Leadership Training - How to Stop Bossing People Around
Posted on March 08, 2011 by Guy Farmer, One of Thousands of Leadership Coaches on Noomii.
Someone decided at some point that leadership is about bossing people around when there are many other things you can do to lead much better.
I work with many leaders and organizations facilitating leadership training that moves beyond bossing people around. Somewhere along the way we decided that leadership is about barking orders at people and acting overly energetic in order to “motivate” our employees. So we’ve designed workplaces where employees wait for their next order, rarely growing, seldom motivated and barely engaged.
So what can you do to promote more enlightened leadership and move beyond directing? Here are some practical ideas to help you start the process.
1. Ask people what they like doing and let them do it.
2. Tailor jobs to people’s interests not vice versa.
3. Praise people for work they do well.
4. Ask people to generate their own tasks.
5. Listen to your employees instead of talking all the time.
6. Trust your employees to do good work.
7. Be available to educate only if asked.
8. Stop bossing people and start encouraging them.
9. Offer opportunities for your employees to grow.
10. Move away from the boss/employee dynamic.
Try these things for a period of time until you practice them effortlessly. You will find that you create a workplace where you have to direct less and people do more work and are happier on top of everything else. You’ll also live a happier work life because you won’t have to be micromanaging people all day long and you can concentrate on the bigger picture.
Take care,
