Real leaders add value to their employees, they make them feel safe and confident while being fair, firm and consistent.” – Gregg Wallick
Company owners, VP’s, and Sales Managers: do you feel like your job is to get people to work “for” you? Are you showing up to the office each day crackin’ the old whip to drive your employees to produce, produce, produce? Whether you know it or not, your style sets the atmosphere for the entire company. Managers don’t know how powerful they actually are sometimes, often misunderstanding how their actions effect people’s attitudes in the company.
Do you know what kind of atmosphere you’re creating for your employees? When a prospect meets a salesperson from your company, what do they feel? They will feel what you as a person in authority are creating. The environment you create as a leader for your employees will be the same environment your prospects and customers experience. Here’s a list describing two leadership styles: supervising and leading. Let’s read together what they do and its effect on employees.
What Supervisors Do:
- Answers questions when asked: seeming too busy for the employee
- Describes excellence to the team: explaining end result but not how to get there
- Provides coaching when necessary: employee doesn’t feel their value
- Focuses on deficiencies, catching employees when they make mistakes: creating fear of making more mistakes
- Provides feedback only during evaluations: making employees feel feedback is rare
What Leaders Do:
- Asks questions to help team better understand: makes employee feel empowered
- Models excellence by working with team: working “with” you, not “for” you
- Provides coaching as an ongoing activity: employee feels you’re investing into them
- Celebrates accomplishments, catching employees doing something right: employees feel safe
- Provides timely, consistent feedback: making employees feel like they’re growing
As you can see, supervisors aren’t all that bad! But is it the most effective way of managing?
Real leaders create a safe place for their employees, in turn creating a safe place for their prospects and customers. Employees who feel safe bring that safety unto one another, which translates into their interaction with prospects and customers. Although you as a leader may not be directly interacting with the customer, your leadership effects the whole enchilada. Needless to say, prospects and customers who feel safe will do business with you.
Please leave comments and feedback below.
Happy leading!
Ryan Groth
General Manager of FollowUpPower.net