Leading out of the pack!

A few years ago, I had asked by past manager, from a few years ago, a recommendation for a job. I had worked for him at the beginning of my career, just barely out of university.

While I worked for him, he had been a great mentor in his way, even though he wasn't always appreciated by everyone. He had given me the opportunity, without telling me, to grow within my position and giving me the liberty to take on responsibilities, even if they weren't officially part of my job description.

When I received his letter of recommendation, I was surprised by the words he used in there. I was rather a leader than a follower. I was surprised by his choice of words, because for the three years I had worked for him, and the 5 years that followed within the same company, he never verbalized those feelings to me. I was grateful for the recommendation, and thanked him very much for it. I never put more thoughts into it, other than the fact I was very happy that he had those feelings about the work I had done for him, and for the company. It was very good for my EGO! lol

I've managed some people so far in my career, some directly reporting to me, other working as part of my team or indirectly for me. I've also been managed, by different type of managers and it's often hard, as employees to verbalized to your managers what you need for them.

I understand now that everybody has different needs, and as managers you need to be in tune with those needs. You can't go apply one style of management on everyone. You need to be aware of your team and employees and even though you don't feel like they really need help in a specific sector or task, perhaps they are trying to tell you something else, than just the fact that they need help.

Perhaps as a manager, or boss, we need to go beyond what is really said, go beyond the words. I know it can be though, I know it's not always easy in the world we are working in. The pace is fast, we have this perception that we need to accomplish everything that has been set in front of us.

Sometimes we get absorbed by the reality of our life, and jobs. We get so scared of loosing our jobs, that we try to conform. We don't take any risks, we just try to get in line and meet expectations that come from higher in the ranking. Why is the reason of this? Is every job that we have now, secure, do we have contracts with companies that denies them from firing us? Is everything secure? What is going to stop someone, who you pissed off, to fire you for no good reason?

The answer to this, is nothing. You don't really know what is coming around the corner and it doesn't matter how much you are trying to comfort. You CAN'T predict the future.

So I dare you, to take some risks, to really try to understand what the people, answering to you really want and really need. Because to say the truth, good leader don't need to tell people what they need to do, how many tasks they need to complete during the week. Good leaders will facilitate their employees' day. Good leaders will enable their employees to make mistake and learn from it. Good leaders will support their employees no matter what happens. I don't think that managing with pressure is the way to do thing.

I think we need to manage more with our heart and soul, than with our wallets, trying to conserve our jobs. We need to inspire people, to follow us, because us too, we have some skin in the game, and despite all of it, we believe that we are doing the right things, with the best intentions in the world.



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