SHIV KHERA shares FIVE SIMPLE STEPS to help encourage your team to become part of a collective ‘we’ with you …
Are you a good leader? Do you inspire people with your words and deeds? Do you have integrity? Do you walk your talk? Do people view you as an adversary or ally? And what are your true intentions for others and yourself?
In the answers to the above questions, lie the secret to get people working with you and not for you. People who work with you are collaborative, respectful of themselves and others on the ‘team’, take ownership for their part, share common goals and less egos.
What attributes are required to develop this model? Start with the self…
- Create a culture of respect. Respect takes many shapes. It can mean boundaries. It can mean space. But the one form of respect that I think we need to most focus on is allowing people to save face. Whilst it may seem obvious, this keeps their (and your!) dignity intact. Praise publicly, critique privately. By doing this, you show people that you respect them. They will, in turn, offer you their respect. Experience shows that when people feel respected, they perform better.
- Be clear and purposeful. Keep the common goal at the forefront. Keep the purpose clear. Keep the organisation bigger than the egos of individuals.
- Be authentic. Walk your talk. Nobody likes a fake, a person they can not trust. Be truthful. Be genuine. Be sincere. People don’t like being lied to. Be tactful. That’s important so as to not hurt feelings without compromising your integrity.
- Be a good role model. And be accountable. We cannot expect to lead, inspire or motivate people to work with us rather than for us if we shirk our responsibilities or do not hold ourselves accountable. Trust and accountability go hand in hand. Taking ownership and holding oneself accountable demonstrates a state of individual empowerment and good behaviours that others can emulate.
- Decentralise day to day control. When people feel secure, they blossom. Allow people to be masters of themselves. If they demonstrate maturity and accountability, they will indeed become an integral part of a collective ‘we’ with you. Collecting together for whatever is greater than their individual parts. This is particularly important if we want to develop thinkers versus order-takers.
If taking initiative is welcome, and possibly even rewarded, if serving the higher purpose of the company is valued and celebrated, if the song of the day is ‘we’ instead of me, then for sure, you have successfully converted people from working for you to with you.
Shiv Khera is the bestselling author of You Can Achieve More, which is available now in paperback and ebook, priced at £12.99stg and published by Bloomsbury.
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