Windridge eNews
March / April 2008
“The first responsibility of a leader is to define what can be. The last is to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must become a servant and a debtor.”
-Max DePree
People long for leaders they can trust, leaders
who are authentic. These are the men and women who are willing to be
real, who are willing to come alongside others and influence, empower,
and encourage. Authenticity in leadership enables you to understand and
feel the struggles of those who work for you.
Always remember, leadership is about the people you lead, it is not
about you!
Two questions to help you examine yourself:
1. As a leader, what does grace enable me to be?
2. Why does this organization need me?
Grace – a sense of balanced perspective and a self-knowledge of what is
right and proper builds authenticity. Grace enables you to admit: I am
not perfect; I am here to help you succeed.
When we learn to share small pieces of ourselves, our wisdom and our
mistakes, we then extend trust and authenticity to others. Sharing
ourselves enables others not to feel so alone, and thus helps remove
obstacles that limit productivity, communication, and trust. Sharing
pieces of ourselves brings credibility.
Self awareness, trust, and communication are critical precursors for any
successful organizational change. When openness and trust are extended a
greater willingness to communicate about feelings and about problems
will ensue.
Always strive to maintain open communication and authentic dialog in
your day-to-day conversations with those around you. Remember, we can’t
change others we only have control over ourselves, so we need to be
conscious of how we verbally are acting, or re-acting.
Building trust comes from listening first, then focusing on how to help.
Sometimes this will mean our opinions or fantastic ideas really don’t
matter. What does matter is creating ownership and confidence in those
who are doing the work—your direct reports. Helping these people develop
their best ideas and applications will build a stronger workforce and
will also make you a more respected and influential leader.
Before blaming or disciplining others, first scrutinize your own
performance and contributions. You might find that you are consistently
micromanaging, overriding or disrespecting the very people you are
trying to influence. As a leader, please make sure to keep your ego in
check!
Root Causes of Poor Performance
* Inadequate training
* Lack of capacity
* Bad attitude
Leadership Responsibility
* Proper equipping
* Picking the right people for the job
* Modeling confidence and optimism
Take a look at the leadership responsibilities named above and ask
yourself these important questions:
Proper equipping – Are you equipping your workforce
with the tools and support they need to be productive and successful? Do
you make sure they have the training necessary for the job? Do you
communicate when work is done well? Does your workforce know that you
are there for them if they need you?
Picking the right people for the job – Do you have
systematic and fair procedures in place for hiring? Do your hiring
practices ensure that not only are you bringing the best people into
your workforce, but also that your supervisors and managers are the
caliber of the people who communicate and lead well? Have you given
authority to your management staff to make decisions and manage others
well, or do you distrust them and their decision making capabilities?
Modeling confidence and optimism – Do you as a leader
model confidence and communicate optimism to your people? Do you trust
yourself? Are you looking for things that are right, and letting your
workforce know how important they are to you?
Grace lets you bring your best self to the work that you do. And grace
coupled with competence, character, and intent will bring positive and
productive results. Leaders who provide the support necessary, with
confidence in their direct reports and stakeholders decisions, will find
that as trust increases, results will follow.
Enjoy!
Lindsay
**** Check out my
BLOG or click on the Hiring-Line Blog on the top of this
page... Please forgive me if I don’t know all about the “pings” and
pongs of blogging, but I am having fun and hopefully there will be some
useful information there for you!
Lindsay Colitses, President
Windridge Consulting LLC lindsay@windridgeconsulting.com