'What Great Leaders Do' - I don't buy the greatness of 'Great' word, it is simply a search keyword :)
Whenever I think what leaders do, few flashbacks always help me, when I heard following advice from my mentors.
- 'Let us see how we can solve this problem yours way'
- 'Show people what you think, so they know what you think, and your management style'
- 'Understanding context, Respecting everyone, Integrity in words and actions are important ingredients to manage the talent'
Adding some observations and learning, I experienced so far. Promising, will not make it a long list, but explanation for each point could be long.
1. Ensure that People feel safe
This is the first priority for the leaders. They reflect this in all of their actions, and words. They work on it day in, day out.
Why does this has to be a day in, day out job. Because once you are in leadership role, every action impact the masses. The way you communicate, listen and respond, write emails, body language, how you respond to conflicts, how you react to mistakes and failures, all these are followed closely by the team. Every single action is a clue for team, to deduce that how safe they are around you.
Why does feeling safe so important. Let us understand it from neurological perspective.
When Human being faces threat (physical or mental), our self-defense mechanism kicks in and make us ready for 'fight or flight'. Result, arteries get tightened and tensed to pump more blood to body elements. Heart works rapidly and hard. When body is working so hard to manage the threat, naturally our brain can not focus on creativity, executive functions or social engagements.
Hence, if team is not feeling safe, we loose Creativity, Executive thought process and most importantly Social Engagements which is the basis of team work. Loosing these means, loosing the team and organizational goals as well.
Next, important point is how to ensure this safety net.
