Tension

In many office conditions you will find there is a certain amount of tension. This tension could be a bi factor of competition but at what point does this tension become a distraction. It is the responsibility of a leader to understand this tension exists and make changes to make it better. I am a strong believer that office politics do not result in positive outcomes. I am a strong advocate of being able to be very open in free in the office and build relationships that foster growth and energy. This however is not effective if people's main concern is the political nature of their comment. If politics is a driving force in your business you might want to consider thinking about what you are losing as far as creativity and energy from the people around you.

It is a proven fact that most people do not quit their role because of the company they quit because of their manager. I would say the same goes for leaders, if they have people that will not commit to the plan and are constantly trying disrupt the plan of action it is likely the leader will leave. If the leader does not feel empowered to make the tough decisions this will also result in the likelihood to leave. In most cases leaders will not wait for others to change, they will wait for people to adapt, but they will not wait for people to change. I once heard a person say,"I do not change people, I CHANGE PEOPLE!" How true is this? Although you might have a strong performer if they are not on part of the team you might want to make a change.

Strange Request

Have you ever had a strange request from an employee? It might be something as strange as I want to get home to see the solar eclipse. The first question that most leaders might think right off the top of their head is "are they crazy?" This is where perception vs reality comes into play as although we might view the request as off the wall this might be something that is very important to the employee. I once had an employee ask at 9:55 to leave work when their shift was going to end at 10:00 because they needed to get to the bank by 10 pm. First of all what bank is open till 10 pm and what is so pressing that it cannot wait until 9 am the next morning. In this case my perception was nothing can be that important that it cannot wait until the next morning. What I did not realize is the person was 2 months late on their rent and if they did not have the money by 7 am they were going to be kicked out.

As a leader I think these strange requests cannot be made as a knee jerk reaction as they have to be thought out. Things to think about are:

• Will this decision be consistent with other decisions I have made in the past?
• Would I be willing to make this exception to someone else?
• Why are they asking for this request and what is the underlining issue?

Lastly you have to have empathy when explaining your decision. Some of these decisions are going to be tough for the employee to handle as this might be the single most important event happening for them. However if you are not being consistent you cannot make a decision as one argument most employees have is their manager is not consistent. If the decision is right or wrong the more consistent your approach as a leader will be understood, not always accepted, but understood.

Listening

As a leader you are going to be challenged each and every day. Sometimes a leader's most important role is to listen rather than solve. I had an experience recently where one of my employees wanted to give me some feedback about my attitude in the office. This person felt I was being very short in the office and I was not spending enough time with each of them one on one. I did not realize this was happening as I was simply focusing on generating new business.

As a leader you have to be willing to listen to feedback and concerns. This might be very simple in regards to business or complicated family issues. The key to this form of communication is to understand if the conversation is actionable or simply a time to listen. A fault most leaders have is they try to solve everything rather than just listening. Sometimes listening and leading people to their own conclusions is more important than just solving the issues at hand.

Change leads to Change

As a leader you have to be willing to adapt and accept change. At the same time you also have to be an advocate to change. If you are not willing to change than you can not expect results to change over time. The best leaders in the world think about not only what went well but why did it go so well. If things did not go well, why? What can we do to change so it does not happen again.

So many times businesses are so consumed with what is going on today they do not take time to reflect on the past or dream about the future. If change does not occur it is likely you will fail behind the market and competition will grow. The leaders who are willing to change and adapt will be ahead of this curve while other will fail behind very quickly.

The question I would ask any organization is, "where are you going and how are you going to get there?" If the leader say we are going to maintain our current model I would question how long will this last? Leaders have to identify what needs to be changed and then make the changes necessary.

EGO or ECHO

I have seen many times in business that people need to tell others how great they are or what is going on it their life. The person's EGO is so huge that it absorbs all aspects of his/her life and they begin to think they are the single most important part of their community. The problem is this EGO becomes and ECHO and all people hear is them talking about how great they are and they begin to block out value they might bring. It is a funny thing because people with these problems really think that people care about what is going on in their life but most people find themselves asking how does this impact me?

True Leaders do not have this problem as they will traditionally put other peoples' best interest first rather than their own. As a leader you have to be humble, you have to genuinely care for others around you and be willing to adapt and change. A leader is willing put their personal ego on hold and help others around them first knowing this will translate into long term success.

Fair and Consistent

Leaders each and very day have tough decisions to make about people and their performance. These usually review how are they doing today and how they are doing compared to their potential. However what happens when you have an employee who has an excellent attitude, great work ethic and passion to obtain results but this same employee has made a mistake that has cost the company thousands of dollars? Tough decision as you do not want to demotivate the employee or worse cause attrition?

Lets think about another employee; this person does not have passion, they do everything they have to do to obtain the minimum standards but do not exceed them. This employee is not negative but does not quickly buy in to new ideas and causes a challenge for managements "do what I say" approach. They have also recently made a mistake which has caused the company to lose thousands. Is this decision much easier?

Well I am sure most would agree we want the 1st employee on our team and build our business around winners. However, this does not mean the the approach to leadership should be different. The best leaders in the world are Fair and Consistent! This creates trust in the organization as employees feel there is no favoritism. This does not mean that you have to be friends with each person in the organization it means you have to be consistent in your approach to making decisions. Corporate politics are hard enough to deal with for employees but if they feel their leader will make fair and consistent decisions the tough decisions become much easier to understand. Looking at the example above I would love to have employee #1 but at then end of the day the mistake is the same and exceptions should not be made. Sure no one wants to work with employee 2 but that does not mean they should be treated any differently if the results of the mistake are the same. If you are consistent and fair you will not only gain trust from your employees it will make the tough decision become much easier.

Stepping Up

There are leaders in this world who are quiet and will surprise you at anytime. Although these people have the ability to lead all the time they selectively use this talent. It might be sending flowers to a spouse or giving you a nice email when you are down. The challenge that these people have is getting these emotions out more often and helping their team to higher results.

As a leader you have to be able to identify this talent and capitalize on it. People truly love to feel part of the team and know they have value in the organization. They also need to know they have options and there is no such thing as a glass ceiling. A leader needs to make each person develop their career into their own personal goals whatever those might be. Help their employees take on more challenges that might position the employee for long term success. If the employee feels they have this support of their leader trust will build and production will increase.