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Leadership Caffeine™: Respect and the Leader-Would Your Team Save Your Leadership Hide?

Aug 17, 2009

Imagine a corporate world where those being led had a strong vote on whether their leaders lived to lead or were shown the door. This happened recently at the newly combined Fiat-Chrysler, and the question that was asked of low and mid level staffers was: “What do you think of your boss?”

Imagine a corporate world where those being led had a strong vote on whether their leaders lived to lead or were shown the door. This happened recently at the newly combined Fiat-Chrysler, and the question that was asked of low and mid level staffers was:

“What do you think of your boss?”

How would your team answer that question?

According to a recent article in BusinessWeek, Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Fiat-Chrysler,  parsed the answers to find the people most respected by their subordinates.

“If he didn’t hear expressions of leadership voluntarily from people, he took it as a sign that they didn’t view the executive as a leader.”

Donuts on Friday Won’t Do It!

Now before you rush out to order in lunch and walk around the office asking people how they are doing, consider that the respect for you as a leader is much different than whether the team likes you. It’s easy to like a person as a human being, but not respect his/her leadership capabilities.

Buying donuts on Friday will not save your leadership hide. Whether you like it or not, your leadership credibility and as a result, the respect that people have for you as a leader are on trial every day. In working with early career leaders, I encourage them to exercise the following credibility builders constantly.

The Eight Credibility Builders of the Effective Leader:

  1. Constantly showcase a positive attitude and high energy level
  2. Pay Attention and truly listen.
  3. Honesty is the only policy.
  4. Keep your agenda visible and remember that your agenda must be the team’s agenda.
  5. Make the tough decisions quickly and free your team members to do their jobs.
  6. Forget the personal pronoun “I” It’s never about you.
  7. Encourage risk taking and use mistakes as teaching opportunities, not punishable offenses.
  8. Build credibility and earn respect by actively supporting the development of your team members.

The Bottom-Line:

There are a countless number of “moments of truth” everyday where you can earn or lose the respect of your colleagues. These moments are golden opportunities to build your leadership credibility and earn respect.

Starting today, try assuming that the people that work for you will decide your fate, not those above you. If this feels different, good. Use The Eight Credibility Builders above as training wheels, and add to the list as you gain confidence.

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