Three Actions You Can Take Today to Raise Your Leadership Effectiveness
This post will be short and to the point. Here are three ways that any leader can significantly improve their leadership effectiveness starting immediately. Try these three activities and let me know how it goes.
Praise in public and reprimand in private. I learned this from a senior officer many years ago when I was a junior officer starting my career in the Canadian Air Force. This lesson always stayed with me and it has always proved to be the better way. If you need to rebuke someone for what they have done, do so in private. Chastising and scolding employees in public creates fear and embarrassment and while this will have a short-term impact, it can erode your leadership effectiveness over time. Identify an error on the spot and ask the person who made it to tell you what can be done to rectify it, but if you need to go further and reprimand the individual, ask them to join you in your office. Believe me, that request will ring louder than words to everyone around. Conversely, take every opportunity you have to praise in public. Publically applauding and complementing individuals and teams for great work goes a long to reinforcing positive behaviours and building trust.
Wake up and make the coffee. I have always been surprised how the simple activity of actually making the coffee (or tea) for the office is often dismissed by some managers as a menial task. I have seen leaders actually notice that the coffee pot is empty and ask their assistant to make a fresh pot and bring them a mug of coffee when it is ready. Yes, leaders are busy but, frankly, so is everyone else. Making the coffee every once in awhile is a great way to demonstrate to your team that you appreciate them and that you are not above everyone else. This is not to say that you should take that task on daily, but to do so once in awhile. As you wait the 10 minutes for the coffee to be brewed, stick around and engage your employees in a conversation about things that matter to them, such as how their work is going, or if they are clear about how their job contributes to the organization’s success, or about how a certain initiative is going. It is amazing the impact that a cup of coffee and 10 minutes can have on your team’s morale.
Stop avoiding the cafeteria. I have seen junior leaders get promoted and begin to have access to senior leadership roles and suddenly avoid the cafeteria. Why? Yes, there are plenty of good reasons why you might not be able to eat at the cafeteria, such as a business lunch meeting, having to catch up on work, an important phone call, an urgent deliverable, or an important personal errand to be run. These are all valid reasons but surely a leader can free up 20-30 minutes once every five to ten days to eat in the cafeteria. This is a perfect opportunity to demonstrate that you are accessible, to show that you like to be with your employees, and to create an informal venue for great conversations.
That’s it. Try these three actions this week and let me know how it turns out. If you are having a hard time remembering them, simply write them in your agenda to create the habit. They have always worked for me.