So if I don't like being "in charge" then why am I writing about it? Well mainly because of my current job and what I perceive to be a complete and utter lack of appreciation. Now I know that I am appreciated at least on some level as I hear many nice things that my boss says about me, unfortunately I simply never hear them from him directly - but rather second hand from people we both deal with. I'm not quite sure why it is this way and I strongly feel it should NEVER be that way for anyone at any job. For all of my faults, and the list is long and distinguished, I have always went out of my way to make my subordinates appreciated. Actually not just my subordinates, but anyone I come into contact with. That includes anyone I've worked with, as well as anyone I interact with in my persona life. I simply appreciate it when *anyone* does *anything* for me and on a personal level I feel it incredibly important to convey that appreciation.
The frustrating thing for me in this case and in many other cases is that a simple and sincere "Thank You" goes a long way with many/most people and doesn't cost a thing other than a few seconds of your time. My frustrations with my current boss has been there for a long time. As I've mentioned, we are a small company and I may or may not get a yearly raise which on those years I do I'm very grateful and those years I don't I'm understanding. Putting money aside, and I'm not being naive to think it doesn't matter as it does to many/most/all of us, even on those years I don't get a raise at least an evaluation would be nice and failing that a simple "I appreciate what you do" would really make a difference at least to me.
Now that I've vented a bit about me specifically, lets talk about what makes an effective leader? J and I had a couple of lengthy talks about this a bit over a year ago when she decided to go into management at her current job. I had my "concerns" to put it mildly as she is even more submissive than I am and I wasn't sure she had it in her. We talked about what I felt were qualities that effective leaders had as well as specific examples of supervisors that I've had, that she's had, and even how I had handled things as a supervisor at various jobs. Now let me say that I was 100% wrong about J, she's not only turned out to be a very effective leader, she's blossomed into an exceptional leader. I couldn't be happier to have been wrong, or more proud of her.
So what were some of the qualities we talked about? Well here are just a few, In no particular order. There were a lot more, but I want to keep this reasonably short.
- Consistency - This was a lesson I was taught by someone 20+ years ago, who to this day I consider to be the best manager I've ever worked for/with. People can adapt to whatever kind of person you are (within reason) and however you chose to handle things - provided you are consistent.
- Flexibility - A good leader is flexible. The best laid plans can quickly be turned upside down for a myriad of reasons and a good leader can be flexible enough to adapt to whatever comes up and make the best of the situation.
- Conviction - I firmly believe that you have to believe in what you are doing or it shows. And once a leader shows they don't believe in something, it quickly flows down to their subordinates and that seldom if ever is a good thing. Now there may well be times that you simply do not believe in what you are doing, perhaps it's a new way of doing things, or a policy you don't agree with, or whatever. I'm not saying you cannot voice your objections to the "powers that be" and there is a time, place, and way to do that. But some of the least effective leaders I've ever seen/worked for are those that choose to air their issues to their subordinates. Not only do they undermine themselves by doing that, they undermine what the company is trying to accomplish and generally that leads to a lose-lose situation for all.
- Compassion - The lifeblood of almost any business are its people. You can be strict, lax, or somewhere in the middle; but people spend the majority of their lives away from work and "things happen". It's easy to say they should leave their issues at the door, but reality is that for most people they simply can't always do that. A little compassion can go a long way. Maybe it's letting somebody leave a little early or come in a little late. Maybe it's as simple as giving them an ear to listen or a shoulder to cry on. But in most cases that little bit of compassion reaps loyalty that you simply would not have gotten any other way.
- Honesty - I'm not sure that there is much to say about this other than "duh", but I've worked for my fair share of bosses that didn't seem to understand that so I doubt I'm the only one.
As I said above, there are a lot more than J and I talked about, and probably plenty we didn't.
Now, before I wrap this up, J and I also talked about some things that made an Ineffective leader and I'll part by sharing just a couple of them, but just as above we discussed plenty more of them and there are lots we didn't even get to.
- Sell Out Your Subordinates - There are times when one of your direct reports will do something so far out of line that they simply have to take the fall for it. But to me nothing says "poor leader" like a supposed leader who lets their people take the fall for things that they simply aren't responsible for - or even worse were told to do by their supposed supervisor/manager/"leader". And for that matter, even if the subordinate does make a legitimate mistake, *I* as a supervisor always felt that since that person was my responsibility I would do everything I could within reason to shield them from any fallout. However, the worst case I can think of is when a supervisor sells out their employee in front of a customer. I've dealt with that on both ends and as a subordinate few things (if any) made me as upset/angry as a supervisor choosing to override me and making me look bad. Look I have no issue with them making a different decision - goodness knows I did it plenty of times as a supervisor - but when I would do that I *ALWAYS* made it clear that the employee was following policy/etc and that I was making an exception in the name of customer satisfaction. Even if the employee was/is wrong, it can be handled without embarrassing the employee in front of the customer.
- Publicly Discipline - This can often go hand-in-hand with the last couple of sentences above. But even if a subordinate of mine was flat out wrong in what they did, I *NEVER* handled that part of an issue "on the floor". This kind of thing was handled somewhere out of customer and peer view - now due to the times we live in that often meant I had to involve a third party - especially if the employee was of the opposite gender, but that would generally be another manager where possible and if not then a peer of their choosing. I can think of perhaps one exception I made to this in all the years I've been a supervisor and in that case the situation was so far out of hand I actually fired a delivery driver during a busy Friday evening dinner rush right in front of the entire staff - but even then, prior to doing that I had made an effort to get him off the floor, but he was simply out of control and enough was enough.
As with the good traits, there were/are a lot more bad ones, but those two just always stick out to me. Well I think I've rambled on long enough, have a great weekend. :)
- M
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