You’ve probably had a lousy leader. He made life miserable. She had irritating habits.
People don’t leave organizations, they leave lousy leaders.
Lousy leaders:
- Ignore the little people and hang with the power-people.
- Practice negative motivation. Lousy leaders shame, make negative comparisons, and belittle.
- Play favorites. Quality of work is irrelevant when the leader has a golden child.
- Dishearten with their own disengagement and laziness.
- Devalue effort by ignoring progress.
- Flip flop like fish on a dock. It’s discouraging when leaders constantly change direction.
- Make decisions in isolation. Lousy leaders talk first and listen last.
Bonus: Lousy leaders pretend they’re great leaders.
7 ways to be the leader everyone loves to work with:
#1. Win!
- Define wins.
- Create wins. (Milestones are small wins)
- Celebrate wins.
Everybody loves to win. What’s today’s win?
#2. Inspire belief.
- Help people believe in themselves by celebrating progress.
- Build confidence in the team. Help people believe in each other by helping everyone function within their strengths.
- Paint a picture of the future where others do things that matter.
Everyone loves to work for a leader who inspires belief.
#3. Talk about where we’re going, constantly.
Work is drudgery if all it is is work.
Vision gives sweat purpose. Create a future.
#4. Manage energy.
Negative environments happen through neglect. Positive environments are built with focused effort. One negative comment weighs three times as much as a positive.
#5. Smile more. Cheer more.
#6. Avoid the self-importance trap.
- Make others feel important. You matter most when you make others matter.
- Show respect rather than demanding it.
#7. Give away all the credit. Yes, all!
- Focus on other people’s achievements,
- People prefer you to lift them up to you outdoing their achievements.
- Don’t pat yourself on the back. It’s pathetic.
Bonus: Tell people what you want. Everyone hates self-protective, cowardly bosses who never get to the point.
What is/was true of the leaders you love to work with?
What’s true of leaders you don’t want to work with?
