What you’re doing is not working as a leader.
It’s more than just having a title.
You must be a leader that actually makes a difference.
Right now, you’re not doing that.
Allowing other people to dump more work on your staff, because you’re trying to impress them, is not being helpful.
You can’t just allow other leaders to come and give more work to your team.
They are already overburdened.
They’re trying to manage your schedule and everything else you’ve put on their plate.
People are feeling like they’re not valued and that their role is not respected.
Their time is not respected.
Their productivity is not respected.
They also feel like you don’t care about them.
That they’re dispensable and not a valuable member of the team.
They feel like a widget.
When people feel like a widget at work, they quit.
If they decide to leave you, what are you going to do next?
You really need your team to support you.
You were given the title, but it’s going to take a team to be successful.
If your team is not feeling your approach to leadership, you’ve got to change it up.
Give your team a reason to believe in you.
A reason to value and admire you.
Here are three things you need to master to become a better leader.
- Understand the work of your team.
You have to understand what they have to do and what they need your help to get done.
How can you support them to be successful?
Your team wants to make you look good.
If you care about them, you should want to make them look good as well.
This is a mutual relationship. It’s not transactional.
You must understand their job and understand what’s important to them.
- Know your team.
Do you know your team?
Do you know each person’s last name?
Do you know their children’s names?
Do you know where they went to school or where they grew up?
What’s their favorite color, book or movie?
If you don’t know any of that, then you don’t know your people.
People don’t want to work for a leader that doesn’t know who they are.
Get yourself together and know your people.
- Say no.
When somebody ask if your team member can help them out, say no.
Let them know that your team is very important to you and you need to protect their time.
Have a conversation with your team before you say yes to anything.
If they tell you that they can’t do something, believe them.
You need to listen to the people that you lead.
But before you listen to them, you’ve got to master the word no.
Once you master these things, you’ll become a more impressive leader.
You’ll be showing your team that you care about them and creating boundaries of how your team is getting work done.
But if you continue to say yes and allow people to dump on your team, they’re going to leave you.
Then you’ll be understaffed and, like everyone else in America, struggling to find talent to bring into the organization.
So, get it together.
We’re expecting you to be a great leader.
We need you to be a great leader.
Don’t let your team feel devalued and disrespected.
