NEVER HESITATE TO CONSULT A SPECIALIST

At the workplace, where one is keen to demonstrate confidence, competence and expertise in whatever is at hand, people tend to hesitate and are uncomfortable to ask for professional help for fear of being labelled as ignorant, or relinquishing their authority and appear unable to face the risk of rejection. This is very palpable in the case of leaders who are very conscious of their role in the team.

In modern organisations having cross-functional teams with a flat hierarchy, an increasing trend is to constantly push for cooperative knowledge support between all echelons of the hierarchy. As the leader of any team, therefore, one is not expected to know everything. Projecting oneself to be a know-it-all is the quickest path to failure. It is best not to give unsolicited advice to team members unnecessarily. Specifics must be left to true professionals who are qualified to do the job and leaders should manage a positive learning environment where knowledge sharing becomes the norm. In fact seeking professional advice, referrals and sharing of knowledge assets should be the benchmarks for performance development and career progression.

Humans basically desire endorsement and appreciation. They want to feel appreciated for the job they do, respected as being a responsible member of any team and the feeling that they belong to a group where interdependency is the way of life. Leaders should project the image of being there in support of the team that they lead and give the impression that the well-being of the team is their top priority. People naturally like being approached for their specific expertise and get tremendous satisfaction in helping out others generally. They like the benefits of feeling wanted in the organisation and would go out of their way to help because they want to and not because they have been ordered to. The best way to create a strong sense of group spirit is to highlight shared experiences, perceptions, thoughts, and feelings or identify a common goal or business rival. As leaders, it is very important to make the specialists in the team feel that they are contributing to the end result of the task as if the responsibility rests entirely on their shoulders. A leader’s job is to get the task in hand completed successfully and in the correct time. People normally have an inherent desire to see the results of the help they rendered or ideas that they gave. By making a team member feel that because of his input the job or task was able to be accomplished goes a long way in ensuring employee satisfaction, increases camaraderie, teamwork and thus in the larger perspective increases productivity.

On many an occasion, leaders may be asked to give an opinion on any subject matter. These could include issues like hiring a new member to the team, a technical matter, best method of handling a difficult client, a bad situation that the company is in or business strategy and tactics regarding increasing of company’s growth etc. Leaders should first introspect if they are the correct person to give such an opinion and if there is someone better qualified to give this opinion in their teams then they should be recommended for doing so. By doing this the leaders build better credibility at the workplace.

A good leader will facilitate a healthy working environment for his team. By encouraging an unhealthy and noxious environment, team members become mentally, emotionally and physically drained thus causing employee engagement to plunge. Holding people back by stunting their growth, micromanaging projects and indulging in blame game will only lead to a high employee dropout rate, create a culture of distrust thereby causing low morale and reduced creativity. Leaders should come across as selfless persons who do not take credit for the ideas and work carried out by others. Employees adore leaders who support them and help them grow in the organisation. A good leader is without a doubt, one of the best incentives to keeping team members happy and engaged.

Good leaders should always keep adding new skills and be open to continual learning. Their aim should be to build strong teams surrounding themselves with efficient, competent and smart people keeping in mind always the dictum “one is only as strong as the weakest link in the chain”. One who is able to stay in touch with diverse opinions, accept different perspectives and welcome honest feedback sportingly will be a successful leader. Whenever others give advice, it is best to listen and then decide at a later stage if one wants to take action on it.

Leaders who catapult into any team and start making drastic changes right from the word ‘go’ normally lose employee respect. Leaders must very gently and patiently observe the modus operandi followed by the team to which they have been assigned before making any drastic changes. Maybe similar jobs were carried out by experienced workers in a particular manner earlier due to their expertise gained over many years and the new leader not being a specialist is dictating to them to do the job in a different way, which the professionals think is not the correct path. By giving the people choice to choose the manner in which they will render their help or expertise and showing willingness to accept alternatives, leaders can make employees feel wanted and effective in the organisation. Leaders thus must be very conscious of not dictating to their teams the specific manner in which the task should be executed but instead should give broad directions so that employees are able to use their own intelligence, initiative and innovativeness. This is how professional expertise is respected at the workplace. By identifying the positives that each team member possesses and putting it to full use, the leader will be able to reach the pinnacle of success such that everyone in the team is a winner. The difference between success and failure is the manner in which leaders treat their teammates.

Leaders should not fall into the trap of replacing professional opinions with their personal opinions because these are not based on facts but are judgements made from a personal point of view normally without facts and figures. Professional opinions are founded on long terms of experience and in-depth knowledge on the subject.