Are you a manager of employees, or a parent of
children? Many of the same valuable
strategies are used when people rely on you as their leader in any case. Your followers, willing or not, are people
for whom you are responsible. Though you
are not responsible for the individual choices of their actions, you are responsible for teaching, guiding
and enabling each person to do their very best.
What is not instinctually set within us is taught to us
firstly by example. Leading by example
has been our evolutionary pattern. Babies
start to mimic sounds and the facial expressions of their parents soon after
birth. So too does the leader of a
company set the parameter of how to act when an employee first starts
work. You impress upon your followers (your
children, your employees) which ethics are important, how to manage problems
that arise, and you instill within them how valuable they are to you. You
may not even realize this exchange is occurring in the relationship.
Your role as a leader of another comes with certain universal
expectations from that person (which they may not consciously recognize
themselves that they expect). These are
for you to be consistent, clear and concrete with them.
In action and manner, your consistency is a solid platform
on which your ward may comfortably interact with you. * When you are in a leadership role, people
expect you to act within certain cultural boundaries. You are giving the gift of comfort and ease
when you act within what is ‘normal’. *
Being clear in your communication is vital to maintaining
efficiency within the relationship.
Having concrete goals
that are measurable, achievable and recognized will empower the person you wish
to guide.
Very well put.
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