The leadership law of taking care of your people obviously is one that is rooted in common sense. As a leader, you will have already found out or will soon find out you have to take care of your people and they will take care of you. Fail this and the opposite is just as true.
As I mentioned in the previous blog post when you are expecting positive results you must be prepared to deliver positive results. Now let’s that this one step ahead and give it a human dimension and the need to take care of your people is born. What this means is that you have to ensure that you will be there for your people no matter what.
In a military situation, taking care of your people takes on a whole different meaning than in the modern workplace. In the military, a leader is responsible not just for her people from 8 to 5 but a full 24-7-365. Yes, the full-time health, morale, welfare, and readiness of the Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine is the responsibility of the leader. While in the civilian workplace, most leaders that have never experienced the military kind of responsibility will have the extra level of responsibility of ensuring that all the staff members attend the company picnic. Of course, I embellish here but in the civilian world I have not truly been able to find anything that comes close to the military example of taking care of your people.
There have been many times that I have seen where the manager appears to care about a subordinate and it may be genuine. However, there have been just as many times that the moment a subordinate does something wrong the manager is nowhere to be found and the subordinate is left to alone to defend his actions. What does that say about the manager?
It says that the manager is happy so long as things are going good and is enjoying the success the employee is bringing to the department and the organization. The manager gets the praises and all is good with the world. Then the manager will certainly act like he genuinely cares about the morale and welfare of the employee that is driving the success. Then when the house crumbles the manager is anything but caring.
I am not saying that this is wrong, what I am saying is that this is VERY WRONG. As a leader it is for you to understand that you cannot have it both ways. Either you genuinely care about them or you don’t but you cannot fake your way. People will read you like a book the moment you feign a smile or look past them when they talk to you. Heaven help you if start playing favorites with one or two employees over the others.
So what does this have to do with taking care of your people? Simple. Be authentic about showing that you really true care about the people that will make you a success. Be there for them when they succeed but most importantly be there when they fail, even if it was their fault. It shows that they matter and that no matter what the outcome of that failure the future will be brighter. Therefore, as a leader it is your job to ensure that you make all things possible for those you lead. Be there for them when they need you and when they don’t. Be visible because, as I have tried to make clear, your success depends on their success just as your failure means you failed them. The sooner you know this, rather than later, the better off you and those you lead will be.
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• Dave Guerra • Leadership • Leading • Lead, Follow, or Get out of the way • Take Care Of Your People • they will take care of you • responsibility of the leader • Be Genuine • Be Authentic • Be Visible • Give to the American Red Cross • Hire A Hero
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