Leadership - Which type of leader are you?

 

There are three types of leader. Those that stand in front of their people, those that stand behind their people, and those that stand next to their people. Which type of leader are you?

In the volume of leadership typologies, it is hard to see the forest for the trees. There’s visionary leaders, transformative leaders, servant leaders, transactional leaders, humble leaders, and so on and so forth. 

To simplify things I’d like to divide leaders into three broad categories: leaders that lead from the front, leaders that lead from the back, and leaders that lead from the side.

• Leading from the FRONT

Visionary type of leaders that lead by example. Work in front of the troops, directing and paving the way for their people.

+ Key benefits: innovation power, perceived as strong, aligned team

- Key risks: dominance, can feel unsafe, can create weak followers 

• Leading from the BACK

Servant type of leaders that support their people. Focus on people’s needs and try to help and facilitate them where they can.

+ Key benefits: people-centric, needs-driven, empowerment 

- Key risks: can be seen as weak, pampering, lack of vision

• Leading from the SIDE

Mentoring type of leaders that guide their people. Work in a peer-to-peer, feedback, and equality-based relation

+ Key benefits: openness, hands-on, collaboration-driven

- Key risks: invisible as leader, legitimacy issues, unclear decision-making

As we can see, all three have their pros and cons. This means that there is no single best or worst way. But, we can have preferences. My personal preference is leading from the side: standing (or sitting) next to people rather than in front or behind them. 

Which type of leader are you?

Which type of leader do you prefer?

#leadershipdevelopment 

#managementdevelopment 

#changeleadership 

Some common bad practices that school principals follow

1. Not including teachers in the decision making process. Decisions made from “on high” can seem gratuitous or arbitrary.
2. Not backing up teachers in tough situations. It’s very important for teachers to know that they will be supported if they make a decision that will upset a parent.
3. Punishing teachers instead of helping them improve. Teachers are human beings - they make mistakes and have failings. Helping teachers improve is far better than punishing them with bad schedules, room relocations, or layoffs.
4. Sitting in the office instead of roaming the building. Teachers and students should see the principal on a regular basis around the school.
5. Making everything a priority. When everything is your priority, nothing is your priority.
6. Ignoring major problems. We all know that not every problem can be solved. But you can always make an attempt.
7. Appeasing parents when they are being unreasonable. Giving parents what they request when it doesn’t impair the education process makes sense. But when it does? Not so much.
8. Allowing favoritism to continue. This is very common for coaches, athletes, and “principal’s favorite” teachers.
9. Promising but not delivering. If you’re not sure a thing can be done, don’t promise it.
10. Not putting academics first. Schools have to be a school first, and everything else second.

There are many more, but I’ve seen these failings committed over and over again.

LETTER TO SUPERVISOR

Dear Supervisor,

Closing late or leaving work on time is not a Key Performance Indicator or Key Result Area and it does not translate to a staff being productive.

What you should be measuring is actual performance, quality of work, effectiveness, efficiency, professionalism and so on.

That a staff closes late does not translate to commitment, efficiency, output or quality of work.

It's actually not your business if a staff chooses to leave work right at closing hour, as long as there isn't any task that should be closed out on or beyond deadline.

Some people have young children that need their attention, some have aged or a sick parent or relation that they have to care for after work; some have classes/ courses they are taking; some people are learning to swim, dance etc.; some live far away from work; some just have a lovely family they can't wait to be with after several hours apart.

On the other hand, some choose to stay late to avoid their abusive spouse/parents/siblings; some are experiencing domestic violence that they would rather be away from their home as much as possible; home is lonely for some; some are avoiding heavy traffic and so on.

Stop comparing people, people's realities are different. That A chooses to leave work at 9pm and another chooses to leave right at closing hour does not mean A is more committed. Some people are very active during the day while some are active in the evenings.

Let people breathe, let people work happily, let people LIVE. Life is not all about work, health and family matters too.

People are at different stages of life, some are single, some are married, some have all their children in boarding houses, some have babies, some have toddlers, some are newly married.... All these translate to how people choose to spend their time and what's priority for them.

Let people LIVE. 

N.B-There are days that work demands extra hours, that's exclusive of this write-up.

#michaelsview #workplacewellness #people #balancedlife #workplaceculture #leadership #productivity #timemanagement #wellbeingmatters