POiSON WORLD

I read this and thought its worthy to share…..

Relating from my own work experience, I have come across the good, bad and the ugly sides to leaderships. I have worked with some of the greatest examples of good and worst leaderships and all of this has been valuable in my understanding of what leadership should be all about. In my lifetime so far, I have come across effective managers who suffered from bad attitude towards their staff. I have come across managers who assumed leadership position as a status and not a job. I have also come across weak leaders who discouraged initiative from their staff and palmed off their own duties to them. Aside from the nasties, I have come across great leaderships who not only made work environment pleasant for all; but productive, happy, very successful and highly motivated. They were the ones that nurtured a healthy relationship between leadership and team members.

Aside from work, I have come across people who call themselves leaders in their respective fields and they have given me examples of what good and bad leadership is. Whether you are a world leader in politics, NGO or just enjoying a managerial position in some company, leadership has pretty much the same expectations.

Leadership is like an opium to most people who get so drunk with power that they forget they are dealing with fellow human beings who deserve respect and to be treated right and fairly. It is a matter of realising this and this list attempts to assert this realisation.

Do: Encourage initiative from your team members
Don’t: Be an armchair leader who tells people what to do and then criticise them later for their approach. Lead by example

Do: Lead by example, even if it is emptying the office bins or doing other menial tasks. It wont make you any less of a leader, but rather, gain you respect
Don’t: Think doing menial tasks are beneath your status. A leadership is not about status but about working as a team

Do: Be fair. Adhere to the rules and regulations in the same manner as your team members would do so
Don’t: Think that just because you are the leader, you can break the rules to suit you. This is not being fair to the team or the company you are working for

Do: Unless it is your own company, your name is not above the company door and you are just an employee like the rest of your team. Act like a member of the team, pull your weight around and do your job properly
Don’t: Your team are not your personal servants who should be doing non-work related duties. No, they are not there to fetch your lunch, drycleaning or any other; unless their official job description says so

Do: Listen to your team members and take on board what they say. If they make a suggestion or complain, it is because they trust you as a leader to do something about it
Don’t: Get defensive and consider it as an attack on you and your leadership qualities

Do: Act democratically
Don’t: Be a dictator, because in the end not only will you lose the respect of your team but their support as well

Do: Accept responsibility for own mistakes. It is not a sign of weakness. Admit when things don’t go well and then do not spend time dwelling on mistakes, but rather move forward and get past it
Don’t: Humiliate your team members in public because not only are you degrading your team members but it reflects badly on you as a leader. As a leader you are responsible for discipline and holding your team members accountable for their mistakes, and so therefore the conversation should happen behind closed doors.

Do: Share the credits and successes with your team
Don’t: Brag about your own sole successes

Do: Exude positivity, good energy and be reasonable.  Best leaders are those who realise that by staying positive, calm and focused they are creating a better work environment and a happpy productive teamwork, which is in turn better for the business
Don’t: Be rude, inconsiderate and unreasonable.

Do: Act as a strategist with your team members. Show belief in the abilities of your team members and enhance this through encouragement and giving them opportunities to contribute towards the success of a business
Don’t: Consider the abilities of your team members to be a threat to your own position. An excellent leadership recognises talent and abilities, and utilising them properly in an organised fashion

Do: Empower your team and help them achieve their professional goals. Not everybody in the team aspires to stay forever in the same roles and most have dreams to go further in the company
Don’t: Suppress team members by keeping them on the same duties when they are eager to do more

Do: Deal with conflicts and issues within the team with impartiality and resolve it with fairness. Taking one member’s side will only create resentment from others and polarise the team. A leader resolves conflicts with compromise, constructive feedbacks and identifies key problems
Don’t: Ignore conflicts and issues within the team in a hope it will go away on its own or that it isnt your problem. Your team is your responsibility and so whatever happens in your team is your responsibility.