Do Your Leadership Qualities Make You Stand Out?…Positively or Negatively???
Lately, we have been receiving alot of feedback from our clients about the climate in their respective workplaces during these tough economic times. Many have become frustrated, discouraged, and even resentful based on the behavior of their supervisors/managers/team leaders.
Based on these discussions, we decided to post the following question on the discussion boards of some of the LinkedIn groups in which we participate:
“What qualities make a leader (manager, supervisor, colleague etc.) stand out in a positive way during challenging times?”
Well, the response was amazing. The good news is there are several of you doing your best to navigate your team through these challenging times and your team is noticing. Here are some of the “qualities” mentioned on the the LinkedIn discussion boards after me posted our question.
- communication
- honesty
- integrity
- ability to focus
- ability to collaborate
- ability to mentor / develop team members
- empathy
- optimism
- genuine concern for team members / employees
COMMUNICATION! COMMUNICATION! COMMUNICATION!
This was THE recurring theme in almost every comment. Your team wants to know what is happening – in good times and in bad. A good leader COMMUNICATES.
In today’s uncertain times, communication is especially critical. The ambiguity of not knowing is worse than the reality of most situations, especially when the rumor mill is in overdrive in an organization (layoffs, budget cuts, etc.). People appreciate being kept in the loop and the good leaders are keenly aware of this need in their organization.
So, do you embody the qualities listed above? What do you need to develop in yourself as a leader?
Nanci,
Like the blog. Good use of LinkedIN! More corporations should use some form of social network to get the real pulse of the company, not just employee surveys. On the above topic, we can never have enough good leaders. The trick is getting them to stay around for a while.