To Be Great Leaders, Stand with Our People, Not Above Them

 

by John Keyser

This insightful principle is about attitude. Great leaders believe “it’s not about me, it’s about the team, it’s about everyone.” Adopting this attitude is how we do our best work, serve our clients well and achieve our goals on a consistent basis.

I have mentioned before that Cathy Becker, an astute and especially caring human resource specialist, told me that leadership is about how you make someone feel. It is about wanting to help our team members learn, grow and succeed – by encouraging, teaching, showing, coaching, taking the time to speak with them and being fully focused when doing so.

How can we live this attitude and “stand with our people” every day? First and foremost, let’s remember that our most important leadership skill is listening. As executives, let’s try to listen 80% of the time. And let’s really listen, by staying focused, not thinking ahead what we are going to say, not jumping to conclusions and not judging.  There’s more to being a truly intentional listener. Email me if you’d like other helpful listening practices.

Standing with our people also means that we should take the time to see our team members and other colleagues. A real open-door policy means going out of our office door and off of the executive wing and floor. The real work of our companies is being done elsewhere. Let’s go be with our people who are doing the work of our company.

Studies reveal that the majority of people in the workplace today do not feel appreciated and valued. Shame on the senior managers of those companies! Someone recently told me that he sees the CEO of his company occasionally in the lobby of the building, and that’s about it. No wonder there is a morale problem in his company.

Those of us who are in senior positions need to spend less time in meetings and more time realizing that we are still teammates and our team members are the people doing the work of our company.

Walk around, check in with people, ask how they are doing and let them know they are appreciated. Listen, really listen, ask them for their ideas, and ask how you can help.

 STAND WITH OUR PEOPLE!