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
Please don't forget to click on the 'join this site' button by the right side of the screen and get all our future publications directly to your email.
Please share with a friend.
No comments:
Post a Comment