Here are some words of advice about leadership from someone who served on the Board of a 400-member organization for 3 years -- the last year as the Board President.
Manage Up, Mentor Down
When you are someone’s manager, team leader or boss, your job is to enable that person to be successful. When your employees are successful, they make you shine.
As a manager, it is your responsibility to provide the tools, resources, and direction needed by your employees.
Share Ownership
When employees, customers, and other stakeholders engage in solutions, ownership shifts from the few to all. When everyone owns the organization, everyone feels responsible.
Pay Attention to What Is Shown AND What Is Said
Only 7 percent of verbal communication comes from our words. The rest of it comes from voice inflection and body language. When listening to someone, it is important to listen behind the words so that you can understand what they truly intend to communicate.
Live in Limbo
As a leader, it’s not your responsibility to fix everything. In fact, the less you are personally responsible for fixing, the better off your organization. While you are waiting to match the problem with the people, you will need to sit with the situation without fixing it.
Be an Example
Whatever you expect from your team, you must be willing to exemplify. If you want a team that’s punctual, you have to show up before everyone.
Teach, Don’t Talk
When you tell your team what to do without giving them reason or context, they can follow the instructions and complete the task. However, when they need to do the same thing again, you will need to tell them again. On the other hand, if you provide for them the context for the directions, the next time the situation arises they can execute without your presence.
Praise Publicly, Punish Privately
When you chastise your staff publicly, you are alienating yourself from them and making your job as a leader infinitely difficult. You shine as a leader when you empower and enable every individual on your team to shine.