12 Most Surefire Ways to Rock Leadership
Want to be a great leader? A truly inspirational, effective agent of your team’s success? There is literally nothing harder – or more important – in the world of work. That’s why good leaders are so rare in real life.
If that discourages you, them maybe you don’t have what it takes to lead after all. If it motivates you instead? Well, then, here are a few tips to take it from “in charge guy/gal” to “The best leader ever!”
1. Repeat after me (to your staff): “My job is to make your job easier.”
No, your job is not to give them the day off to shop while you finish up their work for them. But your job as leader – your only job, as leader – is to remove impediments to your people’s success. Take the obstacles out of their way so they can do the important work of your company: serving your customers!
2. Be an umbrella for your people
To continue on the theme of number one, too often leaders find themselves required to shield their people from negativity from up the ladder. That’s The Law of The Umbrella (http://www.tedcoine.com/archives/200). Obey the law!
3. Foster friendships among your staff
Off-site play days are important – they are! But nothing builds camaraderie and team spirit like shared success as the result of shared struggle. What’s your team’s greater goal? What significant challenge are you confronting that all of you can be proud of overcoming together?
4. Reward for the big things. And the medium things. And even the itty-bitty little things.
We like praise. We crave recognition. One winner-takes-all vacation or mega-bonus for the year’s top performer is great and all, but how about a $5 Starbucks, or even a made-up certificate from your printer, because someone filed her report on time?
5. Push them.
People of quality want to be good at their jobs. Kindly help them to improve. …Kindly, but maybe not gently.
6. Dump the losers fast.
I had to learn this one the hard way when I was running my own firm. But you know what? Once I got it, it transformed our business. No one likes to work with slackers or dopes – except other slackers and dopes!
7. Hire slowly and caaaaarefully!
Show your current team members and your new recruits that not just anybody belongs on your team. If you want to build an elite group, hire elite performers. You’ll have to kiss a lot of frogs as you vet the talent pool.
8. Give them something important to get up for in the morning
Remember number 3, with the part about shared challenges? Pick a really, really lofty goal. Crazy-lofty. Then make pursuit of that the rallying cry of your team. Change lives, change the world, change how business is done; don’t just settle to change who wins this year’s sales contest.
9. Break bread with your team – often!
Roughly speaking, you have about 240 chances a year to eat lunch with your staff. That’s not a lot, so don’t squander a day of it! We let down our guard when we eat. We share our innovative ideas, our observations; we dish about our kids. Soak that up. Your people are your teachers. Learn from them!
10. Brag about them all day every day
Talk your staff up to your peers, to their peers, to your boss and her boss and heck, to the security guard, too. Be proud of each of them, and share that pride with anyone who’ll listen. Word will filter back to them, and as it does, it will have ten times the impact of a direct compliment.
11. Expect the world of them
Establish with your team how highly you respect and admire them. Demand incredible feats of them. They will live up to your image of them, no matter what it takes.
12. Be worthy of their effort
Want to really be the best, most effective leader ever? Work to improve yourself every day, in every way that is important to your team’s success. In order to lead a group of champions to new heights, you as leader must be worthy of the team’s time and energy. And that’s a lot more than we have room for in one blog post.
You will never be as good as you can be as a leader. But every hour of every day, if you’re sufficiently devoted to the success of your team, you can improve. Keep at it, and your people will start bragging about you – to their peers, your peers, your boss and her boss. And yes, even to the security guards.
When it percolates back to you how admired you are by those you serve as leader… you’ll be infinitely prouder than if they told you themselves!
Photo courtesy of /amf. Used under creative commons, some rights reserved.
Ted Coiné
Ted Coiné is the business heretic at the helm of the Catalyst blog. Author and speaker, futurist, and happily-former CEO, Ted is currently writing his third book, Catalyst, about how business will be done in this exciting new century. Follow him on Twitter and join the conversation on #leadbiz.
tedcoine Ted, so not sure where to begin with so much good stuff here - as usual. I'll zero in on #10. I recently talked with some employees who learned that their recently promoted manager never bragged about them. She took credit for their work. More short term thinking to get ahead. Fortunately the new manager discovered the damage and uninformed perceptions of the team held by senior managers. In times when everyone's contribution matters and is being evaluated -- good or bad -- bragging of a team's accomplishments and talents is vital.
Good stuff my brother-from-another-mother!
Shanw
Great list Ted. And I am a firm believer in this statement: "nothing builds camaraderie and team spirit like shared success as the result of shared struggle." and I'll add "in pursuit of a clear and compelling shared goal."
Ted, amazing list! Great leaders inspire their people to actually want to succeed! #8 strikes a chord with me. There have been jobs I dreaded going to in the morning and jobs I practically jumped out of bed in excitement for. Now that I think about it, there is a direct correlation between the fervor I had for my jobs and the leaders I worked with. Great post!
That's right, Doug - if your leader did it right, maybe you didn't even realize how good she was at motivating you, because you felt that jump-out-of-bed urge from within. That is what great leadership is all about: using our own inner drives to propel us forward, to the benefit of all. Thanks for the props. dougricesmbiz
Ted, you're a genius. We need more people like you out there spreading the news that leadership is more than sitting in the corner office reading reports. It takes more to rock.
I enjoyed this one.
@Biebert Thanks Aaron. Genius!?!? I'd gladly settle for "occasionally insightful." :) Biebert
Ted, this list is amazing! The Law of the Umbrella is so important in great leadership. I'm also a strong believer in pushing people to be their very best. By praising them regularly, you help intrinsically motivate them to do great work. I also find that not firing bad people quickly enough is a sure way to lose respect from those you're trying to lead. If you won't stand up to someone who is not doing their job, why should others pull all of the weight? Great read!
My latest conversation: Assignments
Thanks, I really appreciate the support - it makes me want to write even better next time (Hey, look at that, it worked!). The thing is, most people want to be excellent - we crave it! If our leader both nurtures and challenges us in this, there's nothing we can't accomplish. That's what winning leaders grasp, and all the rest fail to recognize - to their organization's detriment. profkrg
This is a great list! They are all critical to success but number seven stands out to me. No matter how painful it is to have a position open, it's important leaders hire people that will fit with the team, with the culture and thrive on supported success and being pushed to new levels (oh yeah - and are high performers). The "who" that someone brings to the table is often just as important as the long list of "what" they've accomplished that they put on their resume.
I look forward to sharing this list with others!
Thanks so much, Alli! You know, a line I like to share with a new audience is, "If you think an open position is painful, try filling it with the wrong person." Yet how often do leaders do just that? It can be the death of any organization. AlliPolin
These are not only great ideals for leadership, they are also great guidelines for how one can act in the world of social media. Don't pump yourself up, especially not at the expense of others. Build up other people. Avoid the poisonous people.
I especially like the "break the bread with your people" advice though. Too often, leaders see themselves as being up on Mount Olympus looking over the poor populace. Well, you can do that, but you won't really understand what your people are going through and they won't feel any connection to you.
Great stuff as always, Mr. Ted!
Thanks Margie, I absolutely agree with your comment about rocking leadership and Social are, well, the same, huh? It's called giving of yourself, and there are all sorts of situations in with it's a good idea!
That Mount Olympus thing? Oiy, is it ever common! I'll never get it. ...Thankfully!margieclayman
Great read - no leader is worth his/her weight in salt unless the team declares it so. Many thing that the team works for the leader whereas it's really vice versa. I agree with #3 but I would be careful at little fiefdoms that sometimes get created. Let's be friendly and supportive - absolutely - but let's also keep a careful eye on different rifts, alliances, etc.
Thanks so much - I love how you phrase that, "...unless the team declares it so." So true!
As for fiefdoms, rifts, alliances - no way! I am so with you there. If your team suffers from any of those, look in the mirror to see who needs some work yet.
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MatthewLiberty Thanks Matt! Hey, happy Monday!!!
tedcoine You are very welcome!! And a happy & productive Monday to you!
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