Advice for first-time leaders and supervisors

I teach humanistic leadership and management skills at Humanist Learning Systems. In fact – I have a brand new online course – Humanistic Leadership Principles, which teaches the 7 deadly sins of staff management and leadership principles to help people understand the role of a leader/manager.

You're in a leadership role at work for the first time. What should you know?

 2 Things Good Leaders Must Understand

1. You have 2 customers. Your bosses – and your staff. Yes – your staff are your customers. Your bosses are going to want you to file reports and let them know what work is being done.  Your staff – need you to support them.  A manager/leader is a support rule. The work is being done by workers. The leader’s job is to make sure workers have what they need to be able to do their job well. Do they need training? Supplies? Information? Information that is in another department? That’s the job of the manager. So – think of yourself as being below your staff – your job is to do the grunt work required to make sure – your team can function well. 

2. Bullying management is bad management. Bullying negatively impacts workflow and causes real harm to real people. Successful leaders – build up and support employees. They champion them. Help them feel valued and included. Kindness and compassion in everything you do – should be your guiding principle. That’s what makes a good leader a great leader. They inspire people to be the best they can be. Bosses – order people around. Be a leader – not a boss.

Are you a new leader?

Often folks are thrust into these positions without real training about how to supervise employees or take the lead on projects.

Understand – you were chosen because your managers have faith in you. Be diligent and conscientious and you will do fine. If you don’t know how best to do something- ask for help and advice.

Take online courses (like mine) and learn what you don’t know but need to know.  Everyone starts every job learning. Most people don’t become productive for several months.  You will feel pressure to perform but remember – you have a lot to learn – so part of your new job – as a manager/leader – is to learn how to lead. And there are plenty of resources to help you. You may also want to ask one of the senior managers/ leaders to mentor you.  Not only will that help you in your future career – but it will help you become the sort of leader you want to be.

Even if you're just supervising one intern, what are some things you should keep in mind? 

Treat everyone with dignity. Behave with dignity. When in doubt  - think -  with compassion and dignity. Eleanor Roosevelt once said – in her book You Learn by Living, to treat employees as if they are volunteers.  You don’t have the right to “boss” people around. Even if you are paying them. And especially if you are not. Treat people as if they matter and as if they have a choice. Treat them with gratitude for the work they are doing and with grace. Support them. Encourage them. Help them learn how to be awesome productive citizens of the world.

 Are there additional things to know as a young leader versus someone older or with more experience in the workforce?

“If you want to slide through life, try being polite.” – Christopher Shaw (my father).  Kindness will take you places that meanness can’t. Remember – to be kind. You will like the sort of person you are, and your employees will appreciate the effort you put into helping them be better.

And again - take my online course - you will be glad you did. https://humanistlearning.com/principles-of-humanistic-leadership/

Top Ten Traits of Humanistic Leaders

I was complaining about governmental leadership being bad leadership. I was asked - how I define good leadership. What follows, in no particular order, is my top 10 list of traits a good humanistic leader should have/exhibit:

Compassionate: If you don’t care – you won’t care to be ethical

Tactful: Everyone has issues – a good leader knows how to work around those issues to get the work done.

Rational: If what you want people to do doesn’t make sense – then you aren’t a good leader.

Strategic: Knowing which battles are important and which ones aren’t – help you deploy resources effectively to you can achieve your goals.

Responsible: The only thing worse than an uncaring leader is one who doesn’t follow through on promises.

Conscientious:  Working hard and making sure that every member of the team has what they need to get the job done is important.

Critical thinker: Being able to tell truth from lies is necessary. Otherwise you may lead your team off course.

Inclusive: Good leaders know that every member of their team is there for a reason and has something valuable to contribute. They know their team knows things they don’t and they make sure to get that input so that the decisions being made are well informed.

Confident: Insecure leaders are horrible to work with because instead of fixing problems, they spend their time trying not to get blamed for problems. There is a big difference. Most people want to fix problems – not provide cover for incompetent idiots.

Humble: Knowing you might be wrong helps ensure that you take the time to make good decisions and not just expedient ones.

How do you go about developing these traits? Practice. You have to prioritize being compassionate in order to remind yourself to be compassionate when you are stressed or making decisions.  You have to ask yourself – what is the compassionate thing to do. It’s the same with all of these traits. It’s a choice – which then gets manifested in behavior through practice. Over time, these traits become second nature.

To get started, chose one trait and start reminding yourself to practice it and when you fail, think through what you might have done differently if you had actively chosen to exemplify that trait and then next time – do better.

If you want to learn more about Humanistic Management - check out my courses at Humanist Learning Systems: The Principles of Humanistic Management

Self care as a leadership skill

Good leaders lead to help others.  In order to help others, you first have to take care of yourself.

Leaders lead to help groups of people coordinate their activities to a common cause. That common cause is some sort of problem solving. Leaders have more responsibility than other members of the team because, in addition to the work everyone is doing, the leader has to spend extra time thinking about and organizing the work that needs to be done, training people to do the work and securing the resources necessary.  To do this well, leaders give up their time, energy and resources.

The problem is – giving up time and energy and resources is draining. What happens to a leader who no longer has time, energy or resources?  They cease to be leaders.

In order to lead well and for the long haul, leaders HAVE to take care of themselves. They must find a balance and a way to replenish themselves so that they can continue to give themselves to the service of others. In this context, self-care is an essential leadership skill.  So don’t neglect yourself.

Take my planning for personal success course or Gleb Tipurskey’s finding meaning and purpose in the workplace program