Leaders across all disciplines have different levels of intellectual capacity, biases and experiences.
Some think, leadership is about being nice to team mates, it’s about motivating them with positive reinforcement, and taking care of their welfare.
While none of this is untrue, the leader’s key responsibility is to achieve results through people. It’s about leading and managing a multitude of behavioural aspects of one’s team mates to deliver intended performance. For this to come about a leader has to be a strong personality to drive people towards goals.
Everything a leader does affects an organisation’s culture, and culture influences the employee experience, the role of the leader is one of the most important roles in an organisation, and effective leadership is crucial to its profitability.
In doing so, the best bosses do believe in a “firm but fair” approach – there are strict rules that everyone works hard, limited flexibility, target driven but they have a good reward system that remunerates employees based on how effective and efficient they are, in their job role.
Happy workforce
Strictness is on a spectrum, at the end of it there is a totalitarian employer who would happily work his workforce to death if the law allowed it – then on the opposite side of that, is the type of strict leader who takes a fair but firm approach. “Firm but fair” approach is one that offers the best opportunities for employees, a happy workforce is a more productive one – the employees will be less likely to need time off for stress related issues, if they feel they will be rewarded for their hard work that provides an incentive to work harder.
You are not in a popularity contest. You should be firm but polite. You can’t remain popular because you’ll have to make unpopular decisions in your capacity as a manager.
You’ll have to put your popularity aside and make solid business decisions. When making unpopular decisions you should be tactful and diplomatic. Honesty and integrity are two of the most needed qualities a leader should have. You cannot be nice to everyone.
Trying to be popular will mean that you have a “one for all and all for one attitude” With that approach you’ll never be able to get the best out of all your subordinates. No one will attempt to excel because they will not be recognised or rewarded for their efforts.
Treat everyone differently and give praises where it’s due and criticise below standard performance. When criticising, give alternatives. Coach and train underperformers.
On the contrary, by always trying to be nice, we may lose our credibility. If “being nice” implies we don’t want to offend their feelings when they need to be put back on track, or their performance isn’t up to expectations. Being a good manager requires us to not only encourage and develop our team, but also to guide them when they are not behaving as they should. It requires a mix of types of behaviour on our part, according to the situation, the individual and their level of maturity within the organisation. Remember, you are not their friend, first of all you are responsible for bringing the company the results that you are responsible for. That doesn’t mean you can’t be kind, respectful and have a good relationship with your Team, but when required, you need also to be recognised as a figure of authority.
Paid for results not for niceness
Every employee has a job to do – they are paid to get that job done. It is the leader’s job to balance employees’ abilities, skills and interests, juggle company priorities and the personal and career objectives of employees and meet deadlines on budget and other deliverables. It is not always possible to be nice to each employee at the same time – because employee self-interests and corporate interests and the leader’s own short medium and long term interests will drive their decisions.
If niceness is allowed to be the predominant priority in decision making then the manager will not be fulfilling the job she or he is employed to do – a manager who has empathy for employees needs will build teamwork and relationships so that mutual respect and increasing competence under underlies team performance – then there will be more time to be nice when the job is done. In today’s complex and dynamic business environment, leaders are expected to wear many hats beyond their position of authority. They are the backbone of an organisation, and their actions can significantly impact their team’s success.
But what does it take to be a truly great leader? While there is no one-size-fits-all, there are certain leadership roles that every leader must fulfill to maximise their team’s potential. Leadership goes much beyond management; it’s about inspiring, motivating, and driving teams to success. As you develop as a skilled team leader, your teams will accomplish more and feel more fulfilled.
Leadership is not a popularity contest. Leadership is about doing the right thing at the right time rather than the popular thing. We should all know that unlike what we believe, leaders are not running democracies.
Being a leader is not about being liked. True leaders must stand up for values that they believe in and live with the consequences. There are so many so-called leaders with empty promises, like most politicians. Maybe today, it is what politics has become all about: most politicians almost never stand up and speak for their own beliefs and only recite a fabricated, politically correct speech that will win a few more votes. There are so many politicians in disguise in various other environments who are succeeding at marketing themselves as thought leaders very well.
