by Michael Holland –
Your role as a leader – should you choose to accept it – is to effectively lead the people asset you’ve been charged with owning. This means:
- You are responsible and accountable for the effectiveness and productivity of each individual person on your team, as well as the team as a whole.
- You have a title, but you need to earn the right to lead. Sure, people will do what you say because they have to, but that’s all they will do. To elicit greater dedication you must earn the right to lead.
- You make more money because you have a greater responsibility… not because you’re entitled to the money to make the car payments on that new Audi you just bought.
- While you write and deliver performance reviews because HR told you to, your real role is to be delivering constant feedback to employees. A performance review is a bureaucratic weapon used by corporations to force leaders to do the work they should be doing every day.
- You have to stop using the words “they” and “them” for management because you are they and them.
- Your job is to ask those awkward questions that no one else wants to in order to bring key issues and conflicts to the surface. Plus, you can really get to know your employees.
- Accountability is no longer a nifty term you get to throw around. You are fully accountable for all the good things and challenging things your employees do.
- You will sit in meetings that seem to be, and likely are, totally useless, and you will receive more emails than are humanly possible to read during a work day.
But most importantly. . . and don’t miss this. . . you will have the opportunity to influence the lives of people whose whole perspective – of a day or even a season of life – can be changed for the better by the way in which you choose to lead.
Choose today to lead well!
Coaching Thoughts- For You and Your Peers
- Is there one point (or even two or more) on this list that you find yourself struggling with? Are there some that come more naturally to you?
- Why is it important to recognize that these come along with being a leader? Can you be a good leader without them?
- Pick something from this list to focus on this week, and make a conscious effort to improve your leadership in this area.
