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Sometimes the best way to help is to step aside. Be guided by one simple, but very true principle: agree to help only as long as your participation does not give rise to someone else's helplessness.
Everyone needs to spread their wings independently and unleash their potential, no matter how painful it may be. Yes, it will be hard, but your employees will get a new useful experience.
More often than not, people want to get a lot more help than they actually need. And this is absolutely natural. Sometimes such a desire arises from fear of failure, lack of ingenuity and self-confidence, or past unpleasant experiences. However, a real leader knows that it is worth helping only when it does not harm the efficiency, creativity and initiative of the employee.Nevertheless, this principle in no case can justify one's own laziness. Refuse to help if you understand that the subordinate must go this way on his own in order to learn new things. In addition, make sure that the task is really up to him. Otherwise, your "no" will cause hatred, not gratitude.
The ability to always be yourself is the key to effective management. However, there is a fine line between sincerity and informal communication. After all, at work, most of your subordinates need a leader, not a friend.
That is why it is important to guide different team members in different ways. With employees who have been working for a long time and are close to your age, friendly communication on an equal footing can work. Others, on the contrary, need a mentor. Good managers are able to adapt to the needs of their subordinates without betraying their individuality and principles.
Find a healthy balance: be friendly and sincere, but maintain subordination and remain a professional in your field.
Empathy is another secret of a brilliant leader. You need to know, feel and see what your employees know, feel and see. However, caution must be exercised. If you delve too deeply into a point of view with which you disagree, the risk of starting to make wrong decisions will increase.
The right choice is not always the most popular. If you are sure that you are right, listen to the concerns of the team, but do not let them lead you astray.
An important clarification: switching to the all-knowing egoist mode and assuming that absolutely everything you do is right is also not worth it.
Sometimes it is really necessary to fix the employee's miscalculations. For example, when he consistently sabotages the workflow and you want to fire him. However, good leaders rarely face such a situation. Most often, you can negotiate with any person, so there is a possibility that the problem lies in the management style.
When a team makes mistakes, there is nothing more life-giving for motivation than the understanding and friendliness of the boss. After all, shouting and scandals hardly motivate employees to correct mistakes. Try to be kinder to your subordinates and guide them.
A sense of tact is necessary to perform work tasks. But he has another, dark side — complete malleability. Perhaps this quality is liked by insecure bosses who are above you. But your subordinates will definitely cease to respect you if you agree with everything in a row. But the inner core, the ability to say and do difficult things and swim against the current will raise you in their eyes.
It is also important to maintain a balance here. Even if you speak and do everything correctly, a rough pitch is unlikely to help you get far. Stand your ground, but do it wisely and carefully so as not to harm yourself and your team.
You need to learn how to give clear instructions for understanding work projects, but not too strict, so that subordinates can adjust to changes and prove themselves. This will spur creativity.
American General George Patton said: "Don't tell people how to complete a task. Explain to them what to do and let them surprise you with their ingenuity." Identify the parameters and explain the goals, and then let the employees apply their knowledge and vision.
Of course, it is important and necessary to respect the point of view of your team. But sometimes there come moments when a leader has to stop following someone else's opinion and make a decision.
Getting feedback from subordinates on a particular issue is a sign of a good leader. But if you do this too often, then this behavior can be mistaken for attempts to disguise your own cowardice.
If you want any of your solutions to suit everyone, you are not fixing the problem. You are the problem. Listen to all points of view, draw conclusions, and then listen to yourself and make a choice.
When in doubt about which decision to make, always choose what is best for your team. Take care of your employees, trust them, guide them and show them respect.
