Tweet

LEADERSHIP AT WORK

There is almost nothing more important for a team member to hear than their boss tell them that they did a great job in their work. It helps to create a sense of pride and accomplishment when good work is noticed and appreciated. Letting your team know that they did a great job in a certain task or assignment empowers them to do even greater things. It is also a good practice to seek out and address each person for their contribution to the success.  Celebrate every success no matter how big or how small it may seem. It is often in the small successes that people build the confidence to achieve much larger successes. In order to achieve much, sometimes we need to think small.

Empower

Team members feel empowered when they work in a safe environment that allows them to create. Attempting new ideas may result in failure, but there is freedom to experiment and experimentation leads to innovation. Thomas Edison probably said it best, “I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 different ways that won’t work.” Some ideas will produce better results than others, but allowing others to have freedom for creativity can result in quicker solutions and higher level capacity for others to lead. Don’t take away opportunities for others to learn from their failures. Coaching requires leaders to ask questions not just give solutions. We need to let them make mistakes as well. After the mistake is made coach them through solutions to fix the problem.

Great leaders correct team members behaviors often, and celebrate with them even more. I struggle with this statement for myself. I set high standards for myself and others. When goals are not met or even if they are, I tend to not allow time for celebration to happen before I move on to the next thing. We must pause, celebrate/correct, and reflect on accomplishments/failures. Achieving perfection will never happen, but slow and steady changes over time can create momentum shifts of excellence.

[Tweet “Don’t take away opportunities for others to learn from their failures.”]

Care

Your team will not follow you if you do not show you care for them. If we as leaders do not understand the people we are leading, then we really aren’t leading anyone. Everyone, no matter who they are wants to feel like they are important in someway. It is our job, to compliment them on a job well done, when the work is completed. The best leaders are the ones who can bring out the best in everyone around them. The ones that show empathy for their teams.

You cannot be a good or effective leader if you do not show your people that you honestly love them. This practice doesn’t always come naturally. You have to be intentional in your efforts to know and care for those you lead. Getting to know your team can take a while depending on how large your team is; however, if you invest your time into knowing your team, they too will invest their time into working their best for you. Taking small moments and making them big, helps to build a culture of innovation.

[Tweet “Taking small moments and making them big, helps to build a culture of innovation.”]

LEADERSHIP AT HOME

The same is true at home. You cannot be a great leader if your spouse and children don’t really think you care about them. They may know you love them, but do they know you care about them? My wife confronted me with this exact thing recently. Side note: I love my wife. She encourages and corrects me often. As a matter of fact, she has corrected many things in this post alone. She is the definition of a Proverbs 31 woman. I am truly blessed to have her as my wife and the mother of my children. I’d be lost without her in my life. 

I don’t remember what was said at the time, but she said very plainly that she felt that I lack empathy. I actually thought she was joking at the time, but it hit me like a ton of bricks when I realized she certainly was not joking. So needless to say, I have been practicing showing empathy to her, my children and co-workers this week. I want my wife and children to feel and know I love them and care about them. I want them to get excited about telling me things that happened during the day, whether a painting was sold, a friend was made or how much fun the new exhibit at the museum is.

Surround yourself with people that want to see you succeed and will correct behaviors that usually lie within the blind spots of your leadership. I am a better husband and father because my wife challenges me to grow deeper in my love for Christ. Through this process of growing I also develop a deeper love for others.