Good Leaders Help Employees with Mistakes or Poor Habits

The classic example of the leader that "kicks butt and takes names" while caustically motivating the team is out of date. It does not work. It never did.

As Colin Powell describes in the above quote, leaders without employee problems are failures. You see, employees are not assets that you manipulate or abuse through strategic analysis or business intelligence. Employees are people. If you treat them with respect, care an,d dignity they tend to do amazing things. If you do not, their resentment and resistance can derail just about any top priority initiative. It often does when you think about your experiences with bad bosses or companies with toxic or even mediocre workplace environments. For example, have you read employee comments about companies rated below 4.0 on Indeed or Glassdoor? With social media these days, bad treatment and actions go around the world in mere minutes!

Good Bosses Help, not Hinder

Good bosses focus on bringing out the best in people. Their presence exudes care, integrity, empathy, and compassion. While all employees have some problems that does not mean they are bad employees. A good manager will take the time to coach an employee through their mistakes, poor habits, sub-par performance, or life challenges. Who does not mess up sometimes? Have you heard the statement, we say that we fail our way to success?

Too many managers lack humanity and have this philosophy as described by an executive director of a think tank in Washington D.C.. She said, "--as an employer you already have a management problem when your employee has a new child or needs to care for their ailing family member. You have to replace the person, at least temporarily; it is a tremendous pain to hire somebody new." My, quite the humanitarian! Or the marketing CEO who called a company meeting for all key management on the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. (at an airport convenient for him)

Instead, good managers relish problems. It gives them the opportunity to further develop their team to shine while solving work or even personal issues. Leaders do not just focus on their reporting responsibilities. As Simon Sinek says, "Real leaders serve." The relationship is the key to significant success. Too many are forgetting this in our age of technology. The next revolution in leadership thought is beginning and it is about the power of PEOPLE. After all, a leader's job is about empowering and inspiring people--employees and customers--not robots.

Agree? What are your thoughts?

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