An important part of any leader’s job is ensuring that people work together in accord. There are times when that happens naturally, but without strong leadership it’s easy for your team’s goodwill to fall apart under serious disagreement or a time of high stress.
Every team experiences conflict. Whether it’s a battle for control, a clash of priorities, or just a difference in understanding, some degree of conflict is a fact of life in most work groups, civic organizations, neighborhoods or even families, for that matter.
Many conflicts are quickly resolved with little effort, part of the everyday give and take of group life, but some require intervention.
In the workplace and elsewhere, those in leadership a position should be thinking about self-respect—both their own and that of others. When everyone maintains a healthy level of self-respect, people are confident in their work. They take risks and innovate. They admit their mistakes. Trust levels tend to be high, and communication and collaboration are smooth.
But self-respect has an evil twin: a sense of entitlement, which often looks like self-respect taken to its furthest extreme. As I speak to groups and travel between engagements, I hear a lot about these people and the harm they do in the workplace. They understand the rules but insist that they should be exempt. They push their way into every conversation, are slow to share credit, and make looking out for themselves—even at the expense of others—a top priority. They may consider themselves special because they’re older, or younger, or have a graduate degree, or came from a higher-status background. But for whatever reason, they’re focused entirely on their own success and have no desire to play by other people’s rules.
When most of us think about leadership, we see ourselves empowering people, bringing them together, inspiring your team to do great work. And certainly those high points make the calling to leadership feel fulfilling.
But, as with any field, there are elements that are more challenging to get through.
Almost any team has one or two absolute go-getters. Whether it’s out of passion, commitment or habit, they’re going to show up half an hour early, probably after a good night’s sleep and a nutritious breakfast, bringing their best ideas and plenty of energy to carry them out.
Other employees need a little push, at least from time to time, and the best leaders are prepared to provide it.
Have you seen the commercials for the latest movies out on DVD? I would highly recommend McFarland, USA. It’s a sports movie based on a true story and features a group of kids who fall outside the mainstream, a coach with issues, some long odds, and—well, not to give away the ending, but they manage to surprise a lot of people, including themselves.
In this case, the coach (played by Kevin Costner) is a fired high school football coach and PE teacher who finds a job in an impoverished area of central California, where most of his students are from families of impoverished agricultural workers.
If you follow college basketball, there’s no better time of year than March to see leadership characteristics. There are few sporting events that bring the excitement and drama of the NCAA tourney.
And if you’re someone who thinks about leadership, you may—as I often do—keep a particular eye on the coaching. It’s an area that always seems to draw legendary personalities, from Bobby Knight’s fiery temper to Pat Summitt’s icy stare, from Dean Smith’s fatherly attention to John Wooden’s philosophies.
Some people like to take stock every year on their birthday. For others, it’s the start of the school year in the fall. For most of us, though, it’s the beginning of a new year that prompts us to look back at what we have-or haven’t-accomplished and set leadership goals for the year ahead.
It works for huge corporations, so why not develop your very own strategic plan. Here’s how to do it.
Leaders never wake up thinking, “Today I’ll frustrate my team!” And yet so many times as the work day progresses, that’s exactly what happens.
Whether it’s through long meetings with no clear goal, assigning a project with a stressfully short deadline, or not clearly communicating their plan, leaders have been guilty of frustrating the very people who make up their support system.
To look at it another way, they are eroding their own foundation when they frustrate the people they work with. While working on leadership development, you must be mindful of the things that you do that bring frustration to your team.