9 Things I Should Do To Make Employees Love me as their Leader

As there are now five generations represented in the work place, it has become ever more important for businesses and organizations to adopt new styles of leadership and management. No longer can leaders rule with an iron fist. If you are seen as a boss, you have loss the plot. These days, they must learn to adapt and lead by the inspiration of their actions.

In this age, the job of a leader is way more complex. He is no longer just leading people and managing commodities; he is going to have to rise with the challenge of leading a wide range of ideas, beliefs and filters if he is going to be successful in the workplace. If your goal is to improve camaraderie with your employees, here are five things you should do to make them love you as a leader.

1. Allow freedom of action and independence

Great leaders understand that micro management will limit the independent performance of their workers. To operate efficiently, they understand that they have to show confidence and trust in the abilities of their associates. This respect shown by a leader will lead to a mutual love and respect from the team. This will even lead to a more positive work environment. Great leaders allow and promote a system of circular leadership in the workplace. So for example, if an employee sees a need in the business that they feel requires immediate attention, they should feel empowered to take action to solve it, even if it is not in their title or job description. As employees, we may feel the need to accumulate titles and hierarchies before we are qualified to lead and inspire action. A great leader will remind his team that they are Verbs, Not Labels.

2. See your employees for who they are, not what they are

Many employees feel that they are too often seen and judged as labels. Great leaders however, see people without filters. They are not given to the perceptions of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or titles. As they get to know their employees better, they also begin to delegate work by passion, skills and abilities; not the monotonous routine of job titles and job descriptions. A great leader thinks of people by their actions, what inspires them, and not just a part of process. To demonstrate this, Employees would like their leaders to take the time and ask them “what problems within the organization they are inspired to take action and lead change.” This way you are more likely to have a team that will work for you with blood , sweat and tears, not just people who work up to the limits of their job titles and job descriptions for a pay check.

3. Do not show favoritism

Each time you get to know a group of people, it is common to develop favorites; people you can identify with as friends. However, a great leader learns to treat everyone fairly without favoritism. Employees want to know that you will not take sides with one person over the other or treat some better than others. For example if you have a rule on tardiness, it has to apply to everyone and not just some of your employees. As long as you are fair and the rules apply to everyone, people don’t mind you being strict.

4. Lead by example

Great leaders will never ask an employee to do anything they are not willing to do themselves. Employees prefer that you lead by your inspirations. Sometimes the best way to inspire your associates is not with rousing speeches, but with your actions. Get in the fray and get your hands dirty. Standard management tactics will tell you to delegate rather than participate. However if you want your employees to love and respect you, they have to see you getting involved with them in performing daily tasks. Your employees will be inspired to lead themselves in action after they have seen you lead yourself in action. This is a new idea and concept on delegating work. Instead of delegating all the time chose your time to participate, especially with the tough task.

5. Listen to your employees

Leaders often do more talking than they do listening. However, a great leader knows that his employees have a perspective of the workplace that he will never see. Often times they will have knowledge of the flaws or holes in the system that you may not be aware of. By listening to your employees, you can improve the functionality and profitability of your business and prevent waste. Most businesses have daily brainstorming sessions for managers. Try involving your employees in these meetings. You may be amazed at their perspective or points of reference. Many employees hope to share their perspective and their values to the company rather than just listening to the leader like a robot. Listening to them can make them feel that they have contribution to the company.

6. Have a sense of humor

Positions of power often lead to abuse of power. The headiness of being responsible for so many people under your authority can sometimes make egos swell. Employees want to know that you are indeed still human.  A great leader will temper this with a good sense of humor and not take themselves so seriously. Workplaces typically tend to mimic the personalities of their leaders. So if you are a leader hoping to gain the love and respect of your workforce, try a daily dose of humor.

7. Be inspirational

Great leaders inspire you by showing you their humanity. By sharing the struggles and difficulties of their careers, they inspire you to want to work for them. People show up every day to work for people, not titles. A great leader will temper superiority in the workplace by making himself vulnerable to his employees. For example of a manager who worked in bank, they were required to conduct daily five minute hurdles. While these meetings were designed to communicate the performance of the various departments to the employees, they also provided him with an appropriate opportunity to tell his workers about times he struggled to achieve results in his career and the actions he took to be better and improve. Employees want to know that it is okay to fail sometimes. With the pressures of the corporate world. Leaders too often forget this and push their teams too hard.

8. Be warm and accessible

Communication is the key to any great relationship, even the relationship between a leader and their employees. A great leader needs to be understanding and approachable on a daily basis.  Employees need to know that they can also come to you and seek the advice of a friend. If the leader is too intimidating or simply never around, the employees will never feel as if they can depend on them for leadership and assistance. Great leaders are loved because their employees know that they can always reach them. For example, when I worked as a engineer, part of my daily routine was making sure I had a conversation with all all the staff at the each site I managed. I wanted them to know that I was welcoming and easy to talk to. I wanted them to know that I cared. Once your troop know that you are there for them, they will take a bullet for you.

Being responsible for inspiring and leading others is never easy. However with these eight tips, you will be on your way to becoming a great leader.

9. Create Opportunities for advancement

In recent surveys a major HR firms, Aon Hewitt, found out that the number one driver of employee engagement is career opportunities. We don’t really need this fancy survey to teach us that. We know it is true, especially with millennials . So, a good leader must create these for their team. And be a champion for their people.

This also means that a good leader provides lots of ongoing feedback…not just waiting for “review time.” That feedback should mostly be positive and constructive. Refer to the positivity ratio…. “at least 3 positive comments to every one negative” catch your people doing the right thing. But context is critical when applying the positivity ratio, the 3:1. But the feedback has to be constructive and constant.

A good leader probably uses a “coaching” leadership style whenever possible. It takes a lot longer but it is the style that allows the team to grow and flourish.

Finally One attribute required is also to be able to provide the vision and direction That is critical, like the sheep-dog you need to know the direction out to the field to graze and be able to find your way home. As the sheep-dog you do not only provide protection for the sheep but also the shepherd as well

adapted from DEJI AKINGBADE

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