What we learn through experiences forges our understanding and beliefs. For me, a core lesson about leadership comes from building grain bins.

Having worked in the grain storage industry for several years with Brock Grain Systems, I learned how to build steel grain bins. The process is different than for most structures. Construction begins with a solid foundation. Then, the roof structure is built on the foundation. Next, the roof is lifted with coordinated jacks while the construction crew assembles the walls, ring by ring, and finishes placing wall stiffeners.

It is a foundation and roof-first process. In preparing this article about the development of leaders and leadership, it seemed fitting to focus on ways this process resembles the grain bin building process.

Why Are Leaders and Grain Bins Needed?

Like commodities, leadership is a big and global topic. An AI Overview from Google searches shows millions of books on leadership, including books on specific topics, how-to books, and books based on TV or movies. Amazon alone offers 50,000 books with “leadership” in the title. In 2022, over 16 million people worked in management occupations in the U.S.

Leaders and leadership is a continual topic of discussion and sometimes, controversy in all aspects of life — business, social, and personal. Everyone may be a leader, and leadership impacts everyone.

Leader Foundation: Leaders, like grain bins, need a foundation

Each person starts with a clean slate. We each have certain attributes: interpersonal skills and behaviors, talents, intelligence, passions, interests, and character. During our “growing up” years, these attributes develop with influence and support from parents, family, friends, education, and interactions within all types of groups like church, sports, 4-H, FFA (Future Farmers of America), AFA (Agricultural Future of America), and social interactions. Many will have built their foundation by young adulthood. Some individuals will have served in leadership roles, such as a sports team captain or leading a club or organization. Youth serving as leaders start on a good path to becoming leaders for life. They are building their solid foundation.

As adults in a career, our foundation strengthens through work experience, responsibilities accomplished, and interactions with leaders, mentors, and colleagues. Early in my career, I learned this from a respected leader and mentor: “We are products of our experiences; thus, it is crucial you seek and participate in experiences serving others and strengthening yourself.”

There are leaders throughout every business. Many employees lead from where they are. One does not need to be in a management role to lead. By doing their jobs well and helping others, leaders add value daily through serving internal and external customers.

Leadership Construction: From the Top

How do you construct or improve leadership in a business to better serve customers and employees and deliver the desired outcomes?

Leadership occurs at all levels and in all business areas, but the grain bin analogy reinforces that you need to build the top first.

“Top First” could mean your actions and initiative to take the lead to bring together diverse individuals with different attributes, interpersonal skills and behaviors, talents, intelligence, passions, interests, and character for a common purpose.

Developing mutually beneficial relationships within the group starts with team building. Group training, aligning goals (both personal and business), learning to respect and appreciate each other, and building bonds of trust and interdependence are attributes of a high-performing culture. A leader’s responsibility is to help create a company culture where the team lives the vision and mission of the company culture. When leadership achieves the “TEAM” performance level, the culture, vision, and mission of the business cascade throughout the business and community.

Building the Foundation of Leadership

The analogy of the grain bin build is useful in identifying important steps and priorities to take in developing leaders and leadership within an organization. 

Build a solid foundation by hiring solid people who have desired interpersonal skills and behaviors, talents, intelligence, passions, interests, and character. Utilize the foundation of qualified people to build a strong leadership team. The leadership team develops into a high-performance team leading the business with a well-defined vision and mission that employees and customers know, understand, and believe. The culture serves as the steel walls holding the entire structure together. 

Each person needs to do their part, but in the beginning, it is the hiring of strong foundational leaders who become the top leadership team which will serve everyone in the organization. This way, everyone in the organization serves the customers and delivers the desired business results.

Three fundamentals to establishing leaders and leadership in an organization zero in on these takeaways:

• Hire the foundational leaders
• Build the top leadership team leading the vision, mission, and culture
• Create an organization of individuals who lead from where they are and continually strive for greater responsibility and achievement.