Mindsets to Master for Positive Leadership

Imagine This

So, one of your team members is basking in the sun at lunch time, and his phone rings, he looks down and your name flashes up. What does he feel in that moment?

Unless you are completely self-unaware you’ll have a good sense of whether, generally, people are delighted or devastated to get a call from you.

If you’ve got people shuddering when your name flashes up on their phone you’ve got problems! Regardless of whether it is a direct report, a peer, a supplier or someone higher than you in the hierarchy.

Does this mean that you need to be perfect and keep everyone happy! Heck no. You couldn’t stand on your head in enough ways to keep everyone happy. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't strive to bring about a positive leadership experience for those who report to you.

The most inspiring leader I ever worked for, was also the most demanding in terms of his expectations of us. Yet, every one of us in our team would have walked over hot coals for him. 

So how do you get a great vibe going on around, whilst delivering exceptional results?

You provide positive leadership when you take good care of the 4Bs of high-performance

One of the ways you can create a good vibe around you and your leadership is to make sure that you are taking care of the four B’s of high performance. The four B’s are:

Believing: in what the organization is doing and the role he or she plays in getting the organization’s offering to the market-place

Belonging: having a sense they are welcomed, fit in and this community values the contributions they make

Behaving: being clear on the behaviors that will enable them to succeed

Bottom-line: delivering the right results - fast

Do you have strategies in place to ensure the four B’s of high performance are well executed?

Whilst all four B’s are critical to success, Believing and Belonging are the foundations that build the next two.

For today’s module, we’ll just focus on one of the easiest tips to apply in the B of Believing.

Do people believe you care for their success?

Think of a leader that you’d walk over hot coals for. What was it about him or her that inspired you so much?

Are you the type of leader that people Believe in?

I bet one of the characteristics, that made him or her special to you, is that you felt that he or she cared about you and your success

Here's a task for you. Write down the name of each person that works with you. Then in 4-5 paragraphs write down:

If you can't easily complete this activity, then you are probably sabotaging your success

If you treat people like objects … pawns to be moved around to help you get ahead, pawns who are easily replaceable … then you won’t get the success (at least not as easily or in the fullest sense of its meaning) that you want

Your desire for success, needs to be driven by your desire to see others succeed as well

Listen up. It is okay to be concerned about your personal success. In fact you must be. Because nobody should care about your success as much as you (not even your Mother!).

However, to get you closer to your hopes and dreams you will need to have good people around you. Good people ... high performing people ... will only stay with those leaders that inspire them. High performing people willingly work with leaders whom they respect and believe will take good care of them as they take them to new heights. 

The army have it right with their motto, "Take care of the troops, and the troops will take care of you"

One-on-ones support positive leadership (and can fix your time problems)

Do you have regular catch-ups with your team members? Catch-ups where you aren't talking about business, but just getting to know them better. Getting to know their hopes and dreams. Fears and frustrations. If you aren't you are likely creating a distance in your relationships ... a distance that could cost you.

Read this article to get tips on how to hold meaningful and worth while one-on-one conversations with your team. 

About now you might be sighing and saying, "Shelley, my life is so frantic and I'd love to spend more time with my people, but you should see my list of To-Do's".

Well I have a solution for your time problem ... get to know your people and get them to want to walk over hot coals for you!

Let me ask you this ...

If someone, whom you don't have much of a connection with, who doesn't seem to care too much about you and your hopes and dreams, came to you and said, "Hey, I'm in a bit of a jam. Could you do 'xxx' for me for the next couple of hours".

Would you be willing to drop what you are doing to help him or her out?

My guess, would be, 'not so much'.

You'd probably find lots of reasons why your other work is far more important.

How well would you do that task, if it is your boss, who owing to his or her positional power could make you drop everything and do what he or she wanted?

If it is a boss that you like and connect with, you'd probably do it with good cheer and to the best of your ability. You'd likely even work longer hours to get that task done, plus your own work.

If it is a boss that you don't like and don't feel has your back, it is likely to be done with resentment and to minimum standards. You'd likely leave as soon as 'times-up' on the clock!

People will pay you back when they don't like you!