From Apprentice to Supervisor: Why Leadership Belongs at Every Level

In the blue-collar environment, we often reserve leadership training for supervisors or managers once they have taken on a leadership position—if we provide it at all. Then, as an industry, we're left wondering why we have a range of cultural and social issues that negatively impact our workforce retention and wellbeing or why current attempts to implement positive change aren't succeeding.

If we want to meaningfully impact our industry and implement the critical culture and wellbeing improvements needed, we must stop providing leadership training too late. We need to start empowering individuals at the ground level to show up for themselves, their teams, and their workplaces with better interpersonal skills to accompany their technical skills.

That's where Everyday Leadership comes in.

Everyday Leadership is about recognising that we can show up as leaders even if we're not directly leading or managing others but taking ownership of our ability to lead ourselves and impact or influence others. These skills don't require a title. Whether we're apprentices, tradespeople, labourers, supervisors, or business owners, developing our leadership skills is about developing our interpersonal skills to communicate, interact, and collaborate more effectively to get the job done and create healthy work environments.

Layers of Everyday Leadership:

Every blue-collar worker deserves access to leadership development. Good leadership at every level means safer, stronger, and more supportive worksites, which will benefit everyone.

Showing up as an Everyday Leader is a choice we make every day for the betterment of ourselves and the industries we love. How do you show up as an Everyday Leader?

Written by Ashley Belteky

I'm on a mission to improve the interpersonal skills of the trade sector. If you're passionate about leadership, self-improvement or having a positive impact on your workplace or industry, here are some ways you can get involved:

• Follow the Tradies Who Lead podcast on socials and your preferred listening platform,

• Invest in an Everyday Leadership workshop or keynote for your team, workplace, or event,

• Subscribe to my monthly newsletter at ashleybelteky.com,