In celebration of Black Women’s History Month we asked our staff at AACF some key questions: Who inspires you? How did you come to do what you do here? Do you have a favorite Black Woman leader, entertainer, athlete, etc. - In what ways does she inspire you? How do you recharge yourself? Here are their answers:

 

 

 

 

Precious Manney, Case Manager

Who inspires you? 

I have a ton of people who inspire me, but I would have to say my educators over the years. I came across a lot of teachers that poured into me regularly. Those teachers saw me heading down a questionable path and took me under their wing. 

One teacher was my high school English teacher named Mrs. Sullivan. We initially bumped heads due to me being a class clown, and often disrespectful. But despite that behavior, she saw it pass and still embraced me, and never gave up on me. When I told Mrs. Sullivan I got into Cleveland University in Ohio (Her hometown). She suggested we take a road trip to visit the university. She literally coordinated the entire trip and made it happen. Even though I didn’t end up going to that university, the experience and effort left a major impact on me. 

Mrs. Sullivan opened my eyes to new opportunities and showed me that I didn’t have to stay a product of my environment. Because Mrs. Sullivan believed in me, I applied to other colleges, got accepted and earned three degrees. She is the reason I’m passionate about helping “challenging kids.”  

I believe a lot of challenging kids can be helped, they just need to have someone in their lives that won’t give up on them .

 

C.S., Senior Case Manager

Who inspires you? 

My mom - she is a great business woman, has great work ethics, and has taught me everything I know. Women that I work with at AACF. Being the youngest person on the staff, I learn a lot from everyone here.

How do you recharge yourself? 

Piano lessons - I began playing in junior high school for my mom and grandparents. I learned to to play the piano to help my grandfather, who had dementia. I also take pottery classes, and cooking classes with friends and family members.

 

Monique Knight, Job Developer

Who inspires you?

Honestly, I inspire myself. I am driven by my personal desires. I set goals, I create a plan that works, and I go after it. By the end of the year, I always have a list of accomplishments regardless of how big or how small. You have no idea how many times someone told me I can’t do something. Or how many times someone tries to convince me that I am not ready for something. Or how many times someone tried to stir me in the wrong direction. If I believed what people said, I wouldn’t be who I am today. Anything I want in life, I get. Anything that’s for me, no one can stop that. I walk by faith and not by sight. Hebrews 11:1 state Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Do you have a favorite Black Woman leader, entertainer, athlete, etc. - In what ways does she inspire you?

Honesty, I come from a line of successful people regardless of gender. But one of the women who inspires me is my cousin Dr. Sheila Ford. She inspires me because she goes after anything she wants. She is literally the definition of the sky’s the limit. Recently, she received her paperwork for her non-profit organization, and she named it after her mother, my auntie. Later in life, she plans to start a foundation and a real estate company in her mother’s name. She is always educating herself and she never limits herself. But that’s my entire family.

 

Monica Baafi, Housing Program Manager

How did you come to do what you do - in terms of work?

That is passion - if you love what you do, you keep doing it.

What do you do as Housing Program Manager?

I look for housing. I help the people living in shelters, who are experiencing homelessness to find permanent housing.

I want to inspire people with the things that I do. To help people to get what they need/want, that will create the idea - that will make me feel like I have done what I need to do - to invest in people - to help people come out from neediness. Gain apartments, become stable, do something for their life, for them to also feel that they are stable.

What recharges you?

I like baking, listening to music, and reading. I like helping people.

Do you have a favorite Black Woman leader, entertainer, athlete, etc. - In what ways does she inspire you?

Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama: they didn’t come out from a silver platter, they pushed themselves to be what they are now. Perseverance - if they wanted something they persevered, so that inspires me.

 

Evelyn Mensah, Executive Director

Do you have a favorite Black Woman leader, entertainer, athlete, etc. - In what ways does she inspire you?

Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to congress. She had to break down barriers. She was tough and took no nonsense from any of the men there.

How did you come to do what you do - in terms of work?

I worked with my father [Dr. Kwadwo Anti-Mensah, who founded AACF]. He was a man of service, education, I just wanted to continue his legacy. It kind of fell into my lap but I absolutely love it.

What is one of your big Life Goals?

Make this place a success beyond myself.

What recharges you?

I like to cook - travel - I like cooking the most, it’s adventurous, I like to play with ingredients, I like to be able to substitute ingredients and see what comes out of it. Yogurt instead of oil makes cakes nice and sweet! 

 

We all have a sort of built-in leadership style that we tend to use as our default. Some people like to take charge and lead the way, while others prefer a quieter, more subtle leadership style. Regardless of what style you’re most comfortable with, there’s no doubt you could learn something from studying other leadership styles. Different styles come in handy in different situations, and making yourself comfortable with as many styles as possible will make you a more well-rounded person and a better leader.

Know Your Own Style

Before considering other leadership styles, the first thing you need to do is get acquainted with your own default leadership style. Think about how you behave when you’re under stress. Do you tend to tell other people what to do, or ask their opinions before deciding on a direction?

Play To Your Strengths

The next step is to play to your strengths, so find out what aspects of leadership you really excel at. This can be hard to determine on a self-evaluation, so feel free to ask around and see what your colleagues have to say about your top leadership qualities.

That said, there are still things you can learn from doing a little experimentation on your own. Try out new leadership techniques as often as you can. At the end of each week, make a list of what worked and what didn’t. Focus on the things that worked and make a point of developing them in the future.

Strengthen Your Weaknesses

When writing up that list of things that worked, you should also make sure to take time to focus on the things that didn’t work. Why didn’t they work? Were the ideas bad or were they poorly executed? Why did they fail? If the idea was bad, was it because you didn’t get enough input from other sources? Or did you take bad advice from someone else, even when your gut told you it was a bad idea? If you think it was a good idea that was poorly executed, think about what you could have done differently to make that situation a success.

Identify A Leader (or Leaders) You Admire

If you haven’t done so already, you should find at least one leader whose style you admire and would like to emulate. They can have a leadership style that’s similar to yours, but if their style is very different from yours, you’ll likely learn more. You can draw on your strengths, as well as theirs, to help shape your leadership style into one that’s more well rounded – and therefore more flexible.

If you can, try to identify more than one leader you can observe, preferably with a variety of leadership styles. That will give you more opportunities for you to observe different leadership styles and their various strengths and weaknesses and how different styles work better in certain situations. With time and practice, you’ll soon be able to draw on different leadership styles in different situations, which will give you the ability to lead your team through just about every challenge they might face.

When many people think of leaders, they think often think of someone who tells other people what to do. Although it’s true that leaders are often responsible for making the tough decisions and guiding their people down the right path, effective leaders should spend more time listening than talking and concentrate on providing their people with the support they need to get the job done. In order to do all that, they need to be able to keep an open mind.

Those who are placed in leadership positions are often chosen because of their experience and history of success, but they’re still just one person. A leader who keeps an open mind and asks their team members for to contribute ideas gains the advantage of, not just their experience, but the combined years of experience of their whole team.

No one person has all the answers and every good leader is aware of this fact. Socrates is famously quoted as saying, “I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing.” Of course leaders should certainly know a great deal, but they should also be able to recognize their limitations and seek answers from their team that are likely to be different from (and quite possibly better than) any answer the leader could come up with on their own.

Effective leaders also know that, just because they come up with a solution to a problem, does not necessarily mean they came up with the best solution. Asking their team for their ideas creates a larger pool of possibilities, and the more options there are to choose from, the better the solution that gets put into action is likely to be. By keeping an open mind and understanding that the solutions they came up with alone might not necessarily be the best options, leaders are more likely to find and choose the best solution when they solicit ideas from their team members.

Maintaining an open mind is also a great way for leaders to ensure the respect and loyalty of the team members. Workers who feel their ideas are valued and have been heard are likely to be much happier in the workforce than those who feel like they’ve just been steamrolled by their leader or another coworker. This holds true even when the leader decides to pursue someone else’s idea or another path altogether. Just knowing their advice was requested and heard leads to happier workers, which promotes a happier and more productive workplace.

Even better is when the entire team comes up with a solution together. There are a number of ways leaders can do this and generate creativity among the team members as well as the leader. When teams are given a chance to work like this, everyone has an opportunity to contribute to the decision regarding which path they should take next.

Throughout history, the most influential leaders all over the world, from monarchs to generals, have had trusted advisors that they turned to before making important decisions. It was just one of the secrets to their success and continues to be a vital tool for anyone in a leadership position.

It’s always exciting to get a promotion, especially when it comes with a pay raise, but if the promotion puts you in your very first management position, it can also be pretty scary. It often means that people who were recently your peers are now your subordinates. You might even have to hire new employees to work in your department, even if you’ve never had to hire anyone before. How do you know who will be a good fit? How do you command respect from people you were joking around with just last week?

Your first time working in a leadership position can be intimidating, but it shouldn’t be. Your boss put you there because she knew you could handle it and living up to her expectations might be easier than you think.

A common quote from well-known leaders in a variety of industries is that the key to being a good boss is to hire smart people and then get out of their way. How to hire the right people deserves it’s own discussion, but right now we want to focus on the second half of that equation.

Getting out of their way does not mean you never see them again. It means you don’t micromanage them. Just tell them what you need done and let them figure out the best way to do it. You can tell them how you would do it, but the best way for you might not be the best way for them. Make yourself available to answer questions if they have any, but don’t force yourself on anyone. By letting them do the work their way, you give them the chance to work in the ways in which they, personally, are most productive. They’ll probably even come up with a few tricks you never would have thought of on your own.

Another advantage to this management style is it builds trust among your team. By showing that you trust them to do the work their way, you’re showing confidence in their abilities and their work will reflect that.

You’ll also have happier employees, and that comes with all sorts of advantages, including increased productivity, fewer incidences of illness and missed work, etc. Employees with high levels of job satisfaction will work harder than employees who are unhappy with their careers, which means, at the end of the day, you’re getting more for less.

Of course, the biggest benefit to not crowding your employees is it frees up more time for you. If you’re working in a leadership position, you probably have multiple employees working underneath you and you can’t possibly micromanage all of them at once. You’ll probably have other responsibilities in addition to your management duties, so the less time you spend hovering over your subordinates, the more time you can spend on the work that requires your personal attention.

In the end, by hiring smart people and then “getting out of their way,” you’ll make everyone happy, including yourself, your employees, and your boss.