Embedded Files
🙏 Servant leadership
For me, servant leadership boils down to one guiding principle: I am nothing without my team. How do I ensure this manifests in my day-to-day behavior?
The team comes first.
I make time for my people. Sure, there may be times when I'm under a deadline, but I always find time for my team.
When you invest your time and energy into helping people grow, that allows them to become more confident and independent. And that's an obvious win/win, right? The more independent the team is, the less they need you for answers they probably already know, and the more the team can flourish.
Recognizing that different people need different things.
Consistency is important so that the team can generally anticipate your response to events. But, recognizing the nuances between what different people need from their leadership - that is where the magic happens. For example:
Some folks are natural risk-takers and some are more risk-averse. Finding ways to coach them both into a place where there is balance between the two is critical to their future growth.
Some are more sensitive to client feedback than others. Keeping the feedback as an area of focus for those who might brush it off is important! And so is ensuring a team member's confidence is not decimated in the face of a little tough love from a client.
The point is, leadership is never a one-size-fits-all deal.
Staying optimistic.
I wrote this article on LinkedIn several years ago that seemed to really strike a nerve with my network called "No, I won't get on the roller-coaster of anxieity with you, thanks." It was written from the perspective of having a manager myself who reacted very emotionally to bad news on the daily. And obviously, the treatment we receive from managers can inform the way we treat our own team. In this case, a resounding "I will never do this to my team" was the lesson.
When bad news comes down, I don't sugar coat it. If it's objectively bad or even if I just know my team will view it that way, I'll acknowledge that. No reason to let the team think "why doesn't she understand how scary/frustrating/demoralizing this is?" That just puts up a wall between me and my team.
However, I won't jump on the roller coaster of anxiety, taking everyone with me. Because the faster I can get the team on board with the change, or get them through their fear, the faster we move past it. My guiding principle will always be, let's not stay in this space longer than we need to. So when they're ready to refocus, I'll be there to help them do so.
And if someone seems permanently stuck in that space, I'll gently guide them back to the path.
📚 Mentor & coach
My goals when I take on a new leadership role are simple: I want the team performing better, collaborating freely, and communicating with confidence. When I move on to my next role, I want people thinking "she's one of the best leaders I've ever had," not sighing with relief now that I'm gone.
Don't gatekeep the good stuff.
I have learned a lot in my time at work and in life. By sharing lessons and how I learned to use challenges to grow, I enable those I lead to do the same - possibly much earlier in life than I did!
I teach people how to navigate challenging clients and colleagues, especially if they are on the "I just wish X wasn't my client" or "I wish Y would just quit" merry-go-round. We all have people at work who we don't mesh with but wishing they would go away has never worked in the long term. Even if X client is reassigned and Y co-worker quits, there are other X and Y people in our futures! Best to learn how to cope with them now.
Treat adults like adults.
The workforce today demands we toss outdated principles right out the window. Whether in-office or remote, if I am afraid my staff is hiding, not working, shirking their responsibilities, etc., just because I can't physically watch them, the problem is not the team. It's that mindset, coupled with the culture that likely arose from it.
I trust my team to do their jobs to the best of their abilities until I see evidence to the contrary.
However, I won't wait to address it if I do see evidence of someone lagging behind or generally not pulling their weight.
💡Foster a culture of engagement
I want my team talking! I want them bonding! I want them sharing ideas and yes, I also want them venting about work, about life, about anything. And I want them relying on each other.
Can't stop the signal.
If your team is getting their work done and generally being productive and hitting goals, let them connect!
The engagement pays off when someone is struggling and can't keep up. I want my team reaching out to their colleagues for help, and I want team members who routinely offer their help. That only happens when everyone is engaged.
However, if a team member is regularly missing meetings, not participating, and generally just...absent, even while they are technically present, that's an area of concern. I will ask for more engagement and participation. People are wired differently, and some people are (and can remain) introverted as their default setting, but that does not stop them from stepping out of their comfort zones and connecting more. I have successfully had these difficult conversations with team members and seen a tremendous difference in their participation following those discussions.
Zero toxicity tolerance policy. Wait, what?
Another shameles LinkedIn article plug here, but relevant! I have zero tolerance for toxicity. What does that mean in practice? For starters, I don't think of the technical or administrative work that you do to be 100% of your job. Actually, your job looks something more like this:
The work you do Attitude
50% of your job ALL THE PERCENTS!
I don't literally mean that you can do nothing all day and as long as you have a good attitude we're all set. But I am trying to shift the outdated concept that we should, as leaders, put up with team members OR colleagues OR bosses that contribute to a toxic environment. That concept persists because we internalize the belief that they are so good at their jobs that we can't afford to lose them.
I say, you can't afford to keep them and do nothing about the fact that they're single-handedly turning your organization into a superfund site.
Certainly, we must distinguish between a bad day, week, or month, and behavior that repeatedly demoralizes everyone around them. And while that is not easy, it's something I will tackle before all my good people leave and I'm stuck with only the person no one can work with.
Everyone knows happy client-facing teams = happy clients. Let me give your team members the support they need to shine.
Google Sites
Report abuse