Be a Role Model

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 572.

Listen

Listen to what your employees are telling you. Listen to your customers. Listen to what your superiors are telling you. And listen for what is not being talked about. Check the accuracy of your listening when you're not sure what you are hearing by feeding it back to the people who are talking to you. Contrary to popular opinion, managing is less about telling and more about listening. Effective listening managers help their employees solve important problems by allowing them to talk through the problem. More often than not, employees can solve problems on their own once they fully understand the problem. Listening allows people to "hear themselves think" and, then, to develop solutions.

Assume you are always being watched, even when you would prefer not to be, by the people who report to you. Humans learn first by imitation; your reports will pick up on and follow your behavior. If you want people to admit to mistakes, show them how to do that by admitting to your own. If the honesty and integrity of your employees is important to you, work to make sure your actions line up with your words. Conversely, don't assume that everything you do will be copied. Being a role model alone isn't enough, but successful managers remain aware of the example they set for their employees.