“ Humility is the solid foundation of all virtues” Confusius
The first thoughts that crossed my mind when I embarked on the adventure of management were:
“… I am aware of my limits and my potential, which allows me to understand what I am able to accomplish. But how far could I go if I were able to unlock the full potential of my future employees… ”
Looking back, what I imagined as an outcome was not even close to what my teams were able to accomplish.
However, to enable my teams to grow and flourish, I quickly realized that the best approach was to recognize that they were the true process experts. My role was to coach them while ensuring that I created a work environment that was conducive to their development and success.
In other words, I had to lead the way and then step aside.
Leader humility begins with understanding that in an ideal world where his team was completely autonomous, his position would not be necessary.
Ouch!
It’s a punch in the face that might displease you or enrage individuals who define themselves in the company by their hierarchical position.
Let’s take a moment to really understand this concept…
We live in a world where people’s importance is often perceived to be directly proportional to their hierarchical position.
A CEO has his VIP parking space next to the front door and people don’t talk to the janitor.
Let’s be clear, I have great respect for all the people who agree to take on the position of janitor in companies.
It’s a great show of humility, because these are not very “glamorous” positions.
However, like all other team members, janitors hold important positions in maintaining the cleanliness of the business.
Some people might look down on them because it’s not the best paying job or requires a lot of education. However, we would all benefit from talking to these people because some of their backgrounds might surprise you.
It is true that the CEO holds a position with strategic responsibilities that impact all employees of the company and its sustainability. This is accompanied by more $$$$, but also by a lot of stress and pressure to perform.
Question…
But the key question is: what is the customer really paying for?
He pays for the work done by those who produce the goods or the services he purchases.
This is a blow to the managers’ egos, because the client is not paying for your responsibilities directly.
This does not mean that your role is useless, quite the contrary. You have important responsibilities and have an undeniable influence on the performance of your team.
Paradigm shift
You simply need to change your vision of the situation and invert the pyramid to place yourself at the service of your employees and thus increase their performance and customer satisfaction.
A paradigm shift is needed to transform your perspective,
From: My employees are paid to do what I ask of them.
To: I get paid to equip and support my employees.
If the last few paragraphs have shaken your perception of your role, allow me to guide you towards a more positive and calming reflection.
Serving does not mean acting as a servant or slave, but rather adopting a posture of support towards your employees, to ensure that they have all the tools and knowledge necessary to fulfill their responsibilities.
Confident and competent employees will allow you to work on strategy and find new innovative approaches to enable your team to progress.
It is important to remember that if the selection process for the different members of your teams was carried out properly, all the employees under your responsibility have the skills to carry out their daily tasks.
If not, it is essential to step in to provide the knowledge needed for their autonomy and productivity. You may have the skills to perform some of the tasks assigned to your employees, especially if you were a technical specialist before becoming a manager.
This is a trap to avoid and a real time sink. Even if you can accomplish certain tasks more quickly and efficiently than your employees, it is important to let them handle them. You have many other responsibilities to take care of.
Although it may be more destabilizing, it could be beneficial for you to be in a management position where your employees are performing tasks that you are neither qualified nor skilled at. This would encourage you to delegate more and trust your team.
Example
This was the case in my career when I became a production supervisor. I did not have the mechanical knowledge and I had never been in charge of running production lines. I did not know how to allocate work orders or connect tanks to the filler. I was and still am mediocre at all the manual work that production employees excel at.
That’s good: it wasn’t my job.
As soon as I took on the position, with great humility, I immediately made things clear to my team by admitting that I did not have the skills to do their job, but that I was willing to listen to them to understand their challenges and, with the help of an outside perspective, work with them to solve problems and give them a positive work environment based on cooperation, respect and teamwork.
I would be a safety net through my proactivity and my willingness to find solutions with them to the problems they experience on a daily basis, but I could not do the task for them.
I remember the look on my mechanic’s face when he mentioned that there was a problem with the sprocket and I told him that I had no idea what he was talking about. He laughed a lot. I could have lied and just nodded without showing my lack of knowledge for fear of the impact on my image and credibility. However, my strategy was to confirm to him that he was the expert and that he held an important responsibility in my team.
What had the biggest impact: When there was an urgent need to finish a production, I would join the team on the production line to lend a hand. This always caused a lot of laughter and fun among the employees, as my inefficiency in this task was obvious.
However, my goal was not to be the best worker, but to share the experience with my employees when I asked them to go the extra mile. It gave them great pride to see that they were much more competent in this task than their boss.
Laughter also helped reduce the stress of being overworked. If I had chosen to stray from core tasks and feared that my image would be tarnished by being around my employees, I would have missed a valuable opportunity to highlight the importance of each team member’s work.
Reminders
Before we give you time to think about all this content, here are some important reminders:
- Your value is not less if your employees receive flowers
- If you have good communication with your bosses and they are aware of your initiatives, they understand your impact on those results.
- You must resist the temptation to put yourself ahead of your team to take credit for your collective successes.
- The employees are the ones who did the work so they deserve the credit.
- Taking credit for your team’s work could ruin employee engagement and trust in you.
- The less attractive downside is that you have to get in front of your team to protect them when mistakes happen.
- You are responsible for the results and it doesn’t matter to your bosses who is responsible for the mistake because it is your responsibility.
- You should take the time to talk to those responsible for the mistakes, but don’t blame them in front of your bosses. This is a good way to gain the respect of employees and engage them in finding solutions to prevent it from happening again.
In short, acknowledging your limits, your mistakes or giving credit for your teams’ successes are great examples of humility that will foster the commitment and respect of your employees in order to allow you to lead them to the highest peaks. You must have confidence in the process, it works.
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Need help improving your leadership skills or building a culture of caring leadership? Do not hesitate to contact me. I will be happy to listen to you and provide you with the tools you need for the future.
Always remember: how does your mood impact your performance and overall attitude? Imagine if all your employees or collaborators were happy…
Carl-Michael Tessier
Coach in high-performance team development and tailor-made support
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#LeadershipHumble #LeadershipServiteur
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