How to Be a Leader Everyone Loves to Work With
We all want to work for a leader who is motivating, inspiring, visionary, and brilliant at making plans and carrying them out. But unfortunately, many of us have had leaders who made our lives hell and turned coming to work into a challenge.
Good leaders inspire people to stay and work and dream big and take risks and do great things. Everybody loves working with them. Here are some of the qualities they share—if you see them in yourself, great, and if not, work on incorporating them into your leadership:
They’re all about the people and less about the process. Efficient processes are important, but it falls to the people within the organization who actually execute the strategies, plans and process to make the business successful.
They’re all about listening instead of thinking they know it all. Many people treat conversation like a competitive sport you can win by talking the longest, making the cleverest point, or getting in the last word. But great leaders understand that true wisdom lies in talking less and listening more, because they understand that knowledge is power and learning is wisdom.
They’re all about empowering and making others feel important. Many people mistakenly think leadership means telling people what to do. But true successful leadership lies in empowering them to think about what should be done. This small shift will make people feel important and valued.
They’re all about creating small wins. There is big power in small wins, and the best leaders know that building momentum with small wins is where success begins. Small wins build trust, encourage people to take ownership of their ideas and work, and help them feel they’re accomplishing something on a personal scale while working for something bigger. Winning at any level fuels the energy for big success.
They’re all about moving forward instead of keeping things the same. Many leaders have been in their position for a long time, and they take comfort in the principle that if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. But with the current pace of change, anyone who’s not moving forward is actually falling behind. It is the leader who constantly challenges the status quo, who is not happy with keeping things the same, that people love working with.
They’re all about having high EQ and less about displaying their IQ. Some people pride themselves on how smart they are. They need to be able to tell themselves they’re the smartest person in the room. Successful leaders, however, focus their attention elsewhere, working to heightening their awareness of emotions—their own and those of the people around them. They understand that this trait is vital because it allows them to read people’s emotions, which in turn helps them manage situations in thoughtful and respectful ways that lead to successful outcomes.
If you can become a leader everyone wants to work with and your people are happy with your leadership, it’s a win for everyone.
Lead from within: If you want to become a leader everyone loves to work with, think of how you serve others before you think about serving yourself.