Don’t feel bad, no one is a good people manager. It’s not your fault, it’s the peoples fault. People don’t want to be managed and people will not be managed.
Your fault lies in trying to manage people in the first place.
If you think you’re managing your people you are just kidding yourself, you may have beaten the energy out of them and forced them to comply but even that is not really managing.
While you can force compliance you can’t force what you really need from your people. You can’t force creativity. You can’t force commitment. You can’t force great customer service. You can’t force someone to value diversity. You can’t force someone to care. You can’t force someone to think a certain way.
But you can lead people to be creative. You can lead them to commit. You can lead them to care and to care enough that they provide your customers with outstanding service. You can lead them to care about other people, even people way different from them. You can even lead and influence them to think and behave in a certain way.
You can lead them to accomplish more than they ever thought possible but before you can lead anyone you must care. You must care about them as people, as human beings with real lives. Lives that matter every bit as much as yours.
You must care so much that your willing to show it. You must care so much that you’re willing to get out of your own comfort zone long enough and often enough so that your people will see how much you truly care about them.
When you lead people rather than trying to manage them magical things happen.
People who are managed are far more likely to display attitude issues than people who are led. People who are managed do what they are told while the people who are led have already done it.
People who are managed seldom grow beyond their job description but people who are led burst the seams of their job descriptions with regularity.
People who work for a manager produce the status quo. People who work for a leader produce the future of the organization.
If you want to continue with the “as is” them keep trying to manage your people. If you prefer a world of limitless opportunity and potential then give your people the leadership the crave.
Lead today and succeed tomorrow!
Yes Steve! We can only manage processes – we must lead people. Good post.
Thanks Mary!
Thank you, Steve, for the beautiful picture you have painted of the heart of leadership. You have captured succinctly and eloquently what leadership is truly about. It reminds me of the quotation from Grace Hopper, “You manage things, you lead people.”
Thank you for your kind words. Great leaders know it’s an honor to lead, not a job!
Reblogged this on Natasha Foreman Bryant, MBA.
Steve – very succinct yet you have captured a very powerful message. And in my opinion one of the biggest changes a manager needs to make to become a leader.
Thank you, I appreciate your kind words.
Reblogged this on Leadership Chasm and commented:
One of the first lessons a new leader needs to learn as they step into a #Leadership role. “Stop trying to manage people and start leading people”