Here are some things I’ve learned about leading people:
- When people feel like you listen to them they work harder and perform better
- It’s important to admit when you made a mistake or handled something wrong – be open about it and say it outloud
- It’s good to change your mind if there is a better idea proposed
- Ask for feedback and give people permission to be critical of you, the strategies and the ideas
- Only ask for input from your team if your willing to change what your asking about, if you have already made up your mind it demotivates people to give input and then you just do what you want anyway.
- Explain the why of your decisions and your strategies
- It’s OK to have a bad day – if your always happy and positive you don’t comes across as genuine and real.
- You have to be flexible; with your strategies, your work schedule, your timelines, your budget
- People follow leaders that are humble yet persistent
- If you think you know it all you’re not a leader your a dictator
- Most people want to grow and get better – believe the best about the people you lead
- Never stop developing yourself, read, learn from others, take risks and learn from failure
- Write down your goals and share them with your team ask the people you lead to do the same
- Keep reminding the people you lead what the main targets are and celebrate the wins
- Be real and vulnerable with your team
- Empower people and let them do their job
- Stay connected to your team, meet with them on a regular basis to listen, coach, encourage and re-direct if needed
- Communicate a lot – when you get information think about who needs to know this and tell them right away
- Be direct and honest
- Don’t lead everyone the same way, each person is unique and you need to know what motivates them and what encourages them and what deflates them
- Love the people you lead – you don’t have to be best friends but you do need to care about them
- Give feedback as quickly as possible don’t wait for the annual review to talk about things to improve
- Take personal responsibility and don’t blame others
- Hire people with good character, people skills and a desire to grow
- Fire people that can’t get along with people and think they know it all
- Make decisions and don’t be wishy washy – once you have the input you need make the call
- Always be thinking about what obstacles might be ahead and how to avoid them
- Share information quickly and often
- Be yourself, don’t pretend
- Pray a lot