Leading People

Who is a leader?

A leader is someone who creates and articulates a vision, and enables those who work with him/her to accomplish that vision. I say "work with" and not "work for" - there's a fine but important line of distinction between the two. Leadership is not about hierarchy, it is not about ordering people around, it is not about usurping credit - it is about rallying people around a shared vision and helping them get things done together. It does not matter if it is a small team or a large organization. A large part of a leader’s job is people leadership - motivating and developing people, and helping them achieve personal and organizational goals. People Leadership is the aspect I am going to focus on in this post.

Why am I qualified to talk about People Leadership?

I have been a people leader for 12 years now. I was thrown into the deep end of the leadership pool quite early in my career. Within just 2 years of my joining the company, I got the opportunity to build and lead my own team. I can proudly but modestly say that I have a strong, motivated, high-performing, highly visible team that gladly takes on any challenge that comes its way. While I have had opportunities to attend several leadership programs, much of what I write here is based on my own learning, which have often been through trial and error. I have had occasion to experiment with different leadership styles, but regardless of the approach, there are 9 practices that have worked well for me. I wish to share them with you. I promise to keep this crisp.

What makes a great people leader?

Hire well, i.e. bring in people who

• are smarter than you
• are willing to question the status quo
• are open to giving and receiving constructive criticism

Be empathetic

• Be able to step into others’ shoes, think what they are thinking, feel what they are feeling
• Empathy helps better understand people’s needs and triggers, and helps the leader give them what they need to succeed personally and professionally

Be friendly

• Look for the good in people and bring out their best
• Don’t gossip behind people’s backs
• Be passionate about the success of those you work with

Be honest

• Be truthful to yourself and others
• Honesty builds trust and credibility, and helps people openly communicate with and confide in you

Be humble

• Be down to earth and admit that you are not perfect
• Confess that you don’t know everything and need others’ help in getting things done
• Seek people’s critical feedback and work on it

Listen well

• Encourage others to voice their opinions and talk about themselves
• Actively listen to people without interrupting them
• Respect peoples’ opinions

Encourage others

• Motivate people to believe in their own abilities
• Egg people on to exceed the expectations of those they work with
• Give them the resources they need to achieve their aspirations and the organization’s goals
• Remove roadblocks to progress
• Share the bigger picture with them - help them understand how what they do helps customers

Give effective feedback

• Praise in public, critique in private
• Give constructive feedback with actionable goals for improvement
• Regularly review improvement

Give people opportunities

• to do what they enjoy doing
• to develop new skills, both technical and soft competencies
• to become more visible in the organization
• to embrace new challenges

And it's a wrap on this post with one of my favorite quotes on leadership.