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"Leadership is about making a difference with the resources you have, inspiring change, and leaving a legacy of empowerment."
Fri Jan 5, 2024
" Leadership is lifting a person's vision to high sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations." — Peter Drucker
All of the management principles offer something useful. Still, jumping on the newest trend is unnecessary to be a great leader.
The things managers do that get them into trouble and the things leaders do that earn faithful followers.
The Question is:
How employees feel about the organization is in direct correlation to the quality of their leaders?
How to find when so many people who work in an organization are happy or unhappy?
So let's start a journey to get answers to these questions.
Culture in organizations is not easy to change. Both managers and employees become accustomed to the organization’s environment and can take a “that’s the way we are here” attitude.
Some of the low-performing managers shared reasons for their low scores. The reasons include:
" Whether managers believe they can positively influence the work environment for the employees in their areas, or believe they cannot, it is important to note:" — THEY ARE RIGHT!
If managers believe they can create workplace excellence, they can.
If managers believe there is not much they can do, they tend not to take action, confirming their negative beliefs.
One manager can make a difference. If you want to change the work environment, change the way you manage.
Below are some ways in which a manager can positively change his/her working environment:
Each leader`s personal, individual vision impacts the organization.
“Vision” is not another fad. It is the first step here, and the first to Workplace Excellence.
A compelling vision and articulated goals are the foundation of Best-of-the-Best organizations. Every leader has a type of vision.
Which of the following matches your outlook?
The first vision type is positive and uplifting:
“Today is a great day, and tomorrow is going to be even better.” Leaders with positive visions take the necessary actions to make the department even more productive and the environment an even better place to do the work.
The second vision type is what we call the status quo:
“Today is okay, and I’m hoping that tomorrow will be all right, too.” These managers are trying to hang on to their current situation. The ultimate goal of a manager with a status quo vision is to keep things from getting worse.
The third vision type is negative:
If you think today is bad, just wait until tomorrow. It’s going to get worse!” These managers usually choose to take no action—and things do get worse.
Only a positive vision can inspire. Leaders with a clear idea of what they stand for and where they are heading, and who have communicated their expectations to employees, are both inspiring and easy to follow. Their employees maintain an understanding of the leader’s values and can predict how the leader will react in a given situation. It is impossible to keep levels of morale and productivity high if the leader is not a role model for a “can do” positive attitude.
Nothing is motivating about accomplishing a mediocre goal. When you isolate the leaders of the highest-rated departments and compare them with those in the lowest-rated departments, the most significant difference is in the area of managing an employee’s performance.
When employees were asked if their manager set and communicated performance objectives for each employee, the highest-rated leaders achieved a result more favourable than the lowest-rated managers.
The next significant difference between managers in the high- and low-performing departments is recognition. Great leaders ensure that, when an employee does a good job, he or she is recognized.
First, they provide recognition immediately after they learn about an employee’s positive performance. The longer you wait to do this, the less meaning the recognition will have. If you wait too long, the recognition will become a de-motivator for some employees.
Second, tend to tailor their recognition to best meet the needs of the employee. For some employees, recognition is most effectively provided one-on-one. For others, recognition may be an e-mail sent to the team or a note written in a newsletter. And for still others, it may be recognition presented in a team meeting.
Third, leaders encourage other managers and employees on their teams to recognize colleagues who do a great job. This way, recognition becomes part of the team’s culture and is not dependent solely on the manager.
Effective leaders know that providing recognition for meeting and exceeding high-performance goals and effectively fixing performance problems is an important part of their jobs.
For Workplace Excellence, communication is important if you want to be in the Best-of-the-Best Benchmark.
Managers leading departments know that going out of their way to communicate with employees indirectly tells the employees that they really care about them.
When a manager listens to an employee’s opinion and acts on the input, the employee feels valued.
The managers understand the importance of involving employees and asking for their opinions on anything related to their jobs.
Only about half of the managerial population is comfortable admitting an error. The other half makes excuses, usually claiming that something outside of their control explains their actions.
Only leaders who feel confident in their ability to lead also feel comfortable admitting when they make a mistake.
Just say, “I messed up. I am sorry. And I am grateful I have the team I do so we can get this problem corrected.” Most times, when you can say “I made a mistake,” people will go out of their way to forgive you and correct the situation.
We are not referring to the number of hours that you put into your job. What we mean is the amount of value you bring to your team or organization.
“Outworking” others means you add value by bringing a compelling, positive vision, solving quality or service problems that no one else has solved, dealing with difficult employees or customers, and/ or creating an environment where employees love coming to work.
The managers exhibit stronger work habits, which their employees recognize.
If your employees do not feel you set a good example with your work habits, lower morale will become prevalent and it will become difficult to ask for and manage excellent performance.
People do not follow those they do not trust. Trust builds a relationship where employees feel confident about following your lead. When the goals are clear, managers trust that their employees will get the job done.
Best-of-the-best organizations can teach us six important lessons about building trust between the management team and employees.
Leaders work with values such as ethical decision-making; open, honest, clear, and direct communication; teamwork; results; top-performing employees; satisfied customers; innovation; and work-life balance.
What is important is that the leaders can clearly articulate to every employee the values that drive decisions and day-to-day business practices in their organization.
If leaders are clear about the vision and core values, it becomes easier to make consistent decisions. In companies, an extremely high value is placed on ethical decision-making, results, and customer satisfaction.
Trust is built by doing what you say you are going to do when you say you are going to do it, even if you no longer feel like doing it. A big challenge for managers is that employee trust recalibrates itself daily in response to leadership decisions and behaviours.
Communication from managers regarding the vision, values, and strategic goals is essential to building trust. Honest and direct communication regarding performance also builds trusting relationships.
If your goal is to work with an engaged, motivated workforce, you will benefit by involving employees in the decisions that impact their work. If the employees are truly not qualified to do the work, then coach, counsel, and train.
The fastest way for a leader to build trust with an employee is to place trust in the employee. So go ahead and empower employees to make decisions and increase their responsibilities. Most employees, when given the power to make a decision or take on additional responsibility, will go out of their way not to undermine or erode the trust the leader has placed in them. When employees know they are trusted, they find it much easier to trust management.
The outcomes of an environment of workplace excellence are priceless. Employees in the positive and productive workplace have a better relationship with their managers, have a higher level of trust, and realize that they are respected.
Great leaders know employees have choices about where they work. You can create an environment where people love to come to work and customers love to do business. The leadership areas in which you excel, and the areas where you may need some improvement as you strive to create a workplace where employees love to come to work and customers love to do business.
"The essence of leadership lies in the lasting footprints of difference
you leave behind."
Rajul Mistry
Leadership Consultant
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