I recently had the privilege to speak to a group of leaders for an exclusive private club. The group was made up of executives to senior employee’s and was very diverse in roles and responsibilities. In other words it was the PERFECT scenario for me to share some of my “Leaders Are People Too!” presentation.
Here is a small part of the presentation; we discussed the different types of leaders, you know the types; the compassionate leader, the micro-managing leader, the intimidating leader and so on…I then asked them to think of what type of leader they believe they are and then I asked them to revisit that thought after my presentation.
The truth of the matter is we usually are not the best judge of what type of leader, or for that matter what type of person we are. In actuality it’s the way people think and speak of you when you are not around that really defines what type of leader or person you are. So the “million dollar” question is how can we make sure we are leading in a manner that is productive for the organization, compassionate for those being lead, and developing for the future.
Well I don’t have enough space to give you my thoughts here but I will share with you a few principles I feel are imperative to effective leadership:
- Set Expectations – you can’t expect your employee’s to exceed or meet your expectations if you don’t let them know what they are!
- Know what you are good at…and what you’re not – focus on your weaknesses as your strengths will always rise to the top
- Be a Coach, Mentor, Trainer – if you see something being done incorrectly don’t ignore it, address it as a coach, mentor, trainer
- Accountability – if you set the expectation then make sure you hold your employee’s accountable to meet the expectation
- Consistency – be consistent in your mood, in dealing with employees
- Communicate – people don’t read minds
- Reward – nothing brings morale up more than recognizing a good job, which could just be showing up to work every day with a smile!
If you think you could use some help in developing your leadership team, give me a call. You can reach me through my website “Bringing About Positive Results”.
Be Positive!
~RG
