Why it is important to be a good leader?
Being a good leader is so much more than meeting metrics and having people report to you. Understanding how to lead is how you obtain a great skilled workforce who wants to grow and succeed with you.
Servant leadership is a great place to start, this is the idea of serving your team and understanding what they need to succeed. When practicing servant leadership, you will retain colleagues or help them grow WITHIN your company as they will see the company is invested in their growth, just like you are!
Signs you are a GOOD manager:
If you see someone struggling on a project or not coming up with the expected outcome, you ask them how you can assist, or ask them what solutions they have come up with so far (maybe they just need a sounding board).
Team members can just come up to talk to you about any problems (people problems, process problems).
You ask how your team members are doing before asking where their production stands.
Team members can talk to you about their future goals and what careers they want, even if that career is yours.
You know it's PROCESS NOT PEOPLE!
This means the process allows people to make mistakes and we should never blame people unless they are maliciously coming into work to break things. (Blog soon to come on this topic, it is its own thing)
When you are worried only about productivity and how much we can produce this leads to a toxic workplace, and we have all worked in a place like this.
Signs you are a TOXIC manager:
You want every little detail of the projects your team is working on.
As a manager, you are delegating a project and should be there to get a high-level update and give advice.
Asking for details is fine, but not EVERY DETAIL EVERY SINGLE TIME!
Team members are scared to talk about their career growth within the company because it’s your job.
Your team is afraid to speak up to you.
This can be seen by them saying “never mind” a lot, which means they are not comfortable with you.
When you give out assignments, no one has any questions.
You think your team members have to be busy 100% of the time.
Downtime is important, especially with reactionary roles, you need your colleagues to have downtime to respond to emergencies.
High performers typically do things faster and will have downtime, the only thing you will do is push that person out of your company.
You ask your team members for things you can get yourself.
If you are a manager and you have a man and a woman reporting to you, you want copies from the copier…. who do you ask?
Answer: NO ONE, you get it yourself, your colleagues work for the company, not for YOU!
You say inappropriate things.
Don’t keep bringing up the same topic in front of others if it's negative!
Don’t bring up topics in front of others if it's negative! (Has to be said twice, you never know!!!)
You blame people for mistakes!!
“Connection before Correction” - Royden Johnson
