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Leadership Calls: Are You Ready to Answer?


Leadership calls. Are you ready to lead others? Do you have the people skills to handle the tough moments?

Do you have the emotional intelligence to spot difficulties early on? Do you have the initiative and courage to step up in order to prevent difficulties from becoming major trouble?

Leadership Calls: Are You Truly Ready? Image by Arlo_ via Flickr.

Grateful for image by Arlo_ via Flickr Creative Commons License.

Leadership Calls: How Will You Answer?

In the 25 years I’ve been consulting to mid-level leaders, I’ve seen an unfortunate trend. They are managing functions not leading people. Leadership calls, they get promoted, and then feel stumped on how to lead others.

The good news is, you can develop your leadership people skills. Whether new to leadership or not, when leadership calls you can be ready.

1. Someone comes to you and says a co-worker is bullying or harassing them. What would you do? There is much evidence to show many leaders minimize the person’s claim, blame the victim, or tell the victim to work it out with the co-worker. BIG mistake. Your response comes across to the victim as abandonment and mistrust. Co-worker bullying thrives on leaders who live in denial. Leadership calls and the leaders don’t lead. They deny and blame.

   Leadership people skills approach: Don’t abandon your employees. Get closer. Talk to them. Ask non-judgmental questions! Explore and listen. In this way, you communicate that you care. You also learn important information and understand the issue. You can then decide on appropriate next steps.
   
   

2. One employee is slacking off. No one is formally complaining to you but they complain to each other. What would you do? If you are thinking, “how would I know if an employee is slacking off,” you are not leading. Leading is pro-active emotional intelligence in action. It senses and sees what’s going on before the virus spreads.

   Leadership people skills approach: Stay connected to the pulse of the workplace. With the teams’ input, set the bar high and then call everyone to reach it with skills, attitude, and great teamwork. If some are slacking off, speak with them. Find out if it’s a skills issue or an attitude issue. If it’s a skills issue, address development or reassignment. If it’s an attitude issue, be clear and frank. Leadership calls and you must call everyone to high levels of performance. If you hide your head on this one, the quicksand will pull you all under.
   
   

3. There’s an organizational change announced and you must lead your teams through it. Upper leadership has announced it. You and your teams aren’t thrilled about it. How do you act? If you commiserate with your teams, you enable their resistance.

   Leadership people skills approach: Embrace the change and lead them to do the same. Empathize and acknowledge their feelings but don’t commiserate and encourage mutiny. Deepen your commitment to the change and get closer to your teams to buoy them. If you don’t believe in the change, why should they?

To get closer and deeper when leadership calls, remember …

• Being objective and fair doesn’t mean being neutral. Lead them. Don’t abandon them.
• Leadership requires performance of your duties. Hiding and denying are a form of malpractice. Overlooking symptoms, avoiding necessary conversations, blaming instead of resolving are leadership negligence. Leadership calls. Lead with your eyes wide open.
• Bonds are not the same thing as bondage. Bonds don’t handcuff and block success. Closer and deeper bonds build trust — the pathway to success. Leadership calls. Be more connected to your people not just the results.

Related Posts:
The Biggest Leadership Surprises of New Leaders
Leaders, 10 Ways to Ignite Greatness Without Leaving Scars
Exceptional Empowerment: Keep Your Expertise Involved
Leadership: 12 Essential Thoughts to Proficient People Skills

©2014 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. I appreciate your sharing the link to this post on your social streams. However, if you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com for permission and guidelines. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

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