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here are lots of things leaders have been
told over the years that they still subscribe
to even though the world around them
has changed and those adages have stopped
producing good results or improving efficiency.
Free up your valuable time by ditching the following
limiting beliefs.
LEADERS ARE SIMPLY
GOING TO HAVE PROBLEM EMPLOYEES
Whether you believe something is possible or
impossible, you are absolutely correct. We have
resistant employees first because we hold the
mindsets that no other way is possible, when in
fact there are organizations that aren’t entrenched
in drama and saddled by problem employees. If you
have problem employees, it is because you:
• Hired them,
• Rewarded their behavior,
• Failed to coach and provide feedback
when you observed their problematic
behavior, or you
• Refused to terminate when the
coaching failed...
Period.
Think about what you believe about leadership.
Break through your own beliefs as a leader and
find your own personal level of accountability so
that you can get the results you want in your work
environment. Challenge what you believe to be true.
It is the beginning of the journey to having a peaceful
life at work.
HAVE AN OPEN DOOR POLICY?
The open door concept was designed to work
on issues in the workplace. As a leader, one
thing you may have learned is that you should be
approachable and have this policy. Unfortunately,
leaders incorrectly deduce that people should be
able to approach them with anything they have on
their minds. Let’s be very clear, it is a great quality
to be approachable. However, being approachable
without coaching and teaching employees during
these open door visits is not helpful.
Too many times open doors are simply portals for
drama. For example, take a moment to think about
the people who have come to your office with the
infamous question, “do you have a minute?” Were
those visits about the individual standing in your
open door at the moment? No. Most of the time
these visits are for employees to:
1. Create a triangle where two people talk
about a third person that is not there.
2. Safely vent and then remove
themselves from the responsibility of
taking any action. Usually employees
want these conversations to hold
some sort of anonymity for them.
3. Want to feel justified or righteous as
they judge the actions of others
(who, again, are not present).
It is important that leaders help employees
understand what things are worth bringing up
because they a) bring you as the leader valuable
information or b) they bring value to the workplace
in some way. Here is a more helpful way to handle
one-on-one coaching sessions.
First things first, close your door
1
and schedule almost
all of your coaching sessions. If you are meeting
with everyone individually, your purpose is to help
with his or her development. So schedule individual
“The world has changed” is such an understatement as it relates to work. We are no longer working in just changing work
environments. More correctly, our work environments are constantly changing. We are always reorganizing, altering the
direction, changing leadership, or rotating staff members for a variety of reasons. On top of that, the information needed to
get the job done flows in like a mighty stream. Because of this, managers are trying all sorts of things in order to improve
efficiency.This is a good thing, and I always encourage leaders to be certain they don’t confuse their twomain roles –manager
and leader. Both roles are important, but in changing, volatile, complex times, it is important to lead first and manage second.
Leadership
5
LEADERSHIP
TECHNIQUES TO
REVAMP
RI
GH
T NOW
By Cy Wakeman, HR West Presenter: Session 106
