Over the course of my career, I have had some amazing bosses ...and some downright terrible ones. In my current role, I have a mix, including some mediocre ones. What I've come to find is that the team and ultimately the team's progress to goal takes on the leadership's flavor. So, bold courageous leaders with high expectations and a genuine care about their people tend to develop teams who approach their work with courage, a high level of accountability and care about the work their doing. Similarly, when bosses only care about the bottom line or protecting themselves, when they focus merely on managing the process and give no attention to managing and building relationships with their people, they get people who care only about their pay checks, who never go the extra mile. I've lived in both of these scenarios and I've watched leaders who govern themselves like the second example I described wonder "What happened?" and "Why is our turnover rate so high?" The answer to that question, my friends, to be frank, is because "S#!t Rolls Down Hill." These leaders are failing to realize their place in the turnover, poor culture, and despicable employee satisfaction scores. These leaders are failing to realize that people leave people--not jobs or companies, but people, management...and ultimately, poor leaders.
This saying, "crap rolls down hill" usually refers to bad decisions made on a leadership level that affect everyone below the executive level of an organization or even more simply put, the low man on the totem pole having to deal with a problem that should have been handled on the management or executive level . Not only that, but in this blog, I'm also referring to the everyday actions by leaders that include employee treatment, communication, attitude towards work, and credibility.
Indulge me for a moment. Grab a sheet of paper. Make three columns. In the first column, write down a list of groups you've been a part of. These can be class projects, sports teams, scout troops, sororities, workplaces, church groups, etc. Once you've gotten your list, go back through and in the second column write a "P" next to the ones that ended well or are still going well for you. These are your positive experiences. Then (you guessed it) go back through and put an "N" for "negative" next to the experiences that ended badly, or that you did not enjoy, having left you with a negative feeling towards them. Finally, in the third column, jot down some of the characteristics of the people in positions of leadership within each group. I can almost guarantee that there is a direct correlation between character traits we admire in leaders and the positive experiences we have in groups. On the flip side of that, there is a connection between weak or even repulsive characteristics in leaders and the negative experiences we have. Leaders make a tremendous impact! They are not just place-holders or the people who collect the largest salaries within an organization; they are and should be the difference makers and game changers in our lives. Some of them just don't know how to do that in a way that is productive and beneficial.
But there is hope...You see, as a part of my leadership philosophy, I fundamentally believe that leadership can be taught. While I also believe that some people are born with leadership characteristics and have a higher aptitude for good leadership, ultimately these characteristics have to be nurtured to make them constructive. So too I think that those who don't leave the womb with these attributes can still be nurtured and can change...and can become amazing, unforgettable, impactful leaders if they realize the importance of the seat they occupy and genuinely want to do so well. They can be leaders who impact their cities, classmates, staff members and frat brothers in profound ways if they commit to it. Because you see, crap isn't the only thing that rolls down hill... the good stuff rolls down too, but no one would read if I'd called the blog "Love, Roses, Sunshine and Accountability Roll Down Hill" now would they?? :)
What do you want to roll down your hill? What do you want YOUR leadership legacy to be?
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