You’ll often hear that leadership is caught, not taught. That goes for everything in business. Whether it’s work ethic, corporate culture, or the way you treat people. In organizations, these things are all caught, not taught.
What does that mean on a practical level? What is caught, not taught? No matter how much you tell someone what you want done, how you desire to see people treated, or what you would like the office to feel like, they won’t do it by word alone. They have to see members of leadership doing what they say.
People follow what they see, not what they’re told
What you do paints a picture. It tells others how you view them, the organization, and the value of the work you and others do.
Our actions are much more impactful than our words.
What Picture Are You Painting?
Think about what picture you’re painting. You may try to paint a picture with your words. You use all the flowery, flowy words you know. The picture sounds good.
But the picture isn’t painted. Not yet, at least.
You can speak all the words you would like. Your words won’t stick with your people until you turn them into action.
Then, and only then, are you painting a picture people can see and follow.
Remember the following:
Your team is always watching you:
They want to know whether or not your words align with your actions. If they don’t, they will struggle with the consistency you’re trying to preach. They’ll see their leader as someone who says one thing but does another and expects their team to do what they say and not what they do.
Whew… That was a word salad!
But, to break it down, your team is watching you. Make sure your actions align with your words. They will follow your actions much more than they follow your words.
Change yourself before you change your team:
Changing others is hard. Changing yourself can be harder. We’re all stuck in habits, some bad, that can be difficult to change. You may even feel some of your bad habits are impossible to change.
Don’t believe that. No habit is beyond changing. Changing will just take more work for some things.
And, guess what? When you change yourself, you’ll find your team members changing. They will see your example and begin following it.
So, before you go and try to change others, work on yourself. Find ways to make yourself better. Then you can help others change themselves.
Give the gift of being an example:
You, yes you, are the example to those in your organization. You may have the fancy title, fat paycheck, and cushy hours. That doesn’t mean you get a free ride. Instead, those perks mean you have the responsibility to be an example.
With people watching you, you already are. Maybe I should say you have the responsibility to be a great example.
Make sure you’re doing the things you want those you lead to model. Some of these things may be:
- Being respectful to others on the team
- Showing up when you say you will
- Taking ownership of your mistakes
- Being a team player
As you model these behaviors, you give your team members a gift. What gift is that?
The gift of being someone worthy to aspire to.
When you do all of these things, you paint the picture of great leadership. You paint the picture of great mentoring. You paint the picture of what to do.
Do you know what picture you’re painting?
