The Easiest Ways to Lead. . .

What is consistently fascinating to me is that what seems contradictory is often congruent.   Cultural myths have been built about what is "hard"  or "time consuming" at work.   Truth is, many of these things are in fact the "easiest" things to do. . .in a good way.

It is easier to spend time with a team member, especially time spent listening - even if you believe you have more pressing needs.   Why?    Time spent with team members builds your team and honors your team.  In turn, this makes the team run faster and better.   It also results in less team turnover.   Think how time-consuming it is when you have vacancies that need to be filled.

It is easier to spend time being thoughtful in responding to a challenging situation as opposed to being quick off the mark in an effort to "resolve and move on."   Why?    A thoughtful, multi-dimension solution is far better than spending hours, days, months on the back end of a bad decision trying to justify what was done.

It is easier to spend time up front in team alignment;  this requires explaining the goals, why the goals are important and how to implement the tactics to successful goal achievement.     Why?     If you set the team out to "just do it" without a fuller explanation, I can assure you that there will be limited team commitment and mistakes will be made.

It is easier to admit that you are wrong than to stand on the quicksand of "I am the boss and therefore I am right."   Why?     The latter corrodes your credibility while the former builds it.    In addition, the pressure of believing that one always has to be right is a faux investment in vanity.

It is easier to spend the time to engage in what might be perceived as idle chit chat than to be a robotron that just talks about work AND  NOTHING ELSE.  Why?  You are not only a leader in the workplace, you are a leader in a social community.   The better the latter works means the better the former works.

These investments of time may seem counter intuitive to "getting work done."    Assure yourself that these measures are, in fact, getting work done.    They are allowing you, and your team, to produce greater quality.   The greater imperative beyond making work easier, however, is that these things are the right things to do.

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My book "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders" is available on Amazon Kindle.