A few years ago, I was working on a competency model project and began interviewing leaders about how they viewed their employees. The story one leader told me was priceless. The leader simply said, “I love them.” I said, “What?” He repeated, “I love them.” LOVE?!?! We were at work, and this guy was using the “L” word! Everyone who was hearing this for the first time was shocked, but we knew this guy was a GREAT leader, so we listened. As he talked, it became apparent that he really did love his employees. By that, I mean he valued them, treated them with respect, cared about them and was committed to their professional development. It helped that in many ways his employees were easy to love, but he also worked at these relationships. His employees were the best and brightest, had been recruited from top tier schools, were clearly motivated and possessed incredible intellectual horsepower. The employees just needed to be pointed in the right direction, receive regular feedback, and to be loved. And that’s what he gave them. So the question is, how did this leader love this team? The answer, it turns out, is pretty straightforward. He listened to them. He cared about them. He valued them. Once a week he took them out in the afternoon for ice cream. His treat. The team took advantage of this time away from the office to visit and decompress. I like ice cream, so this really got my attention. Basically, this leader made the effort to get to know his team and to let them know him. He let himself be vulnerable. He let them know he wasn’t perfect and that he certainly hadn’t been perfect when he was at the stage they were at in their careers. He was human. Another important effort he made was to refrain from micromanaging. He did not hover or control. Yet, he was supportive and nurturing while maintaining high standards and ambitious expectations. Here’s the kicker. These relationships bred mutual respect and tremendous loyalty, and as a result, they loved him back. They valued him, treated him with respect, cared about him, and were committed to his success. His team was productive and innovative. They were a great team and still are. For the full article, see LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140430142552-27951090-a-team-that-s-loved-is-a-team-that-wins?trk=object-title
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If you have been reading my new blog, you probably see that I like to look at history of leadership and find what still works today. I also like to look at new needs and future needs of leaders in relation to changes in the market, workforce, and technology. I synthesize what is unchanging from history with the new requirements to make recommendations for future leaders. Are you a leader now? Do you plan to become a business leader or people leader within the next five years? While then, hold onto your hat. The pace of change continues to be fast and furious. Being a leader in the business world is a wild and exciting ride, and it will continue to be so. It is critical that as leaders, we look back and look forward and consider our leadership styles, skills, and behaviors. It is important that we look at our character and our commitment to leading our companies and the people who run them. We must figure out what is working for us and will continue to work for us and keep doing that. We must also, however, learn new skills and adapt as needed. The workforces that we lead, markets we work in, and technologies that we market and work with are changing… quickly. Leadership does not need to change completely. We can learn from what is still true and effective from past decades. Some leadership practices may need to be pulled out of storage, dusted off, and repurposed. We also need to challenge ourselves to stay fresh and up-to-date with new skills. We need to expose ourselves to new information and new ways of leading if we are to be successful in the future. What market does your business operate in? What part of the world does your business operate in? For business leaders, a lot of times these questions matter less than we might think. Today, market changes continue to present increasing challenges no matter what you do or where you are. Increasing commoditization, tight economies, regulatory compliance requirements, workforce changes, technology changes, and the increasing speed of business are universal issues for leaders. I propose that the leadership behaviors, styles, and competencies that led to success for many over the last 10 to 20 years will not lead to success to the same degree in the next 10 to 20 years. There will be less room for "shooting from the hip," company politics and alliances will be less helpful, and a primarily internal focus will be more damaging than ever before. Business leaders will need to be experts in strategy development (or work with experts in this area). If you think you already know about strategy, learn more. And find experts you can call on when needed. This will be an increasingly differentiating factor in business success. Find experts in business analytics to work with, understand trends, and get good at anticipating change. Be ready for what is on the horizon. Build and strategy and execute it. While you still need to pay attention to company politics and power systems, it is time to get very serious about character and integrity. Now and over the next 10 years, customers, employees, and other partners are going to have increasingly high expectations around trust, character and loyalty. Be known in your market for having high standards and impeccable character. Be known for being trustworthy. This is your second differentiating factor for market success. Finally, benchmark. Know your market inside and out. As you progress to higher levels of responsibility, adjust your focus to be increasingly external. Expect the people who work for you to do the same. What you learn from governments, regulators, competitors, customers, and the media gives you the information and the “big picture” that you need to be competitive. The last 10 to 20 years saw a lot of change in our markets. I see this period as a “warm-up” and anticipate greater change in the next 10 to 20 years. Are you ready? Take a good look at your workforce today. It is going to change. It is already changing, but it is going to change significantly more and faster over the next decade. Our workforce will be made up of greater proportions of generations X, Y and Z. Our workforce will also include more knowledge workers, virtual teams, and contract and consulting team members. Our workforce’s priorities, values, work methods, interests and styles are becoming more diverse. Leaders who will be successful in leading this new and modern workforce, will adjust to meet these changes. For example, leaders will put more emphasis on valuing employees, will be open to new definitions of "work day," and "workplace,” and will put more energy into giving respect and loyalty to employees rather than receiving it Recent research shows that Generations Y and Z are more interested in feeling valued by their leaders then in being engaged. Members of Gen Y and Z want to know that they are a valued member of the team, that their contributions are important, and then they are personally significant. Some leaders have been successful over the last 10 years in spite of not learning to give feedback or to value and appreciate their employees. That time is over. The time when leaders could manage employees by seeing them in their offices is also over. I recently had a member of Generation Y tell me that he does not mind supporting his global clients from 6 AM to midnight. He just needs a three-hour lunch so that he can go to his gym and exercise or maybe take a nap during the day. In our global economy, our tech savvy workers can be more productive if they are not constrained by the old-fashioned paradigm of work being defined as "in the office, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm”. For any leader who has control issues, leading this workforce will be a challenge. Leaders will need to have trust and provide flexibility. Giving employees your trust and providing them with flexibility shows your respect. Commitment and support shows loyalty. We are growing a workforce of knowledge workers. Your employees are likely to be smart and creative scientists, lawyers, financial analysts, and other experts. As the workforce gets smaller over the next 10 years, the best of the best will have choices. You earn their respect and loyalty by giving them yours. Show that you are interested in their ideas. Acknowledge their work, and provide them with professional development opportunities. The US job market is still fairly tight. It will open up. When it does, have a significant history of being a leader who people want to work for. If you do, it is more likely that your employees will not have long conversations with head hunters when they call. I was actually in the workforce before laptop computers and BlackBerries were common work tools. I know that dates me, but it also gives me an interesting perspective. Technology has significantly changed the way that we work. The impact of these changes has been significant on people's lives and the human experience. Something's got to give. Don't get me wrong. I love the convenience of a laptop computer. I have traded my BlackBerry for an iPhone, and I love it. I love the efficiency and convenience that these work tools provide. The flipside for our workforce, however, is that knowledge workers are now at work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. This new work condition is exaggerated by the fact that so many knowledge workers now support global companies. Many leaders resist giving up the traditional expectation that employees be in the office 8 AM to 5 PM (or longer). They pile on top of that the expectation that their employees are available 24/7 by virtual means. Instead of being clear about top priorities, many leaders make excessive demands. In response good employees exhaust themselves by working at home early in the morning, grooming themselves for the office, commuting to the office, working a full day at the office, commuting home, logging on from home to work some more, and checking their smart phones and emailing before bedtime. I have received horrendously composed emails written by the author at 2 or 3 AM at their local time. I have seen colleagues drag into the office at 8 AM looking like zombies from a netherworld because they were up all night conducting a webinar for the other side of the globe. It is unrealistic and unhealthy for leaders to expect this type of ongoing marathon performance. In this age where devices allow workers to do amazing things, it is critical for leaders to use common sense, good judgment and compassion when defining their expectations. Is more important now than ever to set priorities collaboratively with employees. Just because we have the technology to make it so does not mean that everything needs to be done at the expense of the health and well-being of employees. Copyright 2014 Liszcz Consulting LLC |
AuthorLisa Liszcz has over 20 years of experience developing leaders and teams in four different global organizations in a variety of industries. In 2014 she became an entrepreneur and is rocking her inner superhero and loving her life like mad. Archives
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