No More Mr. Nice Guy (or Ms. Nice Girl)
In the last job I worked at before starting my own business, I had a manager who was – ahem – not a great person to work for. When he wasn't yelling or making rude or obscene comments, he was harshly critical of everyone in the office. It's no wonder that during my 9 months of tenure in that office, our staff went from 7 full-time and 5 part-time staff to 3 full-time staff only. After I left, leaving the office with the same amount of work for 7 full-time and 5 part-time but only 2 people, my manager was finally let go. It's a shame that it went that far.
It's difficult to pinpoint just one problem and there were other issues at play here (such as how the company didn't seem to notice that the office went from 7-plus-5 staff down to 3). But clearly, leadership was an issue. The manager thought he could lead but he relied on a leadership model of berating, humiliating, and yelling.
If you are a leadership coach, your clients are facing the challenge of how to lead effectively. It was while thinking about this that I came across an article in a Harvard Business School blog that talks about humility as a leadership trait. It was a great find – particularly as I read it in light of my previous negative experience – and considered how different the office would have looked with that kind of leader.
Humility is a terribly misunderstood trait. When we think of humility we often associate it with weakness. After all, a strong, dominant, persuasive Type-A personality may be successful and may be able to dynamically lead the troops but is probably not humble. (Gosh, if I had a nickel for every time that has turned out to be true in my experience…).
Humility, however, is not weakness. Sure, one can go too far to the other side of the spectrum and become a weak and dithering leader who can't make a decision or convince a stapler to staple. But humility done correctly is compelling and magnetic and people want to be around those who are "correctly" humble.
You can read the Harvard blog post here but I'll summarize it quickly for you:
First, they point out that just because a leader has authority doesn't mean that they need to wield it with full force. Second, promote others. This is a great piece of advice to leaders and it makes sense: If leaders take all of the credit for things, they look good. But if their team hits one homerun after another, they look even better. Third, acknowledge others. This was an interesting one and they brought in a great sports analogy to illustrate it.
This blog was a great read and should be on the "must read" for all of your leadership clients.
Brought to by you by: Contemporary VA - Run your business instead of running in circles.
@ContemporaryVA on Twitter. Follow the team to stay updated on business resources we deliver that cover strategies and tips, social media and more!
Related Articles:
- Analogies as a Teaching and Learning Tool
- A Basic Guide to Search Engine Marketing
- Executive Coaches – Are they just for the drowning?
- Succeeding With Two Tools You Were Born With
- Business Coaching
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment