the job. Congratulations! The trouble is, now it’s the end of week one and you know you’re not (and never will be) right for the role. What happened? By Kate Kearins.
The way a job description reads on paper or screen can, of course, be different from how it is IRL. So many inputs – people, workspaces, expectations, values – need to align to ensure that employees, at every level of seniority, feel supported to do their best and professionally thrive.
Too bad there isn’t a way to test out a role before you take it. Or is there? The opportunity to shadow a leader (or leadership team) can be invaluable, not just for the potential new hire, but for everyone involved in the experience.
At its core, spending time – even just a day – alongside (“shadowing”) a trusted practitioner or respected leader gives the “shadower” key insights into the responsibilities and expectations of the role.
It can be crucial in terms of “conditioning aspiration” – bringing to life the types of roles that are available within a certain sector and raising awareness of the work experience or study pathways that are needed to succeed in these roles.
The opportunity to be shadowed can also provide inspiration for the so-called shadowee – the established leader or practitioner whose ideas and approaches within the workplace are probably well-formed and accepted as the status quo.
Kate Kearins
It is likely that the aspiring leader (the shadower) brings a host of new perspectives and practices to the organisation’s ethos. Such insights and provocations from a less-experienced, yet perhaps more contemporary future leader, can positively influence the status quo and inspire changes that may not have been previously considered.
Here at Auckland University of Technology, our annual Shadow a Leader programme aims to connect tomorrow’s employees (secondary and tertiary students) with today’s leaders.
Importantly for the talent pipeline, the programme brings together a nominated secondary student, an AUT student studying business, and an organisation leader. Over the course of a day, the students experience life on the job, working to a pre-arranged agenda that may include strategy meetings, sales meetings, site visits, factory tours, HR consultation, product manufacturing, board meetings and senior staff meetings.
Since it was established more than a decade ago, the Shadow a Leader programme has grown and matured; this year’s intake was the biggest to date, with 121 student teams across business and law placements, supported by 104 individual leaders from nearly 70 organisations.
The highlight…was watching the shift that happened when our two students started asking deeper questions…
From my own perspective, as a senior leader, I salute those who turn out, turn up, and turn on for the intensive and inspiring experience of shadowing and being shadowed. The feedback from participants – shadowers and shadowees – speaks volumes:
- “The highlight…was watching the shift that happened when our two students started asking deeper questions. At first, they were observing: the standups, the strategy discussions. But then something clicked. They began connecting the dots and challenging ideas, not just taking notes.” Dipti Desa (AUT alumni) – global head of customer success, Parkable.
- “Meeting marketing professionals and being immersed in the process of knowing each product, that the team I was in, works with and the process behind every launch. Also seeing how my degree relates to their work is eye-opening.” Cindy Gam-He Kuang, AUT Bachelor of Business – shadowed at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare.
- “My specific highlight was the raw exposure to what a daily routine looks like for such a professional setting. The various lessons brought to light are so crucial and will help me in the future of my business venture.” James Sharrow, St Peter’s College – shadowed at Centre of Strategic Philanthropy.
These testimonies show two key things: that the immediate benefits of shadowing a leader are manifold – including real-world application of study, and in-person interactions with, and learnings from, today’s business and legal movers and shakers.
As a result, it is tomorrow where the real impact should be felt – in the form of burgeoning leaders who have taken opportunities to reflect on, prepare for, and align their education pursuits and employment aspirations to make a real difference in leading the workplaces of the future.
Kate Kearins is Professor of Management and dean of two faculties at Auckland University of Technology.
