Better Leadership through Better People Management

Leadership is influence.?

—John C. Maxwell

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Bill Bradley declared, “Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better.” You don’t do that “unlocking” by putting on your dictator hat, barking out orders, and expecting people to do whatever you say without complaint or hesitation. Just because you have the authority and might to compel someone to do something doesn’t mean you necessarily should. Sure, that approach might get your team to meet a deadline—but it can also build resentment, increase disengagement, and create conditions for your team to fail (or fall apart completely). Find out how to have better leadership through better people management below!

I once had a boss who used this strong-arm approach. He bullied and berated people so much that most of his staff were miserable. I could not wait to get out of that place, and when I did move on to a different organization, I had a full arsenal of “what not to do” examples to keep in mind in my new leadership role!

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That “unlocking” happens when someone is encouraged and supported to excel. As a leader, you can achieve this most effectively through influence. No matter how smart or skilled you are in a field, you can’t be a truly great leader unless you can positively influence your employees. The most brilliant engineer in the world can’t build a rocket ship that will reach the Moon unless they can influence a whole bunch of other people to make their best contributions to the project.

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Many people leaders make the mistake of conflating power with influence. However, they are two very different things. Influence involves building connections and encouraging, guiding, and persuading to a certain course of action. It means understanding how to engage and inspire people to deliver their best work.

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To do that, you need good people-management skills. No, wait—scratch that. You need great people-management skills.?

Learning Leadership

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.

Understanding how to manage people well isn’t innate, though. No one is born with this ability. Fortunately, everyone has the potential to learn it and be a great leader.

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I’m sure you have learned a lot about people management over the course of your own career. No doubt you’ve had tons of “when I’m a manager, I definitely won’t do that” moments in your pre-manager days and carried those lessons forward into your own management practices. And as a manager, you’ve certainly gotten plenty of on-the-job experience as a leader: testing your own new ideas, gleaning information from your interactions with your reports, etc. Those are all great sources of knowledge!?

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You can also learn a lot from people who have lots of experience and proven track records in effective leadership. I strongly believe in mentorship and knowledge sharing to help other leaders develop their management skills. That’s why, after spending over two decades in corporate leadership roles, I switched gears and embarked on my second career: “people development.” Through coaching, trainings, keynote addresses, publishing, and other outlets, my goal is to help leaders become the best leaders they can be.?

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To that end, a few times a year I offer my program “Elevate Your People Leadership: Managing Employees to Achieve their Best Results.” This live online program includes interactive group sessions as well as personal coaching and individualized assessments. For nine weeks, I work with twelve participants (all from different organizations and backgrounds) to analyze some of the universals of great leadership and to explore how each participant’s diverse perspectives and experiences can shape their leadership journey. The participants emerge from this course better positioned to achieve their leadership goals—and better able to help their employees achieve their own goals as well.?

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Here are just a small sampling of some of the territory this course covers:

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• Goal setting and holding employees accountable. When you set and communicate clear expectations, then everyone knows what they need to do. We discuss how those shared understandings and accountability make it possible for your team members to achieve both organizational and personal goals.?
• Effective delegation. No single person can do it all (at least, not until we develop human cloning technology and the ability to manipulate time!). We examine how to delegate better and reap the many benefits of delegation, such as leveraging each person’s strengths and giving you more room to focus on your own strategic initiatives.
• Motivating employees. When it comes to inspiring and engaging employees, there is no “one size fits all” solution. We look at motivation strategies and how to tailor your approach to a particular project, workplace, and employee.
• Giving effective feedback and coaching. Good leaders always want to help their employees improve. We analyze numerous feedback and coaching strategies and how to apply them.
• How to have difficult conversations. In many ways, leaders are cheerleaders—but sometimes they have to be disciplinarians, too. When things aren’t going to plan, you need to know how to get them back on track.??
• Leading with emotional intelligence. Remember, in order to influence people, you need to connect with them. We explore how to improve your emotional intelligence so you can build connections, trust, and loyalty with your employees.

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You may be looking at that list and saying to yourself, “Duh! Those are all obvious topics.” Of course they are—because they are all objectively critical to great leadership. But if I asked you, “Do you know everything there is to know about each of those areas (and other leadership topics)?” I’d bet money that your answer would be “no.” (And if it’s not “no,” then I’d bet money that you weren’t being honest with yourself!)

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The Path Forward

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The brighter you are, the more you have to learn.?

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Remember: everyone still has more to learn. Great leaders are characterized in part by a willingness to acknowledge that about themselves and a desire to keep on learning.

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Do I know absolutely everything about leadership? Nope. (When I say, “Everyone still has more to learn” that includes me, too!) But I sure do know a lot about it, and because my knowledge is both deep (over many years) and broad (across a variety of industries), I have a perspective that enables me to help people develop in those areas.

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I’ve taught this course six times so far, and each time I have loved to see how participants use their engagement, enthusiasm, and creative thinking to learn from me and from each other. It thrills me to see them graduate from the course with greater confidence in their abilities and ready to be the best leaders they can be.?

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Let me state this clearly: I know a lot about what it takes to be a great leader, and I am passionate about helping others advance in their personal leadership journeys. That’s why I write this blog. Because you’re reading this blog, I’m guessing you are interested in learning more about being a great leader. Are you ready to take the next step toward actively building your leadership skills? If so, consider registering for the spring cohort of my leadership development course!