How to enable your Leader

I remember my dad telling me on a certain occasion: “I would rather be your friend than the dad”.

It’s not always easy to determine when you must wear the “boss” hat and reprimand versus be the encouraging friend that you want to be.

I see many articles around what it means to be a boss Vs a leader and how great leaders treat their employees. This article is about how you can enable a leader that wants to build a culture of friendship and progress.

It takes matured people coming together to build a culture where hierarchy is replaced by channels of communication. It calls for responsible individuals who ask themselves “what could I have done to avoid this problem” versus people who list areas of improvement for everyone else.

Here are eight things that you can do to enable your manager to be the leader that you expect him to be.

Understand the mission and the goal:

The importance of having the right perspective cannot be over-emphasized. Your decisions and actions must be within the context of your organization’s mission and its immediate goals. You will be most effective when you take the time to understand the mission that your organization or team is expected to serve and work within that perimeter. On the contrary, your contributions and effort could cause complications and arguments if they are not in line. Mapping your ideas to your organization’s mission accurately and completely is your responsibility.

Understand your role:

Your role is critical to the fulfillment of your organization’s mission and in achieving its goals. You play your role as part of a larger machinery and you must understand when to play it and in what measure. Doing too much or too little can both cause issues over the long term.

Do your job exceptionally well:

You have been hired into the role because you are trusted and because you are the expert. Ask yourself as you close shop each day if you have done the very best you could have. Your confidence stemming from your learning, knowledge and performance will show in the work you do and the results that you produce.

Reflect:

The fun part of professional life is that there is always room for improvement. It never gets stale! What worked until now may not work tomorrow. Look at how things are going objectively and constantly. If things are going well, ask yourself why. And if they are not, ask why. There can be no replacement to self-assessment.

Manage sideways:

You are a link in the chain that connects the idea to the outcome. The person on your left and the person on your right depend on you. What can you do to make them more effective? Realize that their performance or otherwise are dependent on your interactions with them. Are you feeding them the right inputs and are you consuming their outputs completely? And if what they are doing needs an adjustment, who can convey it better than you?

Provide feedback:

Things can always be improved. Sometimes things may go very wrong! There are multiple ways feedback can be provided. You can complain about it. You can tell everyone how they are doing a terrible job. You can be a part of the solution. What approach would you take? And as you provide feedback, have you ensured that you are in line with the mission, that you have done the best you could have, that you have reflected adequately and have tried managing sideways?

Set an example:

Be the leader you want leading you. As a team-player, you have responsibilities 360 degrees. Be the ambassador of the brand that your company represents or is trying to build as you face people both within your organization and on the outside. Empathy, patience, relationship building, coaching, clear communication and being methodical are your responsibilities as much as they are everyone else’s. Bias and sarcasm have no place in leadership and in good cultures. Being passionate about your work does not have to step on the feet of being dispassionate with people.

Practice the three Ls:

Constantly practice Listening, Learning and Leading.

Follow these and you will not only help your leader, you will become an instrument in building lasting culture.