Monday, January 28, 2013
CARING FOR YOUR TEAM MATES
CARE FOR YOUR TEAM MATES.
By Ayo Emakhiomhe.
At every point in time we
stand out as leaders who have people looking up to us on the job.
And our duty is the
leadership assigned to us. But among the many demands placed on our shoulders
is the ability to care for our subordinates and even our superiors.
If we are asked to define
what it means to care for our subordinates and superiors in and organization, a
lot of definitions would arise and to a good extent, none will be wrong.
Generally speaking, we can say that caring for our colleagues and most
especially our subordinates just entails assisting to create an emotional
balance and ensuring that all their needs to achieve superior effectiveness on
their job for which is within our abilities to provide is readily available.
This definition is very
broad and can be contended. But I will be looking at care giving for colleagues
from a different angle.
I would look at it from
the angle of John Maxwell who sees caring in leadership from 4 angles which are:
1. Communication
2. Affirmation
3. Recognition
4. Example
COMMUNICATION
When was the last time you
appraised your style of communication and its effectiveness? Have you ever
sampled your feedback to be sure that the response in the information you are
passing is effective? Or are you yourself sure of the information you are
passing?
In everything you do as a
leader, you must always ensure you communicate in as precise terms as possible
what you expect from you subordinates.
Be strict but gentle, a
hostile environment stops information flow. Be open and discourage gossip and
bias. These items seriously distort and cloud up information. Always ensure
that you make you communication a 2-way road at all times.
Know in as precise terms a
possible what your subordinates expect from you for superior effectiveness on
the job. When these 2 expectations are available a middle point can be reached
for which compromises can be reached and work flows seamlessly to your
advantage.
AFFIRMATION
You should never stop
doing this. Always affirm to your subordinates (truthfully) your trust in their
abilities, and what you would do to assist in making them better at the job.
Affirmation builds trust and motivates for effectiveness.
When you affirm a
colleague honestly; and not as a lip service, you create a bond that gives you
respect and trust from them. It makes them to believe in you and do more to be
able to get more affirmed with you.
If you had subordinates or
colleagues that worked this way with you, would you not have less headaches on
the job?
RECOGNITION
More often than not, when
we catch our subordinates doing the right thing, we do not even in any way make
them aware of this fact, but if it was the wrong thing, we will not only notify
them, we will persecute and crush them. Have we ever thought of flipping this
and recognize in some way, no matter how small our subordinates when we catch
them doing right especially those ones that even go the extra mile.
Not all rewards should be
monetary, what happened to notes, emails, public applaud, notices on public
boards, etc.
Everybody has an innate
craving for recognition especially when the act is a norm in the environment.
It motivates and creates a sense of belonging.
EXAMPLE
This is the tough one. As
a leader, you should never lay the rules then break all of them but be the
first to wield the big stick when your subordinates decide to follow your bad
footsteps.
You have the great burden
to lead by example; what you can’t do, don’t make your subordinates do it.
If you want them to come
to work early, work at being the first to the office, don’t make excuses, there
were so many reasons (excuses) for which you would have not been made the
leader. Now that you are one, lead by example. When you make mistakes, don’t
hide it, admit it and resolve the issue, it shows you are human and not
superman so they can trust you more and even rely on you.
Note that they are relying
on you even though you made a mistake on the grounds that you had learned from
it and will not make that mistake again. Also, that mistake was not a
fundamental mistake like misappropriation of funds or outright theft.
Remember, don’t teach you
subordinates to do what you say only, but to do what you do – Lead by example.
Always remember that your colleagues
are your team mates be they your subordinates or superiors or even mates. The
whole idea is for all to succeed as a team and you as a unit head or leader is
the team leader on whose shoulders lies the onus to stir the ship to this
destination.
One of the ingredients to
achieving this is what we have just discussed.
Please go ahead and CARE
for your team mates.
Inspired by the works of John Maxwell - MAXWELL LEADERSHIP BIBLE
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Monday, January 21, 2013
PROVIDE FOR YOUR TEAM MATES
PROVIDE FOR YOUR TEAM
Ayo Emakhiomhe.
When entrusted with leadership as a team leader, you become a typical farmer with seeds to grow.
The seeds here are your
subordinates/colleagues; the field is your organization
The job of leadership is a
2 lane road where you have the first task of leading yourself and then leading
others around you.
Using John Maxwell as a
guide, Success on this assignment means personal success for you also. But I
must admit from the onset that this is not an easy assignment. To succeed at
this job, you must provide for your seeds (team mates)
To provide for your team
mates means that you must equip them to realize their full potential on the job
and achieve their God-given potentials too. Your primary assignment is to
reproduce yourself in your subordinates. And to effectively reproduce yourself
means that you have to PROVIDE for your subordinates. To do
this means that you have to be;
PURPOSEFUL: Approach others
with a purpose; to add value. Set a target each day that your colleagues will
be better off today than they were in the morning when they came to work
because they interacted with you.
RELATIONAL: you have to be
warm and inviting and work at having and maintaining healthy relationships.
OBJECTIVE: assess strengths
and weaknesses objectively. Share job functions to your colleagues based on
this assessment and not on favoritism.
VULNERABLE: model self
disclosure, honesty and transparency always.
INCARNATIONAL:
practice what you preach
DEPENDABLE: be consistent and
responsible in all your dealings
EMPOWERING: give power away
and train your staff CONTINUOSLY
RESOURCEFUL: use every tool at
your disposal to grow your people. The bible says that only a bad workman
curseth his tools.
To achieve the above as a
provider, the following 8 steps are essential
1. Labour:
be ready to fold your sleeves and dive into the work with your staff, don’t
just lord it over them.
2. Strength:
you have to push yourself and your team beyond the limits.
3. Learning:
when you stop learning, you and your team start dying. Learning must always go
with teaching. Learning produces growth.
4. Focus:
don’t allow any form of distraction. Don’t drift from the organisations goals;
write it somewhere and let all decisions be guided by this. Let this pattern
tinker down to your team mates.
5. Accountability:
ensure that at all times you are as accountable to your people as they are
accountable to you.
6. Experience:
make sure that every day is an experience and that all experience, no matter
how small (be it positive or negative) is used as a learning point.
7. Practice:
always apply learned experiences.
8. Celebration:
always celebrate victories and milestones no matter how small.
As the man at the helm of
affairs, your team success defines your success. For your team to succeed you have
to provide for them and engage the items listed above and you will always stand
out and be celebrated.
Today is a good day to be
the best leader, what are you waiting for? PROVIDE for your team.
emakhiomheayo@yahoo.com
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Monday, January 14, 2013
WHAT DO YOU SEE?
WHAT DO YOU SEE?
BY AYO EMAKHIOMHE
In the Bible, When God took Ezekiel
to the mountain of dry bones that was what God asked him.
What was his answer?
‘I SEE DRY BONES’ but God now said,
‘Prophesy to those bones, he did and what happened? The dry bones started
having tissue and sinew and flesh.
If we go by the simple meaning of
prophesy; revelations of events in the near or distant future spoken by men
anointed by God as influenced by the Holy Spirit of God to also ensure that
what is said will come to pass. Then that means that as the prophet prophesied
life, hope, greatness, flesh, blood to those dry bones, his words were backed
by God to become a decree that the DRY bones had to obey.
From that passage it shows that it
is not what the eyes see that matters, it is what our minds see and what we can
back up with words from our mouths to become decrees.
We know also that what you believe
for yourself you get.
Some of us might not have realized
this but, the mind; that innate part of man is so powerful, that if you indulge
it long enough (backed by the spirit of God) will go all out to ensure that we
achieve that thing we most desire. It is your mind that determines your success
or otherwise. That is why a truly successful man even when stripped of all and
put in a desert would still be able to replicate such success.
When you put your mind to a feat,
even if you don’t have the materials, your mind would act like a magnet and go
out and attract those things you need to succeed in that feat to you. That is
why success is for the mind that is prepared for the opportunity it comes
across or creates.
Therefore, it goes beyond our
prayers alone, beyond our mere words, beyond the words of others, but it is
about what we say about ourselves, our business, our jobs, our future, our
nation, our neighbors, and our family.
What prophesy are you preaching? Is it doom or
glory?
Do you have dry bones in your
business, your job, your family, your life?
Prophesy to those bones, do not use
mere words, but prophesy in faith, see it happening , set your mind to it, it
will happen, it might be slow like the
bones in the valley, or instant like the raising of Lazarus, but it will come.
The next level is what do you see
around you? Is it dry bones in form of financial crisis or lack or is it an
environment full of opportunities?
What you see as your prophesy you
get.
So I implore you, go out today and
prophesy to those dry bones speak life to that financial situation, speak hope,
speak victory and it shall be yours.
Do not procrastinate, do not
slumber, go out and prophesy, go out to the farm of business/life to plant in
the midst of dry bones this year, and your harvest shall be bountiful, do not
say like the farmer, the weather is not fair and go to sleep; he who plants in
sorrow shall reap in joy.
Great men in the bible sowed in the
midst of famine/dry bones/financial crisis and God multiplied them greatly,
Go
and get a seed today of business idea, investment idea, sow those seeds, and
God will multiply you. You shall have a bountiful harvest this year.
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