LEADERSHIP...THE POWER OF CARING

After a leader decides their job is to serve people, the greatest power they possess is caring for the people they serve. Make no  mistake. Caring is a choice leaders have to make. They may not always like all the people they serve but they have to choose to care about them or they are not a leader, just a manager doomed to produce average results.

No one will trust or follow someone they think cares more about money, things or results than they do about them. People accept direction, guidance and teaching from a person they believe cares about them, wants the best for them and is willing to hold them accountable to a higher standard than they hold for themselves. They develop loyalty and a willingness to follow someone who demonstrates their concern for them and wants what's best for them. They instinctively know that someone who cares about them believes in them.

Leaders also understand that people don't always like their leader when they are holding them accountable. In fact, I believe the phrase micro-mangement was created by followers to try and get leaders to stop paying attention to what they were doing, leave them alone and let them be average.

Leaders don't accept average behavior or people who accept being average. They understand that not everyone wants to be exceptional...If you are in a leadership position and you believe your responsibility is to help everyone become exceptional, then you're fighting a losing battle. Not all people want to be exceptional and you don't need them to be for your organization, company or team to be extraordinary.

You only need your people to be above average by executing your plan with enthusiasm, commitment and concern for each other, to create an extraordinary company or organization. When this happens, and only when this happens, do they become a true team. Until then, they're a group of individuals working for you and it's the leaders job to serve them until they become a team.

When you care about people you are committed to making them the best they are willing to be. This gives you the courage to challenge them, hold them accountable and accept that they will not always like you but they will respect you and eventually call you a mentor.

In this position you will be teaching continually. That's what leaders do. They are tireless teachers committed to helping the people they serve to learn, grow and improve. To do this, leaders have to develop the habit or ritual of continual learning.

When the choice to care is made, leaders stop wanting all their people to think alike, or think like them. They become less defensive of their position, open up and begin to embrace the differences, strengths and weaknesses of the people they serve. They are better able to evaluate people's talents, skills and self-discipline so they can put them together to produce the best results.

After all, no winning organization is ever made up of all 'milk drinkers', people who all think and act the same. It takes a diverse group of people with different skills to win and it takes a leader who cares about them to bring them together. The best way to make this happen, is to choose to care more about the  people you serve rather than your plans or results. When you do, they will follow you and become a team who cares about each other and your plans.

They will be a team on a mission with a 'people first' leader who cares about and serves them. This is the best way to get a group of mostly average people to rise above mediocrity and produce extraordinary results.

By Mike Moore