The Secret Ingredient Of Brilliant Leaders And Managers

The best leaders and managers display a secret ingredient. These leaders and managers were intrinsically drawn to “doing the right thing”. The “right thing” for these leaders and managers wasn’t always popular. The act of choosing for them was sometimes personally agonising, but they still made those decisions.
When questioned, many leaders and managers know what “doing the right thing” is, but quite often, mysteriously, they just don’t make that decision. When these decisions are made, then opportunities are lost, credibility is questioned and results are lower than expected.
They:
Let’s face it if everyone “did the right thing” we would have little need for regulation or employment law in the way in which we have it now.
We would never unfairly dismiss or discriminate against people. Also, we would never allow disrespectful behaviour. We would consult with people affected by possible redundancy. We would want people to have appropriate work/life balance.
Businesses frequently find statute and regulation to be prohibitive and frustrating. In the worst scenario, employers may see regulation as a barrier to getting what they want and employees may use regulation to beat the employer about the head when they are unjustifiably disgruntled.
I’m not advocating we shouldn’t have any regulation, or guidance or indeed laws about employing people. Safeguards need to be in place, and expectations need to be clarified. Both employers and employees need to have in place a certain amount of protection. I’m just saying if you are a brilliant leader or manager, you don’t need them in order to know what the right thing to do is, in most situations.
A brilliant leader and manager will rarely have to buy into expert employment law advice or instigate formal procedures for the sake of it. Instead, they regularly and routinely take consistent action and use guiding principles such as:
When leaders and managers don’t understand how to manage difference whether it is psychological, cultural, or an equality issue, or are more concerned about speedy outcomes at the expense of the people they employ, then there is a danger unhelpful decisions will be made.
Employees who don’t respect the contractual terms and goodwill, by which the employment contract is meant to be carried out by them, can cause endless headaches for businesses, especially those struggling to survive. Employees who don’t understand businesses have to make tough decisions, to survive or thrive, can derail a business by being resistant to change. These are the people who can waste precious energy and costs for employers and brilliant leaders and managers are skilled at nipping this kind of attitude and behaviour in the bud.
Employers need to make sure they don’t complain about regulation to paper over the inadequacies of their leaders and managers. Employees need to understand that businesses expect them to be an asset, not a drain: Do the best they can and fulfil the requirements of their contract to the best of their ability.
The employment contract should be a two-way, win-win contract. If you are a leader or manager, and you want to be a brilliant one, then it’s simple “Do the right thing”.
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