Seven Secrets to Being the Outstanding Leader Everyone Wants to Follow
In this changing, challenging, and competitive workplace we can’t overestimate the importance of good management..
Good managers will consistently motivate you to perform at higher levels of
productivity. Bad managers will drive you crazy and eventually out of the
organization. Managers with poor skills will frequently produce the
following results:
- Decreased productivity
- Increased turnover
- Increased absences
- Increased human resources mediation situations
- Increased customer service complaints
The following are seven secrets to being the “perfect” leader everyone want
to work for.
Create a Vision
The best leaders not only assign tasks or monitor performance. They plan for
the future and motivate others to see the same vision so they can all thrive
to accomplish that vision.
Instead of dwelling on limited problems, the perfect leader looks at the big
picture. They live the organization’s mission and implement, motivate, and
dedicate all their efforts to accomplishing the mission.
During hundreds of team building and leadership workshops, I have asked the
following simple question:
What is your organization’s mission statement?
If there are forty participants in the workshop, thirty-seven will look down
at their desk, one participant will make a feeble attempt at reciting what
he/she “thinks” is the mission statement, one participant will make a pretty
good attempt and recite the first one or two sentences of the mission
statement, and finally one student will volunteer to run to the office (or
car) to grab a copy of the statement to bring back to the workshop. Out of
the thousands of workshop participants I have asked this question, only
three knew their mission statement word for word. The amazing part of this
is that many of these workshop participants have been with their
organization 5-10-20+ years and, they still didn’t know their mission
statement. So my question is this:
How do you lead your employees to accomplish your organization’s mission if
you (as a manager) don’t know what the mission is?
The perfect leaders live, eat, sleep, and shower with their mission
statement. They know exactly what the mission is and understand its
importance to the team they lead and to the organization. Most importantly,
they communicate the mission statement to their employees at meetings,
coachings, feedback sessions, and even corrective actions. Their actions are
related to accomplishing the goals of the mission statement and can
communicate the vision of the organization.
Action Step – Take the mission statement out of the dark corner in the
office. Print the mission statement and its vision on the top of your
meeting agenda and recite it at the beginning of the meeting. Then talk
about how the employees are helping to realize the goals, values, and vision
of the mission.
Understand employees needs
As the old saying goes, “You can’t please all of the people all of the
time.” However, the perfect leader realizes that to be effective, they must
cater to the needs of most of the team. Good leaders realize that the work
environment is not a popularity contest or, as I say, “Leadership is not
Pleasership.” The perfect leader treats all employees with respect and are
consistent in their actions and words.
At the same time, they recognize the unique needs of their employees and use
that knowledge for motivation to achieve a common goal.
Communicate concisely and clearly
Poor communication skills are probably the Number #1 reason managers fail.
If they can’t talk to and connect with their employees, they are not serving
the needs of the staff.
What is good communication? The following are some examples:
- Communicate job expectation and standards
- Give ongoing feedback to employees.
- Seek and acknowledge feedback from employees on decisions that effect them
(and take the time to listen to them).
- Communicate the mission (see Secret #1) on an ongoing basis.
- Communicate “bad news” in a honest and timely manner.
- Communicate using language that shows a positive expectation.
- Communicate by a combination of methods: person-to-person, e-mail, phone,
and meetings.
Find Common Ground
Some managers don’t understand they are in the people business and lack the
patience to work and develop their team members. I even had supervisor
during a coaching and mentoring workshop make the following statement to me
at break:
“If I knew I had to communicate with my team I would have never taken the
job.”
What did this person think? True leaders understand that their employees’
success is their success. They comprehend during this journey that some
employees will need assistance, coachings, motivation, feedback, and
discipline. Good leaders will work to find common ground with each staff
member so that everyone wins. Perfect leaders will understand that some
employees will need consistent managing, and others will need less managing;
some employees need refocusing, while others will be very focused, etc.
Perfect leaders recognize the need to find common ground with each person.
Take others to a new level
Perfect managers are concerned with their staff’s professional advancement
and do everything possible to help staff members develop their capabilities.
These leaders “see the employees for what they can become, not what they are
now.” The leaders’ actions might range from improving specific aspects of
job performance, to delegating special assignments, to developing an action
plan for promotions. Perfect leaders must have the ability to assess the
strengths and weaknesses of employees and use that to coach for continuous
improvement.
Ideally the basis for improvement combines the best interest of the
organization and the employee. Many times I am brought into organizations to
assist them with this need:
“I have managers retiring, and we have no one to replace them.”
These organizations have created a “talent black hole,” because they didn’t
implement a plan to “help others improve” and be ready to step up to when
needed. Remember, you can always replace a chair, a desk, a computer. But
you can’t always replace a talented employee if you don’t have a plan in
place to develop others to take their place when the time comes.
Believe in your staff
Recently, I was presenting the concerns of an employee workshop to
management of an organization at their staff meeting. One manager looked at
the report and questioned me as to whether the employees really mentioned
the items in the report. I assured the manager the employees did. To that
the manager answered in the meeting, “This must mean we have smart
employees.” Little did this manager realize that he had a negative attitude
toward his employees. Through his subconscious mind, he is showing his
employees, through words and actions, that he doesn’t believe in his staff.
Perfect leaders believe in the best qualities of their employees. They
believe their employees are smart enough to handle tasks and find solutions
to challenges if given the correct guidance and opportunity.
This comes with earned trust from past performances and the investment by
the leaders to ongoing shared coachings and feedback to give the employees
the experience and skills to succeed in the future.
Integrity is best
It is important that employees feel they can trust the managers’ words and
actions. This means honesty, fairness, and consistency when interacting with
employees. If employees share in private a confidential sensitive subject
with their mangers in the morning, this must not be known throughout the
organization that afternoon. Or if the managers promise to give employees an
answer by the end of the day and never get back to the employees, the
managers’ integrity is destroyed.
The best leaders realize their word is their bond and that actions speak
louder than words. Perfect leaders work at being honest, open, and reliable
everyday.
Take the time starting today to apply these seven leadership secrets; and
you, too, can be a “perfect” leader.
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