We
live in a world of knowledge. We know that there advantages to using synergy
and teams in developing our business and in accelerating our personal and
professional potentials. So why would anyone want to be a Manager instead of a
Leader (or Coordinator). The definition of a manager is a person who's
job it is to control movement or behavior. While, leaders are defined as people
who guide others. According to the definition "managing" could make
work easier, if we really had the power to control the actions of others, but
the reality is we don't! Leading people requires more self-control and
encourages personal and professional growth for all.
The best way to lead is to use a model I
call the 3-R's of Leadership: 1) Role Model, 2) Recognize, and 3)
Reward.
As leaders, we must serve as role models for everyone we work with. If we want
people to greet us with a smile, then we must greet them with a smile. If we want
them to speak to us, then we must speak to them. If we are in a leadership
position or hope to be in that position, then we must model our best behavior
100% of the time. Remember the role models that we had growing up; we watched
them even when they didn't know our eyes and ears were on them. And based on
what we saw and heard we began to model ourselves after them. If people you are
working with are not where you would like them to be then look at what you can
do to be a better role model for them. The benefit is this approach is that it
increases our accountability for our own actions. In addition, everyone who
takes on the Role Model approach at work is making a statement about his/her
self, because where we work and how we work defines who we are. Leaders
understand the leadership is a serving relationship and that role modeling is
only one step in developing relationships. The benefit of leading is twofold:
1) it helps us to serve and guide those around us, and 2) it has a
self-serving benefit in that it increases our personal awareness and encourages
us to always do better. We are all leaders in our own world. Today begin
improving yourself and your world by being more aware of how you are as a Role
Model. (The next two newsletters will focus on Recognition and Reward.)
Quote: "Leading means you have the ability to serve people in
a special way.” C. Krosky
The Essence of Leadership
"I observe that there are two entirely different theories according to
which individual men seek to get on in the world. One theory leads a man to
pull down everybody around him in order to climb up on them to a higher place.
The other leads a man to help everybody around him in order that he may go up
with them." By Elihu Root
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