Leadership: A Philosophy

Leadership and people management is not easy if you do it right. In my experience so far I have had to deal with everything from individual employee problems to factions forming within our team and having to manage them properly. Being a helpful resource to people who are the yin to your yang is one of the most challenging duties to fulfill. However, it is my firm belief, fortified by experience that, managing people is all about balance and attitude. 

Being a manager is as much a philosophy as it is a science and I want to talk to you about the philosophy behind it today. There is no way to measure balance or attitude because both change on a day to day basis. Some days you might feel great and your team is quiet and focused. Other days you may be tired, stressed, unfocused and your team has a million questions at which point you are simply assume the role of a hot potato. Each day is different and you have to balance how your feelings and emotions to achieve the right attitude toward your employees. One of my favorite and most relevant philosophies that I constantly reference is that I am a conduit which is responsible for representing the people in front of management and management in front of the people. 

This way of looking at the work allows you to fill two important roles:

1) Representing the people in front of management is vital if you want your colleagues/employees to be honest with you and trust in you as a leader. The other day a colleague of mine from another team asked told me that she was having issues with getting help on a ticket. I spent some time asking her what she had tried and when I understood that she had done all she could and as a result I took it upon myself to escalate the issue. Upon escalation I got a lot of negativity from the manager responsible for the mess but I had an answer to my problem. Twenty minutes later I got back to my colleague who thanked me for taking the time and caring about her issue. In fact she was happy because I not only solved her issue but stood up to the management and pointed out the weak spots in their work.

Taking responsibility for all of the small and large issues in your team allows you the benefit of the doubt and the privilege of having the trust of those around you. When you are able to master balancing your personal feelings and attacking every single problem with the right attitude your employees will give you the power you need to defend management in front of the people.

2) Defending management in front of the people is the hardest part of the job, in my opinion. Upper management is like a magic hat and you never know what will come out of it. Sometimes they want major changes to happen like cutting staff, cutting budget, adding additional work. Sometimes they can be gracious and give you a good budget for the Christmas party or allow you to increase your staff and distribute workload. These changes must be treated with the same energy no matter their nature because they are fact. Your management will not decide to curb the entire company plan because you are unhappy. It is your job, when facing your employees, to communicate clearly and concisely. If you took my prior advice you should have no issues in the way that this message is received. If you did not or are new and have to take over a team which does not know you, I suggest being truthful and sharing as much as you can, then simply withstanding the blow back in a balanced way and with a positive attitude. 

The last benefit which comes from implementing both parts of the philosophy is that you will gain the same trust with your management as you have with your employees and colleagues. This will put you in the golden zone where you not only have the trust of those around you but you have room to play. You can propose quality of life projects to your managers, you can raise grass roots initiatives through you to higher levels which allows  you build visibility around your team and its success. 

This has been the most successful method for me but I would like to hear from you. What problems do you have? What kind of methods have worked for you and which ones did you think would work but ultimately failed? Let me know below and please like and share if you found any informative value in this content!