Leadership is about people. What do I mean by that. I love what John Maxwell says about it. He has said many times, We manage things and lead people. We manage time, money, and schedules. We lead people, our teams are more than just a number or name on a sheet of digital paper, they are a person with a life, family, hobbies and other things. We need to relate to our teams as individual people more than an object that will do what we want because we said they should. A manager might look at a team member who is running late and ask why, maybe even punish them for being late. They don't take the time to remember that these people might have kids or a sick family member, or a car that won't start. A leader is someone who goes that same person and instead of asking why they are late should ask, "is everything ok?" This is empathy. This is what it's like to relate to our teams and let them know that they are more to us than someone to fill a spot, they are a valuable part of the team that contributes. If they don't, that's something for a different blog.
We hear it all the time that people didn't leave the job, they left their manger. I've done it recently as well. I liked the job and found it to be a good challenge. When that manager showed his true motivation, I knew it was time to find a new place to work. I had plans that I was willing to do on my own time to make the other people successful. I was going to take some of the training under my wing and offer help where ever they needed it. I wasn't looking for extra pay or recognition. Why am I telling you this? It's because I cared so much about the people doing the job with me that I wanted to help anyway I could. That gave me the satisfaction I was looking for to make that job a success in my eyes. Because the manager didn't see what I was trying to do long term, just looking at the results in front of him he showed his true colors.
Please know that I'm not speaking ill of him, I'm using this example for 2 reasons, firstly to show how important it is to be a leader and not a manager. Also to show you that I have some qualifications that I can help your team. Please consider signing up for my newsletters for more information like this. Thank you for reading.
