Good Morning,
Welcome New Recipients!
I am reminded of a time when I worked at a company where my manager wanted me to supervise her way. Her way was very confrontational. My style is supportive and collaborative. There was a team member who was performing poorly and I was advised to, for a lack of a better word, ‘dress him down’ about his continued issues. My manager watched me as I ‘tore this fellow a new one’. I felt horrible inside, yet my manager smiled with much approval. In that environment, I performed very poorly. Working and leading in a style nearly opposite to my own was very draining and demoralizing to me.
This is another example of playing to our strengths. When we get to work with our strengths, like when I was able to build up my Technical Support team using my supportive and collaborative style, we were able to succeed and create a great team. When we are forced to play to our weaknesses, then it is not surprising the results are not good. My time at that company above was blissfully, although painfully, short.
It is very important to lead in our own style, in our own way. Another common deception is leading in the way of great leaders. If we want to be a great manager and read books and articles, watch videos, etc. on such successful managers as Jack Welch, Colin Powell, Steve Jobs or Sam Walton, we may find that doing things their way is no more beneficial than what we have been doing up to this point. Often it can be worse.
Getting ideas from the best of the best is great, so long as we take those ideas and fit them into OUR leadership style. When we try to do something in a style or manner that is not our own, we set ourselves up for both short term and long term failure. In the short term, we confuse people with our different leadership styles and that can lead to others questioning our ability. In the long term we can lose ourselves by being something we are not.
The best method is to be ourselves and lead like ourselves. As we learn and grow, we can add bits and pieces that we learn from other leaders, like best practices, etc., and improve ourselves and OUR style in the process. Our leadership is a work of art and it is constantly being molded and refined as we learn and find new ways to add to our growing repertoire of knowledge and skills.
Lead like yourself!
Enjoy!
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