At the Top!!!! …..What you still need to learn??

You might be holding one of these very HEAVY DESIGNATIONS like Group CEO, Regional CEO or General Manager or Country Manager…….Still, there are certain things you always got to improve upon!!!

I have always believed that for any Leader “His Team is His reflection”. Being an active lecturer I strongly believe that “My students are my reflection”. Whatever I teach them, will reflect in their work, personality & attitude………..

So be careful, YOU ARE DESIGNING THE PERSONALITIES ….Your team, your people are the ones who are going to bring you appreciation or bad mouthing…..

A hard fact that you might not acknowledge is….

YOUR TEAM’S FAILURE IS YOUR FAILURE

THEIR SUCCESS IS YOUR SUCCESS

THEY ARE KNOWN THROUGH YOU & YOU ARE KNOWN THROUGH THEM

Sadly!!Many of the leaders fail to develop & nurture their relationship with their team. My effort in this article, is intended to re-iterate for all of you ‘AT THE TOP’ certain basics, a part of your responsibility that has been widely ignored…

Being a Leader, you need to ponder on following points:-

Culture You Promote-I strongly believe that every culture is shaped based upon the Leader’s ideas, opinions & personality…A Company takes its culture from the Owner/Management, similarly a team takes it’s culture from the Manager.‘You portray support, the team members will support each other. You initiate Blame Game, team members will play worse blame games.’ A supportive team will always progress faster & achieve more.

Personalities You Develop- You are a manager, you don’t care turning up to office on time…your team will start following the same sooner or later. You bitch about the M.D, you criticize the policies & processes…your team can never respect you/ the company. Better to promote positive personalities who can respect & feel proud of you & the company.

Relationships you make & promote-An unfaithful relationship, doubts on the capability of your team members, doubts on what they say about you will certainly not take you any further in your career. Disrespectful behavior will be sooner or later returned with the same behavior. You simply cannot develop your people till you learn to believe in them, their capabilities. And mind it!!Your success is largely dependent on their support. Team based on trust & confidence will doubtlessly contribute more to your success.

Accessibility - As a leader, Are you approachable enough!! Are you aware about your team member’s situation? A Manager/Leader is respected even more when he/she assumes role of coach or mentor. Your team shouldn’t have to think twice to bring genuine discussions to your table. If you will choose to be more approachable to your team, they will choose to be more responsible towards you.

Sharing the failures- If as a Manager, I have every right to be appreciated for my team’s work & seek credit…….I am certainly required to share their failures as well. Focusing on “highlighting your team’s mistakes in front of others” will do no good. Golden suggestion as shared so many times “APPRECIATE IN PUBLIC & CRITICIZE IN PRIVATE”

Day to Day Work Details!!They are very much your concern- A very famous management definition states “MANAGEMENT IS TO GET THE THINGS DONE THROUGH OTHERS”. Quiet true. But if you need the quality work, you cannot afford to keep blind to the minute details & processes. You have to have the thorough understanding of daily work details.

I remember one of my ex-employers (Owner of the Co.) addressing herself as the first employee of the company. Here’s a message “Though you are a Leader but foremost you are a part of the Team. YOU ARE ONE AMONGST ALL”

In my article, several times I have used these words “Team members”. This is because I believe that irrespective of the designation, It’s TEAM first & then Manager/reportee /junior/senior.